The cheap felt that makes you happy

It was a banner shopping day, and not because I replenished the whiskey stock in the house. Or because I found out my debit card is cracked, yet still works so I no longer feel impotent. I've written about the skill crane before. My son likes to press the button when I get the claw in position, but I've never won with him present.

Not so today. After putting in my buck, which gives four plays, I lined up the claw and asked Neil to push the button. It went around the frog, grabbed it up and into the bin. Skill crane victory!

You would think the day is done after you win once, but we still have three plays left, so I looked for a brother to the Skill Crane Victory Frog. My son was excited as I lined up the claw and had another go.



I'd never won twice in a row before. My son was jumping up and down, clapping as the frog was deposited in the slot! I gave him one of the frogs, and he tried to put it back in the game through the glass, he just wanted to press the button and watch the claw.

Tried again, still had two plays left. Darn near pulled up the pink penguin, but it was not meant to be. Two wins on the skill crane, a day that will live forever.

Pushing the Button, Again

Gambling is not something I do. You want me to place a bet on a team, go opposite. The west side casino is not someplace I'm going to visit.

There is one thing that is hard to resist though.



Let me change that. I do not put money into any skill crane, just the ones with frogs in them.

You see, my wife, she likes frogs.

The Kroger we go to has a skill crane. As we leave I check the skill crane for frogs and, more importantly, their position in the box. If they're at the bottom, hiding underneath a pile of unnecessary plush, I walk by. If I do not have any quarters in my pockets, I walk by. I do not carry rolls of quarters to the skill crane. So if there is a frog in an attainable by claw position, and I have a couple of quarters, I'll put them in and try my luck. This usually happens a couple of times a month. Most of the time, the frog does not get grabbed by the claw and I'm out fifty cents. Life goes on.

I've pulled a frog out of a skill crane once, two years ago I was alone, tried my luck and brought home a wee frog.

But if no one sees you do it, did it really happen?

Yesterday we did our shopping and walked through the vestibule where the skill crane is. I looked in, assessed that a big frog just may be ripe for the picking, put in my fifty cents, lined up the claw, and pushed the button.



Win.

Now, as we're walking to the car after I won her the frog she's going on saying that the machine, the claw, is set to work only every so often. She's saying the machine is rigged.

Please.

Why do they call it a Skill Crane?

It's skill that won her that cuddly frog friend. My skill. There were no electronic shenanigans in play here. Why can't she accept that her husband is occasionally adept in the use of the skill crane and leave it at that?

Push the button Frank

We've been paying attention to the skill cranes when leaving the grocery store for about a year now. First it was to try and win a FC Barcelona pillow for a friend, then it got much worse.



My Scottish Wife, she wanted a frog.



So after shopping we'd always look in the skill crane to see if there was a frog in there. Then we'd decide if trying for it would be worth the fifty cents. Usually we'd try anyway, only to have the claws of the crane go weakly toward the frog then clamp shut, leaving us out another four bits.

After getting my son some lollipops at the Chambers Road Kroger, I noticed the skill crane. Peering inside I saw several frogs, including one in the far right corner that looked right for the plucking.

I reached into my pocket for two quarters, pushed the handle and saw the crane go all the way back. Then pushed the handle to the right until it went no further.

I pressed the button. The crane went down.



The claws went around the frog, lifted it out of the pile and dropped it inside the slot. This was the first time I had ever won on one of those things. Darn near did a happy dance in the store, but instead put the frog in the bag with the lollipops and strutted to the car.