This is me entering an arcade wearing just your normal everyday backpack. Only technically it's not your normal everyday backpack because when I set it here and then nonchalantly load a few balls into the water bottle, then it plays the game like a good robot should and I win all the tickets. And that's pretty cool, but what if I told you I made similar backpacks not just for Skee-Ball, but for this game, and this one, basically coming up with contraptions to absolutely dominate five of the most common arcade games, including some hacks that cost less than a dollar and actually work to set world record ticket payouts. But we also secretly recorded data from a bunch of different arcades. So I'll teach you the strategies to beat the games that give out the most tickets along with showing you the five games we discovered are actual scams. Don't ever step foot in another arcade again until you've watched this video in its entirety. Let's get started. Now admittedly, the genesis for this video came when I was using my over-engineered bowling ball that I could control just by leaning. Because I thought, what if I took that same concept and applied it to minigolf? And while that idea could be really useful for getting a good golf score, there's just no real payoff for my efforts. Which focused my attention to the holy grail of any mini golf course, the arcade. It was time to recoup all the allowance money I've lost as a kid, starting first with Skee-Ball. Now before we really see it in action, let me first explain how it works. Because if you take away the backpack, you'll find a Frankenstein version of a softball pitching machine that we chopped up, then modified so it runs just off batteries. Then there's a solenoid here that makes sure the Skee-Balls get released one at a time. So if you just turn it on, then we put a ball in here, it fires the ball like this. The coolest part here though is when it's placed in the backpack, you roll this pocket up to reveal the ball exit, and then place this water bottle here as a clever disguise to load up to three balls at a time. Now, of course, if you don't have a secret robot backpack, here's how you win this game as a mere human. For starters, if you watch the pros play, yes, there are Skee-Ball pros, they actually aim for the 4,000 point hole. And this actually makes sense because even if your throw is a little too weak or a little too strong, you're still getting significant points. A common mistake is to take the bait and go all or nothing by aiming for the small 10,000 point hole in the corner. The pros aim for this only in desperate situations where they're behind and they need big points to make a comeback for the win. The other big tip is to brace your leg against the base of the machine in the same spot each time, and then try and only move your arm, which will make your throws more repeatable and accurate because you're reducing the variables that could lead to air. So if you want to win, just follow these tips and practice a bunch. Or you could just go with my route. So then when you're all done dominating, or if you think one of the workers might be getting suspicious, you can just pick up the backpack at any point and walk away with a bunch of tickets on your card. Up next is one of my personal favorites, basketball. In this case, the backpack is being used just to smuggle the special mechanism inside. Because to the untrained eye, this is just a normal basketball, when in fact, it's a robot in disguise. Now before I show you exactly how it works, you first need to understand how these games work. Just underneath each rim is an infrared laser and a detector. And then on the front of the rim, on the other side of that metal plate is a reflector. So when the laser beam shines straightforward, it bounces off the reflector and then the sensor's like, yep, I can see the beam. So when a ball goes through the hoop, it breaks the beam and the sensor's like, aha, I didn't see it for a second, at which point it tells the game to add two points to your total because that means you must have scored. In engineering, we call this a beam break detector. And it's the exact same concept you have as a safety feature on your garage door. So if you really wanted to destroy the high score here, the ball needs to break the beam, then somehow get out of the way so the beam reconnects, and then come back and break the beam again over and over again as fast as possible. But if you think about it, the whole ball doesn't need to actually get out of the way, just the part in front of the beam itself. And how might you do that? Well, one way is to 3D print the bottom hemisphere of a basketball in two parts, attached together through some linear guide rods, then add a battery, microcontroller and servo motor so the bottom part of the shell can translate up and down. This way it would reconnect the beam and then break it over and over again and register two points every time that happened. Now you just need a way to grab the rim so you can hang out there while you perform these shenanigans. And if you add some pneumatic pistons connected to a mini pressure tank controlled by a solenoid valve triggered by an RF remote, then you could shoot the ball normally and then with one push of a button, piston rods would shoot out and grab the rim. And then once mischief was managed, you trigger the remote again and they would retract. Now if you just add another 3D printed hemisphere on top, then glue on the actual basketball skin, and when you put it all together, it would look something like this. Now if you don't happen to have a robo ball, here's a few tips that will help you get the high score for this game. Now the most important thing is you never want to waste time waiting for a ball to roll down to you. And since these games normally come in pairs, just swipe your card on both games and then temporarily borrow the second set of balls. And this will give you plenty more than you need, so just keep the balls that are the least inflated. Now you start the game and get into a rhythm where you finish your shot with one hand and then start grabbing a replacement ball with your other hand before your first shot has even gone in. Or if the rim is close and you want to get really extreme, you can just go with the two-handed shooting strategy like this guy. But even that strategy is no match for my spherical transformer, because when I'm ready to go, I just shoot the ball with one hand and then hit the remote right as it's about to go in. And now as the ball just sits there articulating, I simply watch those sweet, sweet points rack themselves right on up. And then as soon as time's up, I just hit the remote again and the piston rods retract. And while no one's the wiser, I've now engineered my way to a buttload of tickets and a new lifetime high score. Next up is a really popular game called Quick Drop where you hit this button to release these ping pong balls at the right moment and if you get all 50 ping pong balls into the buckets within the 22 seconds allotted without missing any shots, then you hit the mega jackpot. But the