When I was ~8, my grandparents and I had a routine where they'd pick me up from school one day a week and we'd go do fun stuff before they took me home. Around that time, the activity I usually chose was going to a mall that had an ice skating rink and an arcade right next to one another. I'd ice skate with grandma for an hour and then I'd get $10 worth of tokens in the arcade. Sometimes I'd play solo games, sometimes I'd get them to play coop ones with me (I liked being Marge in the Simpsons game because I liked the idea of hitting people with a vacuum cleaner, the grandparents switched up which ones they played). One week we met this old guy who had two garbage bags full of stuffed animals. He was playing the claw machine and told us he'd been doing it for years and gotten so good at it that it was almost a guaranteed win for him. He'd take the stuffed animals and donate them. I was naturally fascinated by the prospect of being able to bring home endless amounts of crap I didn't need and had nowhere to put, so I started dedicating half my tokens each week to practicing. I actually got pretty good. Not quite guaranteed, but usually within a couple tries. Even after a few years out of practice, I was able to get something a friend in high school really wanted for her on our very limited supply of quarters. I haven't tried in years at this point, so I doubt I could still do it without spending some time relearning the trick to it, but back when I was in practice, I could grab even the elusive little containers they had watches and stuff in with ease, so getting a PS2 for only $3 that way doesn't sound like too huge a stretch if someone has a decent amount of skill and luck.