Alright, we’ve all been there- the impossible level to beat. We have tried repeatedly, in any number of ways, but no matter what we do, that fudging boss, level, roller coaster…whatever, just will not declare defeat. Ask me about Laura from The Evil Within, sometime.
Games are meant to challenge us, from our problem-solving to our hand-eye coordination. Yes, we can get frustrated, even angry. We may walk away after a bit, throw our controller (not recommended- have you seen the prices lately?), stomp and rage quit.
We do NOT however, threaten to release poisonous gas on the staff of an arcade. That is exactly what one 21-year-old student in Tokyo, Japan said he would do. Apparently, losing in a crane game several times will put someone over the edge.
According to Yahoo! News Japan, Gou Kawasaki sent 16 letters to an arcade in Tokyo’s Tachikawa City between July 4th and 25th, in which he allegedly wrote death threats. “I will release poison gas. It’ll exterminate the arcade staff,” he wrote in one letter, signing it “The Despair of the Dead.” The other letters contained similar threats.
The arcade identified Kawasaki on the arcade’s security camera, leading to his arrest. Confessing to his crime, he said “I sunk a lot of money into crane games and got pissed off because I never caught anything.” (I totally get it. But that’s no way to react!) Reportedly, in Japan, if a crane game is too difficult, and a player pays enough coin, the staff might help you win that elusive stuffy or another prize.
To complicate matters, Tokyo arcades have faced accusations of being just a bit tougher than other crane machines. Sega issued a public statement in 2020 after a Sega UFO crane game racked up 500 losses in a day. They stated the obvious, that crane games rely on the player’s skill and luck, but added, “A fundamental operation of our company is that if something seems excessively odd, you are welcome to call staff over for some help [getting the prize].” Sega of America does face a $5 million lawsuit that claims “Key Master is deliberately set so that players cannot win until a certain number of unsuccessful attempts are made first.”
Considering threats like this have killed people before, the arcade’s forethought to take it seriously probably saved many lives.
As for the would-be gasser Kawasaki, he won’t be playing crane games anytime soon.
Via, Kotaku.com.