thing is, to get all 50 balls in before the time runs out, there's essentially no margin for human error, which is good news for me because robot backpacks don't make human error. Now you notice when I walk up, I can just set the backpack down and it self registers right in place. The trick here is we 3D printed an exact negative replica of the button housing on the game. And this piston rod that pokes through and pushes the button on the game is attached to this solenoid that's controlled by this Arduino microcontroller and it tells it the exact timing needed to beat the game. Now if you're trying this on your own, here's what you need to know. To successfully do this in 22 seconds, you have to drop four balls in each bucket, except in two buckets, you've got to drop five. Now dropping five into these two buckets isn't impossible, but the timing's so tight, it's really hard to pull off without them hitting the rim and bouncing out. Now the jackpot starts at 500 tickets and every time someone loses, it goes up by two tickets and each time that happens, the game gives you just a little more total time on the clock. And so if you ever see the jackpot at more than 625 tickets, enough time is now on the clock where you only need four balls per bucket to win and it's definitely worth trying it a few times because that makes it so much easier to pull off. Alternatively, if you're too impatient to wait for the jackpot to rise up, you can just go to school for six years to get a degree in mechanical engineering and do it this way. And then even as all 554 sweet, delicious tickets are being added to your account, you can just inconspicuously walk away with your backpack in tow. For our next game, we've got the perennial arcade favorite, air hockey. Now this is the most complicated of all the builds because if you look closely here at the top, there's a hole in the bag for a camera to look out through. Then stripping away the backpack, you can see that camera connected to the brains, and in this case, it's a Raspberry Pi, which is basically like a mini computer instead of just an Arduino microcontroller like all the other builds have used so far. The reason this one needs a bit more brain power is because it uses computer vision to track the puck and based off the trajectory, it makes a prediction, then sends instructions to rotate this servo, which is attached to an arm that moves the paddle and protects the goal. Nice. And perhaps my favorite part of this build is that it obviously won't work if the whole thing is sliding and moving all around. So we need to anchor it down securely into position, but we need to do that quickly and discreetly. Our solution here is a pair of neodymium toggle magnets. So if you simply turn both of these knobs, the rare earth magnets move into position and anchor it to the steel frame of the air hockey table and it's basically cemented in place as you can see here. As for the human strategy here, playing air hockey might seem like total chaos, but there are four simple tricks that will pretty much guarantee you can beat any casual player. The first is to hold the paddle like this and not like this. Doing that allows you to really whip the paddle around and get an extra speed on your shots. The second is that for your default defensive position, you want your paddle to be out here, not right up against the goal right here. That's because this cuts down the angle and you only have to move the paddle back and forth this far to protect the whole goal versus back and forth this far if you're against the edge. This is the same reason goalies will come out of the goal if there's a breakaway in soccer. Even for a bank shot, you now just have to move the paddle a small distance diagonally back like this. So your paddle should essentially always stay inside a triangle like this when you're playing defense. Now when you watch professionals play, yes, there are air hockey professionals, you will see them employ both these first two tips. The third trick you'll also see is they try and play for possession. You want to try and cushion your opponent's shot and gain possession of the puck so you can set up your own shot, which leads to the last tip. Mix up the straight shots and bank shots, but try and practice at least one trick shot like this one where you hit the puck down into the corner and then when it rebounds back to you, you hit the bank shot for the win. Here's what that looks like in action. Now the real benefit of my backpack system is you can be playing your opponent, but then when you get a phone call or you have to attend to some other important matters, your goal is in safe hands. And then at your own leisure, you can eventually just come back and finish things off. Then with the victory securely in hand, you just disengage the two toggle magnets with a twist and you're good to go. And finally, we've got the ultimate test of strength, the punching bag game. Now for this one, to make it more interesting, I wanted to find and challenge the guy in the arcade whose muscles looked the least like mine. So I stepped up first and rocked a 678 out of a possible 999. But then he stepped up and rocked an 877. And since that's bigger than 678, the trash talking commenced. maybe if you spent a little less time at the computer and a little more time in the weight room... So that was disappointing, but lucky for me, I had a trick up my sleeve. Like actually, cuz that's a fake arm in order to disguise this. Now who's the one who's feelin' a little inadequate? It's basically a bionic punching arm powered by two spring-loaded pistons. To set the springs, we use a threaded rod and a drill, and then once under tension, they're held in place with a quick release mechanism that I can trigger with my finger at the exact moment I want to punch a thing. And I would classify the initial testing in the lab as encouraging. It's important to note that to play by the rules for this game, there's no side punching, pushing, running, kicking, or headbutting. But you'll notice there's no rule against spring-loaded piston punching gloves. So now that my moment of sheer domination had arrived, I stepped up and rocked an 838, which was less than 877, which was disappointing. In hindsight, I should have known it's really hard to compete with the human body in terms of things like punching and throwing because we're just so efficient with those mechanics. And I have to sacrifice a lot of the speed and momentum of my own body system when I'm wearing that heavy wrist-mounted puncher. You know what? I'm a fighter. And what I lack in muscle mass, I make up for in tenacity. So out of curiosity, I took a closer look to see how the machine actually works. And it turns out it has a beam break sensor just like the basketball game. So as that odd-shaped metal piece which is attached to the axle and punching bag rotates around, the beam has this tiny window to hit the sensor. You can see the sensor in the front view here. So the game cleverly measures how many milliseconds the sensor sees the beam for, and from that it infers how quickly the bag is rotating on the