Fall River Girl Plays the Crane Game at Local Arcade and Scores a New $300 Xbox Console

35 years on this planet and I have never heard of or seen anyone win from those pesky crane machine games until today.

On Tuesday, June 27th, a local family had dinner plans at Barrett's Alehouse and Game Room in Fall River. Jennifer Oliveira took her 13-year-old daughter Desiree Costa and her younger siblings Kailynn, and Brayden for a birthday celebration. Brayden wanted to go to an arcade, so it was a win-win for the entire family.

This is where Desiree's luck comes into play.

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The 8th grader from Talbot Innovation Middle School was given a $20 game room card from her mother. Loud sounds and bright lights surrounded the kids as each game waited patiently for someone to play it. For Desiree, it was the claw machine game that called out her name.

As she swiped her card, she began to focus on the claw. Inside the plexiglass case were a Nintendo Switch ($285) a Go-Pro Series 8 camera ($199.99), a Meta Quest VR Headset ($299.99), an Apple iPod ($500), and an Xbox S Series ($299.99). Several brick-like prizes say "Win Choice" on them for the winner to decide.

Slowly the claw descended and just like that, on her very first try, Desiree got her hands on a "choose anything" brick and went with the new Xbox console.

"I just tried to look at the machine from every angle," she said "I had to go with the Xbox S Series, I always wanted one."

It just goes to show that anything's possible and I can officially check off "witness someone win a top-tier prize from a claw machine.

Oliviera and her daughter Desiree will be collecting the prize sometime this week.