The Santa Claw

This one's for you, Michelle.

So, you're looking for a way to pass time... maybe you're bedridden and have 314 minutes to spare...

Well, why don't you use that time to play The Santa Claw game at thesantaclaw.com?

This is the game that my daughter always asks to play whenever we pass it in Walmart... and I tell her no because no one ever wins and it's a waste of money.  Well, this game is free and if you capture the right ball, you win a real prize! 

The anticipation is crazy, especially if you're six years old.  There's a maximum of 500 for the line, and the first couple of times I tried to get in line it was full.  The first time we played, we were in line for six and a half hours, only to have a slight malfunction (ummm... my daughter dropped the claw before moving it.  Oops!)  Anyway, we tried again today, and this is how it went.  I'll start with the positive reinforcement at the end...

Yeah, so thanks for that.  Obviously, we didn't catch a ball.

This was us at the beginning of the line. 

Yes, that's me... soulenergy. There are 309 people ahead of us, and we'll play in 314 minutes.  You can pick your own character, and change their clothes, to a certain extent.  The time is pretty accurate... trust me, we didn't hang around for this.  I just kept the computer on and checked back periodically.  Oh, and usually when you watch it "live" on the screen in the middle, you're actually watching other people play.  For some reason, today the screen was dark.

We're almost there, we're next, we're next!!  Can't you feel the excitement?!

This is it!  We're on the move!  The view on the right is birds eye into the balls.  Looks like a good place to land... I see a prize ball below!

And, it looks like we came up empty handed.

And the claw is headed back to it's starting point. 

Seriously, this is why I won't let her waste my money at the store.  Although we did see one person grab a prize ball, out of all the other people we saw play, only two others even got a ball, period.  And the colored balls aren't even worth anything.  Bah.  Humbug.  Especially after the ever-so-comforting "sorry you're a loser" message at the end.  Not what my six-year-old, who's just waited hours to play your game, wants to hear. 

But, she's tough.  And she wants to get in line again tomorrow.  And if you have a good internet connection, and you're going to be near the computer anyway... I guess it doesn't hurt.  And you never know... you could get lucky!