axle, and therefore how hard it was punched. And this gave me an idea. So I went to the prize counter and redeemed a few of my jackpot tickets I've been stocking up in exchange for a PEZ dispenser. Step one was to unwrap and eat some of the PEZ cuz they're just delicious. And then for step two, I removed the head and cut the arcade card like this, and then taped it here, and then went and tracked down my new friend. My theory was that if I extended the PEZ dispenser and modified card out like this and then let go, the force of the spring would retract the card and it would break the beam so fast, the machine would think it was an insanely fast punch. But would it actually work? And it turns out it absolutely does because I maxed out the machine. So, uh, yeah. Use this information responsibly, kids. Now a few years ago, I made a video where I visited the carnival and collected data on all the games and then used physics to expose which carnival games were rigged and then showed how to beat them. So this time around, instead of the carnival, I once again bribed some family and friends with unlimited slurpees in exchange for them collecting a bunch of data at some local arcades. And in addition to uncovering which games were scams, which I'll cover in just a minute, here's what we discovered. For starters, the most popular games in the arcade were the redemption games, as opposed to the experience games. And here's what I mean by that. Redemption games are the games where the goal is to win tickets. So like the coin pushers, or this Plinko game, or spin the wheel. On the other end of the spectrum, you have experience games like air hockey, Skee-Ball, or racing games. And it's a trade-off because the games on this side of the spectrum give out more tickets, but it's not as much about the fun of the experience. And then in the middle of the spectrum, you have games like the ping pong drop or hit the clown that have middle of the road ticket payouts, but they're also middle of the road fun to play. Now since the games on this side were a lot more popular, they earn a lot more money for the arcade even when you factor in the higher ticket payouts. We found that for a medium-sized arcade on a busy day, the less popular games were played 25 times and the more popular ones could be played up to 250 times or more. At an average gameplay of $1, that means each game makes $25 to $250 per day or about $7 to $70,000 per year. And finally, we found that if your sole goal is to win tickets, coin pusher games like this Avengers one seem to be the best return on investment. But honestly, you can just ask one of the workers there who are hanging out making minimum wage and are probably pretty chill, cuz chances are they'll just tell you which ones they regularly see payout the best. All right, so finally, let's get to the real juicy part and talk about which games we discovered were basically scams. Now I actually have some experience in this area because a few years back, I built my original backpack arcade robot to dominate this game. Basically, it would sense the light turning on a few lights in front of the jackpot light, then it would hit the button with sub-millisecond precision, and then we would touch nothing in between runs, and yet it would alternate between missing both short and long. In other words, the timing on the jackpot light doesn't match up with the duration it's lit, and it's very different from all the other lights. You can actually test this for yourself by picking a random light and you'll find that you can miraculously hit that random light every single time you try. Now this caused me to dig a little deeper and after a bit of research, I was able to get a hold of a copy of the owner's manual at which point I discovered the arcade owner could just manually set how often a jackpot should be won. So this time around, I was curious what other games were essentially running the same scam where you think it's a game of skill, but in reality, the arcade owner is controlling when a jackpot's won. And as it turns out, this really popular game called Stacker employs the same trick. This other really popular game Key Master and this Cut the Rope game are also in fact running the same scam. In all three cases, I was able to get a hold of a copy of their owner's manual and each one has some language around how the arcade owner can specify how often a jackpot occurs. I also found many but not all claw machines have language around how it will close with full strength but then back off to a much weaker strength of whatever is set by the owner. For this reason, it's best to try for prizes closest to the exit hole to minimize the amount of time it's held in the claws. And I call these games scams because they present themselves as winnable games of skill when in reality, it's essentially a random dice roll that is heavily stacked against you. And just like at the carnival, the most lucrative games are those where people overestimate their chances of winning because they seem to get close but they don't quite win. In gambling psychology, this is known as the near miss effect and it will lead to increased play of the slot machine. But this is much worse than a slot machine because at least in that case, you know it doesn't matter how you pull the lever because it's random chance. And on top of that, those games are regulated so there is a minimum payout required by law. So for every dollar, for example, put into a slot machine, they have to pay out at least 80 cents back to the players. But for those scam arcade games I just mentioned, the default payout rate is on average 20 cents for every dollar you spend, but a shady arcade owner could basically set that to zero and no one would know and that would be perfectly legal. And that's especially messed up because it's primarily played by kids. So if you just remember nothing else, just try and pick games that avoid any sort of digital winning element that can be rigged because in those cases, you just never really know what your chances are. These games, however, are all great options to at least have a better sense of your actual odds of winning. I've checked the manual for all of these and what you see is exactly what you get. And I can vouch some arcades are more fair about this than others. For example, my home arcade here refuses to carry any of the games that can be rigged against you, which I think is pretty cool. However, if they happen to see this, my only suggestion is that moving forward, they should probably institute a no backpacks allowed policy. And perhaps also don't let people redeem tickets for PEZ dispensers.
A man walks towards and enters an arcade called 'HYPERSPACE'.
"This is me entering an arcade wearing just your normal everyday backpack."
Setting: outside an arcade — bright, natural daylight
People (1):
• walking, wearing black long-sleeved shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — profile view, focused
Text: "HYPERSPACE", "127"
The man places his backpack on a Skee-Ball machine and loads small white balls into a light blue water bottle attached to the backpack.
