Ninja Arcade (Orchard Towers)

Ninja Arcade is the rare claw floor where the prizes actually come off the machines. A short visit usually ends with something in hand rather than an empty claw and a lighter wallet, which is not a given in this format and is the best reason to pick this one.

It is claw machines and redemption games feeding a prize counter, with nothing for rhythm or racing players — a floor for children and for the adults who came in with them. The machines and the fit-out are recent, and it is one room that does not pretend otherwise.

Come with twenty minutes rather than an afternoon. That is exactly what you want at the point in the day when a child has run out of patience with shopping. At weekends it opens early enough to be the first thing you do, and the floor is at its quietest then, before the crowds work their way up the road. It is in the basement of Orchard Towers, a few minutes’ walk from Orchard station at the Claymore end of the stretch.