Customers shuffled from machine to machine one Friday afternoon, plunking tokens into coin slots and maneuvering a joystick-controlled claws over plush Pokémon and Hello Kitty toys.
Claw or crane machines aren’t anything new — it’s a $2.5 billion industry, per market researchers — but this wasn’t the typical setting of a lone game found at an arcade, bowling alley or grocery store vestibule. There were dozens of lit-up machines lined up next to, and sometimes on top of, each other, piled high with mostly Japanese-branded prizes like the anime Naruto or Sanrio characters.
The Twin Cities has seen a recent influx of claw machine-specific businesses, with at least four such establishments opening in the past year, including two in Maplewood. These “clawcades” are drawing kids and adults alike, capitalizing not only on people’s thirst for entertainment but also the prevalence of Asian pop culture.
Angela Phothisane orchestrated perhaps the first clawcade in the metro at Eden Prairie’s Asia Mall. She expanded what was a handful of games in a corner of the second floor to 26 machines since the mall opened in 2022.
“When you walk into a Japanese-style arcade, you see so many more neon lights,” she said, “and it’s more attractive.”
A plush toy waits to be snatched up in a customized claw machine at Grabbit Arcade in Maplewood Mall on Thursday. (Jeff Wheeler/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Grabbit Arcade, located inside Maplewood Mall, tries to replicate Japanese gaming after owner Daniel Heu fell in love with the concept he’d “never experienced” before while vacationing there in 2014.
“[It was] something that I would love to bring to my hometown, my home state,” Heu said.
Heu eventually made good on that goal, opening Grabbit this past February. He sources plushies, figurines and collectibles directly from Japan, with many of the prizes still sporting tags or labels written in Japanese.
