Claw machines are everywhere in Taiwan
from busy streets to corner stores like this one.
I used to play these all the time as a teenager.
And while I eventually grew out of it,
Taiwan—well...hasn’t.
In 2016, there were only about
920 claw machine stores in Taiwan.
Today, there are over 6,678 of them across the island,
and you can usually find them clustered together
in night market corners like this one.
Over the years,
they’ve become a popular investment strategy for young people,
particularly because of low stagnating wages on the island.
Here’s how it works.
An arcade owner sets up all the infrastructure
and buys the machines and security cameras
for a grand total of around US$30,000.
The owner will then rent out each individual claw machine
at around $150 to $250 a month to interested individuals.
Pisuy has been obsessively playing claw machines for a year now
and recently just got her own.
But experts say that the claw machine craze
is a bubble waiting to burst.
And the market seems to have reached overcapacity.
But for Pisuy, it’s more than just an investment strategy.