What's the deal with winning toasters at arcades? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by Prior_Industry@lemmy.world to c/ukcasual@lemmy.world

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So I was at a seaside arcade over the past week. Spent some time spamming the 2p slots machines and tickets are firing out of this thing. Go to exchange these at the kiosk and notice that you can get quite a few domestic appliances on the back shelf (13,000 tickets for a toaster, £5 of 2p slots got me 80 tickets).

Are people actually skillful enough to game the system and win these over just going to Argos? Or do gambling addicts just collect tickets over time to exchange for a toaster after a few months as a consolation prize?

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[-] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I've not seen that myself. I assume it's someones attempt to refresh the prizes and they did a shit job...

[-] Borkingheck@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Back of the lorry refresh.

[-] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Quite possibly 😂

[+] Spacebar@lemmy.world -11 points 1 year ago

Some people are so poor that buying a new toaster is a big deal.

You're just not that familiar with that world.

[-] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

So could you play these gambling machines and get a toaster cheaper than Argos?

[-] Spacebar@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

You are applying rationality to this. It's a form of gambling, which is never rational.

[-] jackoneill@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I think the point is that the new toaster at the grocery store costs a few bucks whereas to get the toaster with arcade tickets it costs SIGNIFICANTLY more cash for the toaster. I think it’s less poor folks and more just random crappy overpriced prizes

[-] Prior_Industry@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

This Kiosk had lots of decent toys on the shelf (expensive tickets wise), kids being the target audience that made sense to me. The toaster, blender, kettle, bar heater etc stuck out as odd as I could not figure out the target audience.

I don't remember them being cheap brands. They were the sort of things you could buy from a supermarket - branded.