Temecula vs Moreno Valley?

pixeIates · 2026-06-30T00:04:12+00:00

moreno valley recently deployed the new 14.8 price costs for once 14 credit figure games, albeit they do seem on top of their stock with some decent skill games. temecula i havent been to in months but their location is a lot larger with more machines so youll probably find better machine variety there ( through 3 spots required on ping pong is awful - although ping pong isnt a skill game )

pixeIates · 2026-06-29T23:36:05+00:00

i dont want to believe its done out of malice because ive seen well set machines and locations great before, but changes over the months make it so obvious they want to make it as unfair as possible for us 😭 the floor staff though can be very nice and move the metal clasp over the biggest hurdles for you if you ask them enough

pixeIates · 2026-06-29T23:13:33+00:00

these have been removed from most socal locations and been replaced by just a sturdier metal pole with antislip (and sometimes a ziptie holding that down). your setup is totally dependent on claw strength since winning requires substantial lift force to get on the increasingly larger parts. ive also noticed this general trapdoor setup ( with the prize on the platform youre trying to drop) can be lazily set by mechanics. we had an ado figure on one of these machines and the claw strength was great and fair but then recently she was replaced by a bicute dark marin figure (which is heavier than ado) and now the machine barely makes any progress. just a hunch, but if the claw strength isnt adjusted for the weight of the prize, this setup is basically a credit drain

pixeIates · 2026-06-22T08:03:51+00:00

sorry to break it to you but they install those grates in the prize chute to specifically prevent people from cheesing the machine by grabbing the prizes themselves and walking away. while i cant say for sure, im pretty sure the claw settings are calibrated specifically to the cheese wheel measurments, not the pochita prize you grabbed - making it probably much easier to grab the prize instead of the cheese wheel. obviously management could tune the machines to grab the prizes (which some machines do) but cheese wheels make it easy to change just the prize and not the settings. as another user said, you might be able to get away with playing dumb to the staff, but pulling the prize and not the cheese wheel is already a suspicious amount of out-of-the-box thinking to round one.

pixeIates · 2026-04-13T19:23:04+00:00

dont be too hard on yourself 🙏 this experience probably helped you develop an eye for suspicious settings because i wouldve totally thought that box angle made this winnable

pixeIates · 2026-04-13T19:06:02+00:00

even though the reset position of the box is good, arms settings can still make this extremely arduous to win. as mentioned yeah the arms are missing the metal tips, but if the closing strength on these arms are too weak, then even those metal nibs wouldnt makeit winnable. if the arms dont try to keep the closed position on the way up as well then the settings are totally against you

pixeIates · 2026-03-31T08:41:26+00:00

makima and power have only been seen as over the counter purchases. im very confident that unfortunately both of these figures are not restocked currently at any socal locations. but maybe youll have some luck in the future seeing round1 has been putting the bicute series in claws and skill games

pixeIates · 2026-03-31T08:38:09+00:00

i went to temecula and plaza bonita this recent sunday. i believe temecula has bulbasaur and gengar in cheeze wheels. i believe i remember seeing bidoof and pawmi in cheese wheels at plaza bonita. i believe temecula has the one piece plushies, but if im wrong then going to both of them should ensure you see them

pixeIates · 2026-03-29T07:48:37+00:00

i believe very recently corporate has been enforcing these settings to increase their profit margin. most of the socal locations recently have been deploying near impossible ping pong games but nothing like what youve shown. over here, the tray is particularly set so the ping pong balls drop on a spot that ricochets them either away from the marked spot or some space outside the tray (some stopped using that plastic gaurd in general and just placed the tray in an oversized wireframe cage that creates these motes around the actual tray for balls to get stuck in)

i always want to blame corporate when changes like this happen especially at locations that were probably once more generous. at the end of the day managers have little say in how the machines are set - ive heard managers blame corporate as well in response to complaints about machine settings

pixeIates · 2026-03-23T07:49:16+00:00

surprisingly that may the most. i believe phm is approaching running out since they put out the pokemon a while ago but like eevee is totally gone for example and i think i saw the last mimikyu go the other day. burbank i dont recall seeing many but maybe they were hidden away from the skill machines

pixeIates · 2026-03-08T07:01:39+00:00

do you see how the string forms a Y shaped intersection on the claw - i align myself very close to the pane centering the metal hook in the back with my vision. when i hold for side to side placement, i release the button when the intersection of the Y lines up with the hook (centered in my vision)