"Only technically it's not your normal everyday backpack because when I set it here and then nonchalantly load a few balls into the water bottle,"
Setting: inside an arcade — dim with colorful neon lights
People (1):
• leaning over the backpack, wearing black long-sleeved shirt and khaki pants, not visible hair — not visible
The man stands with arms crossed, watching as the Skee-Ball machine's score rapidly increases. The backpack is positioned at the start of the lane.
"then it plays the game like a good robot should and I win all the tickets."
Setting: inside an arcade — dim, with bright neon lights from the games
People (1):
• leaning against a machine, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling, looking at the camera
Text: "32000"
A montage shows various items on a wooden workbench: two backpacks, a softball pitching machine, a basketball, an air hockey puck, and Skee-Balls.
"And that's pretty cool, but what if I told you I made similar backpacks not just for Skee-Ball,"
Setting: a workshop — bright, even workshop lighting
Text: "CRUNCH LABS"
A quick montage of different arcade games being cheated: a ball drop game, a basketball game, an air hockey game, and a punching bag game.
"basically coming up with contraptions to absolutely dominate five of the most common arcade games,"
Setting: an arcade — colorful and flashing
People (1):
• active — focused
A man holds up a modified PEZ dispenser with a piece of an arcade card taped to it. The score on a punching machine jumps to 989.
"and actually work to set world record ticket payouts."
Setting: an arcade — flashing lights from the game
People (1):
• leaning forward, wearing dark t-shirt, short, dark hair — smiling, looking at the machine
Text: "989"
A montage of people playing various games in different arcades, including a prize counter area.
"So I'll teach you the strategies to beat the games that give out the most tickets"
Setting: various arcades — bright, colorful neon and fluorescent lights
People (1):
• standing, playing, wearing casual t-shirts — focused on games
Quick cuts of arcade games with a red 'SCAM ALERT' stamp appearing over them. The games shown are a key prize game and a 'Barber Cut' string-cutting game.
"along with showing you the five games we discovered are actual scams."
Setting: an arcade — bright internal game lighting
Text: "SCAM ALERT"
Mark Rober stands in front of the open-air entrance to an arcade, gesturing emphatically with his hands.
"Don't ever step foot in another arcade again until you've watched this video in its entirety."
Setting: outside an arcade — bright, natural daylight from outside
People (1):
• standing, animated, wearing dark grey t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — expressive, talking to the camera
A fast-paced montage of various people, mostly kids and teenagers, playing different arcade games like punching machines, motorcycle racing, and shooting games.
Setting: various arcades — dark with vibrant, colorful game lights
People (1):
• playing games, wearing casual clothing — excited, focused
A black bowling ball rolls down a lane. The shot then cuts to a woman in a green shirt bowling, and the ball hits the pins, causing children to react with amazement.
"Now admittedly, the genesis for this video came when I was using my over-engineered bowling ball that I could control just by leaning."
Setting: a bowling alley — bright, fluorescent
People (2):
• bowling stance, wearing green t-shirt and red pants, blonde, short hair — focused
• sitting — shocked, mouths open
Text: "youtube/markrober"
A man putts a red golf ball on a mini-golf course. The ball navigates obstacles and gets close to the hole.
"and applied it to minigolf. And while that idea could be really useful for getting a good golf score,"
Setting: an outdoor mini-golf course — bright, sunny daylight
People (1):
• putting stance, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — focused
The red mini-golf ball stops just short of the hole. The man reacts with disappointment.
"There's just no real payoff for my efforts."
Setting: an outdoor mini-golf course — bright, sunny daylight
People (1):
• standing, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — disappointed, sighing
The man walks through a different, more classic-style arcade with red and blue decor.
"It was time to recoup all the allowance money I've lost as a kid, starting first with Skee-Ball."
Setting: an arcade — dim with colorful game lights
People (1):
• walking, wearing dark t-shirt and khaki pants, not visible hair — not visible
A black backpack sits on a workbench. The shot transitions to show the internal mechanism, which is a modified softball pitching machine.
"Because if you take away the backpack, you'll find a Frankenstein version of a softball pitching machine"
Setting: a workshop — bright workshop lighting
A close-up shot shows a metal solenoid attached to the machine. A white Skee-Ball is dropped into a tube and the solenoid plunger holds it in place.
"Then there's a solenoid here that makes sure the Skee-Balls get released one at a time."
Setting: a workshop — bright, focused light
The man stands by a workbench where the Skee-Ball launching mechanism is placed. He drops a ball in, and it shoots out across the room.
"it fires the ball like this."
Setting: a workshop — bright, even lighting
People (1):
• standing next to the workbench, wearing black jacket over t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling slightly
A person's hands roll up a flap on the bottom of the backpack to reveal an opening. They then place a hollowed-out water bottle over the ball-loading tube.
"you roll this pocket up to reveal the ball exit, and then place this water bottle here as a clever disguise to load up to three balls at a time."
Setting: a workshop — bright, focused light
People (1):
• leaning over the workbench, wearing black jacket — not visible
A man in zebra-striped pants plays Skee-Ball, rolling the balls down the lane with an underhand motion.
"Now, of course, if you don't have a secret robot backpack, here's how you win this game as a mere human."
Setting: a Skee-Ball tournament — dim, ambient lighting
People (1):
• bent over, playing, wearing black t-shirt and green and black zebra-striped pants, long, dark, with a mullet hair — focused
Text: "youtube/Localish"
A Skee-Ball rolls up the ramp and lands in the 4,000 point hole. A red arrow points to the target hole.
