A merchandiser is an arcade

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 gaming device, which features a machine that contains a display of merchandise, which can be won by playing the game.
In the trade, such games are described as Skill With Prizes (SWP) games, and are a hybrid of games of skill and games of chance, with the preponderance of skill or chance differing between devices and often able to be set by the operator.

Description

Claw cranes are the most popular example of a merchandiser. The player guides a claw in the attempt to pick up a prize and drop it into a hole. Other types of merchandisers can offer prizes ranging from cheap and inexpensive to high end merchandise such as video game consoles and iPods.

A similar class of games are redemption game

Redemption game

Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game. The reward most often comes in the form of tickets, with more tickets being awarded for higher scores. These tickets can then be redeemed at a central location for prizes...

s, where tickets are won and can be redeemed for merchandise prizes, rather than merchandise being won directly. These are both modern forms of carnival game

Carnival game

A carnival game is a game of chance or skill that can be seen at a traveling carnival, charity fund raiser, amusement park, or on a state and county fair midway....

s.

Some games can be configured as either redemption games or merchandisers, such as Flamin' Finger

Flamin' Finger

Flamin' Finger is an arcade redemption game and merchandiser released by Namco, notable for its retro design and electronic soundtrack.- Gameplay :...

.

Examples

Examples include:

• Claw crane
• Stacker
  Stacker (game)
  Stacker is a video game merchandiser manufactured by LAI Games. The goal of the game is to align rows of moving blocks on top of each other. A player who can stack 11 rows will win a minor prize, which is usually very low in value, sometimes lower in value than the amount of money the player paid...
  
  
• Flamin' Finger
  Flamin' Finger
  Flamin' Finger is an arcade redemption game and merchandiser released by Namco, notable for its retro design and electronic soundtrack.- Gameplay :...
  
  , which can be configured as a redemption game or merchandiser
• Money booth
  Money booth
  A money booth, also known as cash booth, money machine, and cash cube, is an arcade game and merchandiser in the form of a phone booth in which paper money are blown through the air...
  
  

Regulation

As Skill With Prizes machines, merchandisers are in a legal gray area, due to containing elements of skill and of chance, particularly since payout percentages can to a large extent be set by the operator – such setting leads to machines being described as rigged. They are generally regulated separately from games of pure chance such as slot machine

Slot machine

A slot machine , informally fruit machine , the slots , poker machine or "pokies" or simply slot is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed...

s; see claw vending machine: legality for statues pertaining to claw machines.

Claims of being largely or entirely skill-based can expose the operator to accusation of unfair practices

Unfair business practices

Unfair business practices encompass fraud, misrepresentation, and oppressive or unconscionable acts or practices by business, often against consumers and are prohibited by law in many countries. For instance, in the European Union, each member state must regulate unfair business practices in...

; thus some lawyers advise operators to not advertise the machines as being skill-based.

External links

• Bandai Namco Group – Brent Sales – Prize Products