One of the biggest crowds on the expo floor at TwitchCon this year was the Human Claw Machine. Essentially, anyone willing to sign a waiver could be hoisted over a pit of blind boxes and come away with a prize.
The claw game is a promotion for the Extra Life gaming charity. The machine debuted as an attraction for Extra Life at E3 in June and has since been a part of the charity’s outreach at other conventions such as PAX West. Prizes range from the ubiquitous Funko Pop figures all the way up to custom DXRacing gaming chairs and high end 2070 graphics cards. The lure of the higher end of the prize spectrum enticed fans to wait in line for up to three hours for a chance to grab a box from the pit. While everyone who attempts the claw game goes away with a prize, the whole process of getting harnessed then hoisted over the pit of prizes takes about five minutes: even a short line of attendees have to wait a while to get their chance.
As guests at the booth wait in line to sign their waivers and get harnessed and helmeted, Extra Life volunteers encourage this captive audience to take action in support of the charity. Guests can register to raise funds for their local Children's Hospital, donate to a Hospital via a card reader, or post about Extra Life on social media. For participating in each of these activities, guests are rewarded with buttons. Anyone who takes all three actions takes home a special lapel pin.
When they are not operating human claw games at conventions, Extra Life is a grassroots fundraising organization benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) of Children’s Hospitals. Anyone can register with Extra Life to set up a donation page benefiting their local CMN hospital. Once the donation page is created, it can be shared with family, friends, and social media followers in an effort to generate funds for the hospital. The campaign began as a twenty-four hour marathon event held annually but has since morphed into more of a year round push for donations.
Disclosure: The writer of this piece Volunteered at the Extra Life Boot in exchange for a TwitchCon Badge.