"they actually aim for the 4,000 point hole."
Setting: an arcade — blue and purple neon lights
Text: "4,000"
A Skee-Ball rolls up the ramp and misses the 10,000 point hole, bouncing off the side. A red arrow points to the corner hole.
"A common mistake is to take the bait and go all or nothing by aiming for the small 10,000 point hole in the corner."
Setting: an arcade — blue and purple neon lights
Text: "10,000"
A person in khaki pants and sandals demonstrates bracing their leg against the corner of a Skee-Ball machine.
"The other big tip is to brace your leg against the base of the machine in the same spot each time"
Setting: an arcade (likely Chuck E. Cheese) — bright, even lighting
People (1):
• standing, bracing leg, wearing white t-shirt and khaki pants — not visible
The person demonstrates the proper, repeatable throwing motion for Skee-Ball, keeping their body stable and moving only their arm.
"because you're reducing the variables that could lead to air. So if you want to win, just follow these tips and practice a bunch."
Setting: an arcade (likely Chuck E. Cheese) — bright, even lighting
People (1):
• leaning forward, playing, wearing white t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — profile view, focused
A montage from the backpack's point of view shows it launching Skee-Balls down the lane. The balls consistently land in high-scoring holes.
Setting: an arcade — flashing neon lights of various colors
The man, standing with arms crossed, smirks at the camera next to the Skee-Ball machine, which displays a high score of 90,000.
"So then when you're all done dominating, or if you think one of the workers might be getting suspicious,"
Setting: an arcade — dim with colorful game lights
People (1):
• standing, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smirking
Text: "90000"
The man picks up his backpack from the Skee-Ball machine and walks away through the crowded arcade.
"you can just pick up the backpack at any point and walk away with a bunch of tickets on your card."
Setting: an arcade — bright, mixed arcade lighting
People (1):
• walking, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — profile, looking ahead
The man walks up to an NBA Hoops basketball arcade game, takes off his backpack, and places it in the ball return area.
"Up next is one of my personal favorites, basketball."
Setting: an arcade — dim with bright game lights
People (1):
• walking and bending, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling
A basketball is shown with a seam around its equator. It separates into two halves, revealing a complex robotic mechanism inside.
"Because to the untrained eye, this is just a normal basketball, when in fact, it's a robot in disguise."
Setting: a workshop — bright, direct light
A close-up shot of the underside of a basketball rim, showing a small hole containing a red and a clear bulb. A red arrow points to it.
"Just underneath each rim is an infrared laser and a detector."
Setting: an arcade — bright, focused light
An animation shows a red laser beam shooting across the diameter of a basketball hoop, bouncing off a reflector, and returning to the sensor.
"So when the laser beam shines straightforward, it bounces off the reflector and then the sensor's like, yep, I can see the beam."
Setting: n/a (animation) — n/a (animation)
The animation continues, showing a basketball falling through the hoop and interrupting the red laser beam.
"So when a ball goes through the hoop, it breaks the beam and the sensor's like, aha, I didn't see it for a second,"
Setting: n/a (animation) — n/a (animation)
A real-world beam break sensor for a garage door is shown on a concrete floor. A red ball rolls through the beam, causing the garage door to stop closing.
"In engineering, we call this a beam break detector. And it's the exact same concept you have as a safety feature on your garage door."
Setting: a garage — natural light from the open door
An animation shows a basketball hovering in the hoop, moving up and down rapidly to break and un-break the laser beam repeatedly.
"the ball needs to break the beam, then somehow get out of the way so the beam reconnects, and then come back and break the beam again over and over again as fast as possible."
Setting: n/a (animation) — n/a (animation)
A 3D printer is shown printing a large, black, hemispherical object. The shot cuts to an overhead view of the printer finishing the part.
"And how might you do that? Well, one way is to 3D print the bottom hemisphere of a basketball in two parts"
Setting: a workshop — focused light on the printer
A time-lapse shows the assembly of the robot basketball's internal mechanism, including a battery, wires, and a servo motor.
"then add a battery, microcontroller and servo motor so the bottom part of the shell can translate up and down."
Setting: a workshop — bright, direct light
Two men are working on the robot basketball mechanism, attaching it to an orange basketball rim clamped in a vise.
"Now you just need a way to grab the rim so you can hang out there while you perform these shenanigans."
Setting: a workshop — bright workshop lighting
People (2):
• leaning over the workbench, wearing grey 'Crunch Labs' t-shirt — focused
• standing, wearing multi-colored t-shirt — smiling
A person presses a button on a small remote, and two metal rods shoot out from the robot basketball mechanism, grabbing onto the rim.
"and then with one push of a button, piston rods would shoot out and grab the rim."
Setting: a workshop — bright
A man holds the fully assembled robot basketball, showing its two halves. He then holds it up to the camera, and it opens and closes.
"then glue on the actual basketball skin, and when you put it all together, it would look something like this."
Setting: a workshop — bright, even lighting
People (1):
• standing, wearing black jacket, short, dark hair — smiling
A montage shows people playing the arcade basketball game, some successfully, some not.
"Now if you don't happen to have a robo ball, here's a few tips that will help you get the high score for this game."
