ClawStory (Ang Mo Kio)

ClawStory is a claw machine shop on level 3 of 51@AMK in Ang Mo Kio, and one of the few places of its kind anywhere in the heartlands still open near midnight.

It is worth understanding the floor before you feed in coins, because there are two kinds of machine here and they play nothing alike. The skill machines are what you expect: line the claw up, drop, and the grip is strong enough that a good approach is rewarded, which is the thing that separates a decent claw shop from a frustrating one. The rest are the sure-win format that has spread through the neighbourhood malls — the prize is guaranteed once enough attempts have gone in, so the question is not whether you win but how many coins it takes to get there. Regulars use that. On the draw-style machines the blanks get cleared as the day goes on, so a machine other people have already worked through is a better bet than one that has just been filled. Prizes run to plush, figures and collectibles, restocked often enough that the floor changes between visits.

The owner is the other reason people come back, and he comes up in review after review — walking first-timers through how each machine works, and swapping a won prize for something the winner actually wanted. That is not standard in a category built on unattended machines in a corridor. There is a cafe right beside it, which is where people end up comparing what they did and did not win. The station is a few minutes’ walk.