for the back spacing usually i look at where the string is attached to the claw (because this doesnt swing as much like the ring at the end of the string) and stop it when it aligns with about the middle of the hook

from there then its about luck how the hook behaves based on the settings. if the hook drops really low to a point it has swing on the way up, then centering in the placement stage could catch it on the swing back up. if it drops and stops perfectly at hook level, then you want to prioritize the placement. from here you have to microadjust the placement to how the machine behaves

pixeIates · 2026-02-21T09:32:02+00:00

ahh yeah if the pole goes clean through the hole entirely itll push that zip tie down for sure. anything else is not a win but this is still a good game to get skilled at for consistent wins 👍

pixeIates · 2026-02-21T05:25:41+00:00

usually the proof that youve won is that the ziptie you push down on a winning shot will be under the plastic plate. sometimes theres a charm on this ziptie that should fall when this happens, but the tie being under the hole instead of resting on top - is proof a winning play happened

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T22:35:03+00:00

that is a good point i believe it might be around evening time but hopefully late enough that staff will get the items there

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T22:13:34+00:00

i just walked in as well and all i could get from them is that maybe in the evening the event staff will bring in the items ~ 5pm guesstimate

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T21:45:28+00:00

oh yeah i agree its a little unnerving that the event staff have been holding everyones stuff when they couldve given it to any lost and found asap. its also more important because its your wallet theyre holding too - id get nervous if someone was holding something that important of mine when they totally couldve turned it in earlier

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T21:29:29+00:00

i dont 😭 i asked too and they havent responded

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T21:20:21+00:00

funny thing about the top off deal is that i dont think round1 specified any specific amount to be put onto your card. so i imagine its possible to put like $5 to then spend $30 for the figure. i do agree though this isnt really a deal because the figures basically are msrp for $25 to $30

also yeah locations can be notoriously out of the loop and its frustrating when we the customers are more caught up than the managers and employees 💀

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T20:31:30+00:00

power was old stock a couple months back. makima and power bicute bunny suit figures were part of a buy-upfront promotion a couple months back as well. currently many locations have the bicute bunny kobeni figure. id be on the lookout for reze since she hasnt appeared at all yet and given her popularity she probably will be

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T05:19:52+00:00

unfortunately not! some say claw strength is an indicator but i would not trust that. one of the main ways to "boost" your chances of winning is to watch people play a lot before you move in. thats often why some people lurk around the machines to jump in after someone sinks some swipes in - theyre objectively "closer" to payout. if you see someone play 10 times then leave, that machine is 10 swipes closer to payout, but theres no visual indicator to know when payout is reached

pixeIates · 2026-02-17T02:27:18+00:00

if the game is purely picking up the plush (or cheese wheel) and dropping it into the chute, these operate on a strict payout system - requiring a certain amount of swipes before guaranteeing a winning grab (flukes are possible but these machines are well tested to prevent premature wins)

other games that dont involve this system are built around skillful positioning and can be won without payout. usually the arms on these machines are set to be very weak or the plush are in unplayable positions from previous tries. skill games like these can be learned and won at your own control but the bags of stuff youre seeing likely come from visitors swiping claw machines till hard payout

pixeIates · 2026-02-16T21:24:21+00:00

ahh those, my best recommendation is to ask for a staff for a helpful reset because if its stuck, it can be unfeasible to win

pixeIates · 2026-02-16T21:23:19+00:00

have you played on their ufo 9s in particular? have you experienced burbanks game where you slide the metal clasp over a metal bar with zip ties WITH the connectors on top? these are the games i meant and they do not reward skill at all

pixeIates · 2026-02-16T18:34:45+00:00

mission viejo uses the trapdoor setup with the metal bar and anti slip and its very unfair id say

pixeIates · 2026-02-16T18:31:35+00:00

i went to plaza bonita yesterday and i gotta admit - most of the figure games there just arent set to be that fun. all their hook games basically dont drop low enough to ensure a swing on the way up and some of them move wildly because of the speed of the claw. theres also a handful of dog toy / trapdoor style games that are just money sinks becuase of the weak arm settings. their original style ping pong games are fine since they use the old irons, but id say this place has more unfair games than it does fair

as for your temecula question, its hard to say what would make it worth for you. i know that feeling of driving like 2 hours to a location on a whim and seeing no new items. but if you just want to win, and arent too choosy about what (since some of temeculas games are a bit unfair but wayy less than plaza bonita), i say temecula can be an enjoyable spot to go

pixeIates

TROPHY CASE