Setting: various arcades — dark with colorful game lights
People (1):
• shooting stance, wearing casual shirts — focused
A man swipes a card on two adjacent basketball machines and then gathers all the basketballs from both machines into one.
"just swipe your card on both games and then temporarily borrow the second set of balls."
Setting: an arcade — bright, even lighting
People (1):
• bending and moving between machines, wearing white t-shirt and khaki pants — focused on the task
A man demonstrates a fast, two-handed rhythm for shooting arcade basketballs, grabbing a new ball as the previous one is still in the air.
"Now you start the game and get into a rhythm where you finish your shot with one hand and then start grabbing a replacement ball with your other hand before your first shot has even gone in."
Setting: an arcade — bright, colorful lighting
People (1):
• rhythmic shooting stance, wearing white t-shirt and khaki pants — focused
The man shoots the robot basketball, which then deploys its metal rods to hang from the rim.
"because when I'm ready to go, I just shoot the ball with one hand and then hit the remote right as it's about to go in."
Setting: an arcade — dim with bright game lights
The man stands smugly, holding the remote, as the robot basketball hangs on the rim and the score on the machine rapidly increases.
"I simply watch those sweet, sweet points rack themselves right on up."
Setting: an arcade — colorful arcade lighting
People (1):
• standing, wearing black jacket and khaki pants — smirking, looking at the camera
A close-up of the basketball machine's scoreboard shows the score rapidly climbing past 62, 74, and 88.
Setting: an arcade — internal game lighting
Text: "NBA Hoops", "PLAYER 1"
The man walks away from the basketball game, holding the retrieved robot ball, looking pleased with himself.
"and a new lifetime high score."
Setting: an arcade — dim with colorful game lights
People (1):
• walking away, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling
A shot pans up a tall, red and blue arcade game called 'Quik Drop'. It shows the red button at the bottom and the ball drop mechanism at the top.
"Next up is a really popular game called Quick Drop where you hit this button to release these ping pong balls at the right moment"
Setting: an arcade — bright, colorful, neon lighting
Text: "Quik Drop", "CATCH ALL 50 BALLS TO WIN THE JACKPOT!"
A young girl plays the Quik Drop game, pressing the button repeatedly as red balls fall into the spinning buckets below.
"But the thing is, to get all 50 balls in before the time runs out, there's essentially no margin for human error,"
Setting: an arcade — dim with bright red and pink lights from the game
People (1):
• standing, playing, wearing white t-shirt and denim shorts, curly, brown hair — concentrating
A black backpack is shown, then it fades away to reveal a complex electronic mechanism with an Arduino, batteries, and a solenoid.
"which is good news for me because robot backpacks don't make human error."
Setting: a workshop or studio — bright, even light
A close-up of a 3D-printed black plastic piece that is shaped to fit perfectly over the game's button housing.
"The trick here is we 3D printed an exact negative replica of the button housing on the game."
Setting: a workshop — bright, focused light
A close-up of the assembled robot mechanism, showing the Arduino Nano, wires, a solenoid, and batteries.
"is attached to this solenoid that's controlled by this Arduino microcontroller and it tells it the exact timing needed to beat the game."
Setting: a workshop — bright light
A person swipes a card to start the Quik Drop game.
"Now if you're trying this on your own, here's what you need to know."
Setting: an arcade — bright and colorful
People (1):
• standing and khaki pants
A person plays Quik Drop. The balls are shown dropping, with some successfully landing in the buckets and others bouncing off the rims.
"Now dropping five into these two buckets isn't impossible, but the timing's so tight, it's really hard to pull off without them hitting the rim and bouncing out."
Setting: an arcade — bright, flashing red lights
The jackpot display on the Quik Drop game is shown, with the number of tickets slowly increasing from 500 to 512.
"Now the jackpot starts at 500 tickets and every time someone loses, it goes up by two tickets and each time that happens, the game gives you just a little more total time on the clock."
Setting: an arcade — flashing lights from the sign
Text: "QUIK DROP", "500"
The jackpot display shows a value of 624. The timer on the game screen is shown, indicating a longer play time.
"And so if you ever see the jackpot at more than 625 tickets, enough time is now on the clock where you only need four balls per bucket to win"
Setting: an arcade — bright game lights
Text: "624"
A montage shows an aerial view of a university campus, a shot of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and Mark Rober in a clean suit next to a Mars rover.
"Alternatively, if you're too impatient to wait for the jackpot to rise up, you can just go to school for six years to get a degree in mechanical engineering and do it this way."
Setting: university and NASA lab — bright, natural and indoor lighting
People (1):
• taking a selfie, wearing white clean suit with mask and gloves — eyes visible, smiling
The robot backpack is set up and plays the Quik Drop game, perfectly timing the button presses to drop all the balls into the buckets.
Setting: an arcade — dim with bright, flashing game lights
People (1):
• standing casually, wearing black jacket and khaki pants — looking at his phone
Text: "CATCH ALL 50 BALLS"
After winning the jackpot, the man picks up his backpack and walks away through the arcade.
"And then even as all 554 sweet, delicious tickets are being added to your account, you can just inconspicuously walk away with your backpack in tow."
Setting: an arcade — bright, varied arcade lighting
People (1):
• walking away, wearing black jacket and khaki pants, not visible hair — not visible
Text: "554 JACKPOT TICKETS!"
Two people are playing an intense game of air hockey on a blue and neon-yellow table.
"For our next game, we've got the perennial arcade favorite, air hockey."
