Hello Lobster!

[pzarquon]

We already know the Japanese put the strangest things in vending machines. But when it comes to arcade "skill" games, I think this local variation on the prize crane takes the cake:

http://photos22.flickr.com/28848956_d3e7757c02_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawaii/28848956/)

This game - cleverly titled "Hello Lobster!" - is in the food court area of 99 Ranch Market in Mapunapuna. Put in your money, grab the joystick, and try and grab yourselves a live lobster! The trip down the chute must be a doozy.

Hope nobody gets the bright idea to introduce "Hello Puppy!"

[1stwahine]

Wouldn't this fall under cruelty to animals? Poor Lobster already worrying that he/shes in captivity now gotta worry about being pick up time and time again before going down into the chute before the pot! LOL

Auntie Lynn

[pzarquon]

Remember, "cruelty to animals" outcries only apply to cute animals. Discrimination, I tell ya!

I figure, if the guy's going into a boiling pot of hot water later, it's hard to argue with a three foot drop into a metal box. And hey, at least this way, the lobster's got a chance! Those darn cranes are designed to be unreliable.

[Glen Miyashiro]

I have been chosen. Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place!

[1stwahine]

I use to win a lot of stuffed animals for my kiddies long ago. Hmmmm...I was just wondering how much would it probably cost for playing the game vs buying a live lobster outright. Then again, human nature would make a fool try win um' thinking he going get it the first couple of trys. Only to spend triple the cost of what it would be if he just purchased one outright. ;)

Auntie Lynn

PS. I want to go try this game out myself but I don't eat shellfish anymore.

[lurkah]

I have been chosen. Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place!
I wonder if his friends will try and drag him back down like crabs in a bucket do. http://allthingshawaiian.com/lurkah/smileys/smileylaughevil.gif

[lurkah]

PS. I want to go try this game out myself but I don't eat shellfish anymore.Go try um, Auntie...I eat um por you. :D

[pinakboy]

I wonder if his friends will try and drag him back down like crabs in a bucket do. http://allthingshawaiian.com/lurkah/smileys/smileylaughevil.gif

das wat dey call lobster bucket mentality?? hehehe :rolleyes:

[pinakboy]

This game - cleverly titled "Hello Lobster!" - is in the food court area of 99 Ranch Market in Mapunapuna. Put in your money, grab the joystick, and try and grab yourselves a live lobster! The trip down the chute must be a doozy.

Hope nobody gets the bright idea to introduce "Hello Puppy!"


yah i saw dat at da back entrance of 99 Ranch. i wen trip out da first time i saw dat. da mechanical boom arm crane look too flimsy and weak fo grab one lobster. :cool:

loose mahney!! po ho!! :(

[kimo55]

whadya suppose their last thoughts would be?

"I knew God was a robot!"

"Crikey! Looka the size of that...."

"yo, dude! warm yer claws before ya grab me there!"

[scrivener]

The last time I was there, there were two of these machines, both quite popular. The thing that I got to thinking about was the temperature of the water. Lobsters pretty much need it very cold (unless they're the tropical variety), and chillers cost a lot of money--more than would be practical for these machines, I think.

Both machines are plastered with Polaroids of winners holding up their prizes. I think it's a cute idea.

[LikaNui]

The photo reminds me of the Giggling Marlin Bar & Grill in Cabo San Lucas. See their logo at http://www.gigglingmarlin.com/home.htm . You can take the 'tour' of the website and see where they have the Marlin painted on a wall and they'll tie a rope around your ankles and lift you upside-down to get the photo.
Maybe they oughta do the same with the lobsters.
:p

[adrian]

LMAO!!!

Anyone knows what bus stops there? I want to take a few pics of that on my free time.

[mel]

Hope nobody gets the bright idea to introduce "Hello Puppy!"

If it is like "Hello Kitty" then no problem.

[Kilinahe]

I wouldn't eat a lobster out of one of those things for a million bucks.

[pinakboy]

I wouldn't eat a lobster out of one of those things for a million bucks.

how about for a cool mil and one cent? lol :D

i can makem either dau see (blackbean) lobster or with butter garlic sauce!! :rolleyes:

[scrivener]

I wouldn't eat a lobster out of one of those things for a million bucks.
Yeah you would!

[Eric]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I was recently reminded of this crane game and put up a couple of photos of it (http://www.hawaiistories.com/eric/2005/10/12/99-ranch-market/) on my blog. I also found out that there is a band called Hello Lobster (http://www.myspace.com/hellolobster). I suspect there isn't a connection, but you never know.

[tiptoetulip]

The Silent Suffering of Lobsters (http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/vegan/lobster03.htm)
Umm, I don't eat lobster. I hate seeing them in tanks. Not sure what I think about this lobster "game." :eek:

[kimo55]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I was recently reminded of this crane game and put up a couple of photos of it (http://www.hawaiistories.com/eric/2005/10/12/99-ranch-market/) on my blog.
aaagghhh..

shoot at angle when using flash at reflective objects!

[1stwahine]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I was recently reminded of this crane game and put up a couple of photos of it (http://www.hawaiistories.com/eric/2005/10/12/99-ranch-market/) on my blog. I also found out that there is a band called Hello Lobster (http://www.myspace.com/hellolobster). I suspect there isn't a connection, but you never know.

Hi Eric! I visited your Blog. Nice pictures. Lobsters needs to be changed every so often? LOL

Lynn

[Pomai]

If you enjoy "Lobster Slasher" shows, Iron Chef (Japan) gots plenty'o that.

Watched this Japanese travel show a while back - not Soko Ga Shiritai but similar.

The topic of the show was Bizarre At-Your-Table Dining (something like that).

This one restaurant would place a large cube of COLD raw Tofu in a clear soup bowl, then pour in cold Dashi broth. Then they would place a LIVE FISH in the dash broth. Forget what type, but small like a bait fish. Then they would pour in HOT SCALDING WATER. The fish's immediate survival instinct sends it burying itself completely inside the TOFU to escape the heat. Then the diner eats the Tofu with the live fish buried in it.

At another restaurant they would prep raw sashimi on the side. When the diner makes their order, the chef comes to the table and carves a LIVE fish at the table VERY QUICKLY, keeping the head, tail and vital organs intact, basically just removing the fillet portion off the live fish. They then arrange the prepped Sashimi on the part of the live fish where the fillet areas were removed. They set up the still-alive fish so it looks as if it's watching the diner eat away at its own body.

Another place, they remove the STILL BEATING HEART out of a live Saba and give it to the diner immediately, where they dip it in Ponzu and eat it.

Of course they also had the whole thing on FUGU (poisonous blowfish).

They even showed a censored segment of the "Nude Geisha Sashimi Experience". That's a whole nother thread (and website) though.

[Glen Miyashiro]

This one restaurant would place a large cube of COLD raw Tofu in a clear soup bowl, then pour in cold Dashi broth. Then they would place a LIVE FISH in the dash broth. Forget what type, but small like a bait fish. Then they would pour in HOT SCALDING WATER. The fish's immediate survival instinct sends it burying itself completely inside the TOFU to escape the heat. Then the diner eats the Tofu with the live fish buried in it. There was a poem in a 1980s-era issue of Bamboo Ridge that talked about exactly this dish. Wish I could find that issue now!