We visited Japanese venue with world's most claw crane machines to find secret to winning

Ever dreamed of being surrounded by claw crane game machines? Well, there is a record-breaking venue that lets you do just that!

Sarpura Yokohama Play Town, located in Northport Mall (just 20 minutes from Yokohama by train) has a Guinness World Records title for the most claw crane game machines at a single venue, with a whooping 555 machines. The record was achieved in 2022, and no one has since broken this amazing feat.

We visited the store recently to explore what they have on offer, and see if even novices like us could figure out how to win some prizes.

The machines are laid out in sections to make navigating around the venue pretty easy. If you are new to claw crane games, you can start from the novice section; where prizes are relatively easy to grab. There is also a 10-yen corner, where one game costs only 10 yen (approx. 5p) to play.

There are novel machines that you don't see in many other stores, like a game that lets you operate 10 claws in one go; there is also a game that has one large rotating claw that challenges you to pick up a huge stuffed toy.

The goal is to pick up the prize using the claw crane, and drop it in the drop bin. Simple, right?

Well, in reality, most people trying the game out for the first time will struggle to grab a prize straight away.

For most machines, you operate the claw using a joy stick or buttons. An important thing that beginners might not notice is that for many machines, you can adjust the height in which the claw will stop and pick up the prize (by pressing the button at a desired height).

If you have enough cash in hand, don't be afraid to keep trying - practice makes perfect. Plus, some prizes need multiple runs in order to capture them.

Take your time in figuring out the centre of gravity, then use that to keep the prize balanced as the claw takes it to the drop bin. Alternatively, you can purposefully tip the prize over to bring it closer to the drop bin.

After an hour of trying a bunch of machines, we were able to pick up about five or six prizes.

Although the feeling you get when the prize goes in the bin is exciting, the entire experience - from figuring out where to place the claw to seeing whether the attempt was successful or not - is so much fun. This feeling compounds when the venue hosts the most machines in the world.

So, if you ever have a chance to go to Japan, make sure you visit this gaming centre - it will be a unique experience!