Setting: an arcade — dim with neon lights
People (2):
• playing, wearing pink patterned shirt — focused
• playing, wearing black t-shirt — laughing
A close-up shot of the top of the black backpack reveals a small camera lens peeking through a hole.
"there's a hole in the bag for a camera to look out through."
Setting: a workshop — bright, focused light
A close-up of the air hockey robot's internal tower, showing a Raspberry Pi computer board connected to a camera with a ribbon cable.
"and in this case, it's a Raspberry Pi, which is basically like a mini computer instead of just an Arduino microcontroller like all the other builds have used so far."
Setting: a workshop — bright workshop lighting
A computer screen shows the camera's view of the air hockey table. The software tracks the green puck, drawing a blue line to predict its path.
"The reason this one needs a bit more brain power is because it uses computer vision to track the puck and based off the trajectory, it makes a prediction,"
Setting: a workshop — light from the monitor
Text: "warped"
The man places the air hockey robot on the side of the table and demonstrates how turning two knobs engages powerful magnets that lock it in place.
"Our solution here is a pair of neodymium toggle magnets."
Setting: an arcade — dim ambient light
People (1):
• leaning over the table, wearing dark t-shirt and khaki pants — focused
A four-panel split screen shows four different air hockey techniques being demonstrated.
"As for the human strategy here, playing air hockey might seem like total chaos, but there are four simple tricks that will pretty much guarantee you can beat any casual player."
Setting: an arcade — bright
Text: "1", "2", "3", "4"
A hand demonstrates the correct grip for an air hockey paddle (fingers spread on top) versus the incorrect grip (holding the knob).
"The first is to hold the paddle like this and not like this."
Setting: an arcade — bright
People (1):
• hand over the table
A hand demonstrates the correct defensive position for the paddle (further out from the goal) versus the incorrect one (right against the goal).
"The second is that for your default defensive position, you want your paddle to be out here, not right up against the goal right here."
Setting: an arcade — bright
People (1):
• hand over the table
Two men play a professional-level air hockey match in what appears to be a tournament setting, with spectators in the background.
"Now when you watch professionals play, yes, there are air hockey professionals, you will see them employ both these first two tips."
Setting: an air hockey tournament — bright, indoor lighting
People (1):
• hunched over, playing intensely, wearing black t-shirt — highly focused
A hand demonstrates gaining control of the puck by cushioning its impact, then setting up a shot.
"so you can set up your own shot, which leads to the last tip. Mix up the straight shots and bank shots, but try and practice at least one trick shot like this one"
Setting: an arcade — bright
The man plays air hockey against an opponent, with his robot backpack sitting on the table next to his goal, acting as a defender.
"Now the real benefit of my backpack system is you can be playing your opponent,"
Setting: an arcade — dim with neon lights
People (2):
• playing, wearing dark t-shirt and khaki pants — focused
• playing, wearing black shirt — focused
The man walks away from the air hockey game to take a phone call, leaving the robot backpack to defend the goal on its own. It successfully blocks a shot.
"but then when you get a phone call or you have to attend to some other important matters, your goal is in safe hands."
Setting: an arcade — dim with neon lights
People (2):
• walking away, wearing dark t-shirt — on the phone
• playing, wearing black shirt — confused
A shot of a red 'Boxer' punching bag arcade game. A person in a pink shirt punches it.
"And finally, we've got the ultimate test of strength, the punching bag game."
Setting: an arcade — bright indoor lighting
People (1):
• punching, wearing pink shirt — not visible
Text: "BOXER"
Mark Rober stands next to a very muscular, bald man in a grey shirt. The muscular man has his hands on his hips and is smiling.
"I wanted to find and challenge the guy in the arcade whose muscles looked the least like mine."
Setting: an arcade — bright, even lighting
People (2):
• standing, wearing dark t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling, looking at the muscular man
• standing confidently, wearing grey t-shirt with 'ANIMAL' logo and black pants, bald hair — smiling
The muscular man punches the bag with great force, and the score quickly registers as 877.
"and rocked a 678 out of a possible 999. But then he stepped up and rocked an 877."
Setting: an arcade — bright lighting
People (1):
• punching stance, wearing grey t-shirt, bald hair — intense, focused
Text: "877"
The muscular man trash-talks Mark Rober, who looks thoughtful and then dejected.
"maybe if you spent a little less time at the computer and a little more time in the weight room..."
Setting: an arcade — bright, even lighting
People (2):
• standing, wearing dark t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — thinking, then looking downcast
• standing, wearing grey t-shirt and black pants, bald hair — smirking, talking
Mark Rober walks back into the frame wearing a puffy black jacket, then dramatically pulls his real arm out, revealing a mechanical punching arm was hidden in the sleeve.
"Like actually, cuz that's a fake arm in order to disguise this."
Setting: an arcade — bright, even lighting
People (2):
• standing, wearing dark t-shirt under a puffy black jacket and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling triumphantly
• standing, wearing grey t-shirt, bald hair — shocked and amused
The man holds the bionic punching arm, which is made of metal rods and a spring mechanism.
"It's basically a bionic punching arm powered by two spring-loaded pistons."
Setting: a workshop — bright, even lighting
People (1):
• standing, wearing dark t-shirt with NASA logos and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling, explaining
The bionic arm is tested by punching a piece of wood held in a vise. The wood shatters dramatically.
"And I would classify the initial tests in the lab as encouraging."
Setting: a workshop — bright workshop lighting
People (1):
• standing, wearing dark t-shirt, short, dark hair — laughing, impressed
Mark Rober, holding the bionic arm, prepares to punch the arcade machine. The muscular man looks on with a skeptical expression.
"So now that my moment of sheer domination had arrived, I stepped up"
Setting: an arcade — bright indoor lighting
People (2):
• aiming, wearing dark t-shirt — focused, determined
• standing, wearing grey t-shirt, bald hair — watching intently
The bionic arm punches the bag, but the score is only 838, less than the muscular man's score. Mark Rober looks dejected.
"and rocked an 838, which was less than 877, which was disappointing."
Setting: an arcade — bright game lights
People (1):
• standing, wearing dark t-shirt — disappointed
Text: "838"
Slow-motion shot of the muscular man's powerful punch, showing the extreme muscle definition in his arm.
"And in hindsight, I should have known it's really hard to compete with the human body in terms of things like punching and throwing"
Setting: an arcade — dramatic, focused light
People (1):
• mid-punch, wearing grey t-shirt, bald hair — straining, focused
Mark Rober inspects the punching bag machine, looking up into its mechanism with a flashlight from his phone.
"So out of curiosity, I took a closer look to see how the machine actually works."
Setting: an arcade — bright light from the phone flashlight
People (1):
• looking up into the machine, wearing dark t-shirt, short, dark hair — curious, looking up
A phone camera looks inside the machine's mechanism, revealing a metal arm that passes through a black beam break sensor.
"And it turns out, it has a beam break sensor just like the basketball game."
Setting: an arcade — provided by the phone's flash
Mark Rober trades tickets with an arcade employee at the prize counter for a Star Wars PEZ dispenser.
"I went to the prize counter and redeemed a few of my jackpot tickets I've been stocking up in exchange for a PEZ dispenser."
Setting: an arcade — bright, with neon under-lighting
People (2):
• standing at the counter, wearing dark t-shirt and khaki pants — smiling
• standing behind the counter, wearing white striped shirt — neutral
A man's hands are shown taping a modified piece of an arcade card to the end of a PEZ dispenser.
"and then taped it here"
Setting: a workshop — bright, even light
The man inserts the PEZ dispenser contraption into the machine's sensor area. The score on the display rapidly climbs to 999, and he celebrates.
"And it turns out it absolutely does because I maxed out the machine."
Setting: an arcade — bright game lights
People (1):
• celebrating, wearing dark t-shirt — ecstatic, laughing
Text: "999"
A montage shows scenes from a carnival: a carousel, two men throwing stuffed animals in the air, and various carnival games.
"Now a few years ago, I made a video where I visited the carnival and collected data on all the games"
Setting: a carnival — bright daylight
People (1):
• celebrating — happy
A montage shows kids and teenagers with notepads, diligently recording data while playing various arcade games.
"in exchange for them collecting a bunch of data at some local arcades."
Setting: various arcades — colorful arcade lighting
People (1):
• standing, observing, writing, wearing casual t-shirts — focused, writing
A graphic appears with a spectrum. On the left is 'EXPERIENCE GAMES' labeled 'Least Popular' and on the right is 'REDEMPTION GAMES' labeled 'Most Popular'.
"For starters, the most popular games in the arcade were the redemption games, as opposed to the experience games."
Setting: n/a (animation) — n/a (animation)
Text: "Least Popular", "Most Popular", "EXPERIENCE GAMES", "REDEMPTION GAMES"
An animation shows a dollar bill going into a game of skill (represented by a spinning wheel). The player is shown as sad, and the dollar bill disappears completely.
"but a shady arcade owner could basically set that to zero and no one would know and that would be perfectly legal."
Setting: n/a (animation) — n/a (animation)
People (1):
• standing, wearing pink shirt — sad, crying
Text: "GAME of SKILL!"
Mark Rober sits on a stool in his workshop, speaking directly to the camera and gesturing with his hands.
"So if you just remember nothing else, just try and pick games that avoid any sort of digital winning element that can be rigged"
Setting: a workshop — bright, even workshop lighting
People (1):
• sitting on a stool, wearing dark grey t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — serious, speaking earnestly
A montage shows several arcade games that are based on physical skill rather than digital chance, such as a coin pusher, a ball drop game, and a light-up reaction game.
"These games, however, are all great options to at least have a better sense of your actual odds of winning."
Setting: an arcade — bright, colorful game lights
Mark Rober stands outside the arcade again, gesturing towards the interior.
"For example, my home arcade here refuses to carry any of the games that can be rigged against you, which I think is pretty cool."
Setting: outside an arcade — bright, natural daylight from outside
People (1):
• standing, wearing dark grey t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling, talking to camera
A shot of the Skee-Ball game with Mark Rober's backpack at the front. A large red 'X' is drawn over the backpack.
"my only suggestion is that moving forward, they should probably institute a no backpacks allowed policy."
Setting: an arcade — dim with neon lights
People (1):
• leaning, wearing black jacket and khaki pants — profile
Mark Rober stands outside the arcade, holding up his hands in a mock-innocent gesture and smiling.
"And perhaps also don't let people redeem tickets for PEZ dispensers."
Setting: outside an arcade — bright, natural daylight from outside
People (1):
• standing, wearing dark grey t-shirt and khaki pants, short, dark hair — smiling, looking at the camera