Elfin Cupid Crane Claw Machine by Paokai/WMH

Here's a very unique and rare machine that I ended up buying at an auction a few months ago. The machine was listed as having 2 faults:
- No sound
- Claw not closing
Ended up winning the machine at the auction for only $120 and I fixed the faults in 5 minutes. The sound wasn't working because the speaker was unplugged and the claw wasn't closing because the strength adjustment was turned all the way down haha. I call that an absolute bargain.
Buying any machine at an auction can sometimes be risky because you might end up buying a machine which is beyond repair or has had important parts stripped. But if you know what you're looking for, you can sometimes get yourself an awesome deal.
Here's an explanation as to how the baskets work:
There are 5 levels that the baskets can tip at. All baskets start at 0 and are totally flat. Every positive number that is selected by the lucky wheel will make the basket tip forward. If you get past level 4, the basket will completely tip forward until all items in the basket have been dispensed, then it will return back to level 0 and the game switches to the other basket. The operator can select how many games have to be played before a basket is won. Obviously this resets back to 0 as soon as the basket is paid out, but it also resets back to 0 if a plush is won from the machine. When the basket isn't ready to pay out, the arrow on the lucky wheel will not stop on any positive number that would cause it to pass level 4.
Timestamps:
Intro 0:00
Machine Tour 0:47
Gameplay 2:38
Manual Look 8:27

[@game-azing]

Elfin Cupid is a very nice and rare machine and that bonus wheel makes the game even more intresting as it is something you dont see on a normal claw machine every day.

[@HazardzistaZaba]

I love the music and the prize baskets feature!

[@theericfreeze4498]

This is one of my favorite machines, thanks for getting a in depth video of it. I will it wasn't so rare because I really want to play one sometime.

[@YourAppleSalesman]

For anyone wondering what the arract music is, the music is a midi composition of “my oh my” by Aqua..

[@Taco_Tantrum]

The music sounds rare! I love that machine and the basket concept. Thanks for the in depth showcase of it.

[@RamClaw]

The music absolutely slaps! It's a shame these machines are so uncommon, there's probably only 4 in the US hahaha.

[@austinclaw]

​@@RamClawI believe that's maniac by Michael cembollo that the claw machine playing

[@JamesPreziosa]

I like the music and the good prizes and including the prize that looks like a PS5!

[@taekwoncat9803]

I love the elfin cupid... because not only can you use the claw to win prizes, but also you win prizes from the baskets top and bottom...

[@Scenario-7]

One of my childhood machines very epic Indeed! Well worth the wait

[@katsudon2048]

I'm sorry about the "unfunny" joke tho :/ that was also unfunny. There, HAPPY NOW??

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

Wow, a very cool machine!

[@reny2029]

This machine is also rare in Taiwan now.

[@SebastianPlayz]

Imagine someone remixed the Paokai Soundtracks. It would be fire 🔥

[@adamwright1989]

Nice crane. Hope the side lights get replaced though. Also, why is the attract music continually playing? I guess it’s a setting? Great video!

[@barbaracristina1980]

Omgg one of my favorite claw

[@CaptianNamco]

I like the music that machine plays

[@samwen242]

Very nice

[@HarrisonPeloso]

i love playing Aquas music, makes ya wanna dance

[@PugsClawMachines]

Cool!!

[@Benthetrainkid]

You plan on fixing the burned out light strips on the machine (the ones on the front corners)?

[@RamClaw]

Yeah eventually, this machine uses the older incandescent rope lights for the corners which have a very short lifespan compared to the LED corner lights that they switched to after 2005.

[@juleksaas4144]

How does the gantry know to move around the baskets when returning to home without any switches and also is there something that will stop you from ramming the baskets with the claw

[@RamClaw]

So when you credit the game, the claw immediately moves to the Playfield. There's a proximity switch mounted above (Same one used on the pusher cranes to stop the claw going into the pusher area) that stops the claw from entering the basket section.

[@Nintendo3D5]

I've been inside an arcade room that has an Elfin Cupid claw, and using the wheel you can win an old sega console clone. 999 games built in. I actually won this thing, and can definitely say - it's perfect and terrible at the same time

[@RobloxiaHillsOfficial]

Is the gameplay music the song maniac?

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

Hi ramclaw. Do you know What ohm and voltage coil is rated for paokai cranes and do you know if a 150 ohm coil will be too much and if so, do you know what the maximum power coil is that you can fit? Thanks

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

Plus my elfin cupid board seems to grab at 46v until it hits the top and then it goes to VR2 but it for some reason completely ignores VR1 and grabs at 46v. But every so often randomly it does grab at VR1 at the bottom. This is with a 30 ohm coil. Do you know what could be causing this?

[@rudywiryanto3788]

Can you put the big one

[@angiewarlyn5514]

Why do you using your claw machine

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

I've got an elfin cupid board working on a setup. but when you pulse the coin wires, if you hold them together will it keep adding more plays or will it just give one play no matter how long you hold the wires together. and will it error if they are pulsed together for too long?

[@RamClaw]

If you hold the coin wires, it won't do anything until after you release the wires. It'll only add 1 credit, you have to keep pulsing it to add more. It won't error out if you hold it too long either. If you hold one of the coin wires on startup, it'll go into claw test mode and the display will show "C0". Holding the other one will get it into either basket test mode or gantry test mode, don't remember exactly which... I can email the Elfin Cupid manual if you'd like.

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

@RamClaw ok thanks i will hopefully fit a freeplay button. Is it the same as a normal crane how you go into inner values adjustment since I put a regular rom in it and will the dip switches be the same as an elfin cupid, If so would you be able to email me the manual if that's ok. Thanks

[@RamClaw]

@@CJArcadeMachinesUK Entering inner values is a different process for Elfin Cupid, I'll email the manual now.

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

One of my pcbs just says Eg straight away when powered up. Do you know what this could be?

[@RamClaw]

@@CJArcadeMachinesUK I think you might be referring to error Ee which is a prize sensor error. Try shorting the sensor pin to ground with a jumper lead and that'll make the board think that the prize sensor is present.

[@HazardzistaZaba]

Can you set a different volume of the attract than the gameplay music?

[@RamClaw]

Unfortunately not...

[@revx9732]

This prize is good

[@MadBoihereforyou]

Is the machine still operatible after the basket error? (Can you still play after the basket prizes have been payed out?)

[@RamClaw]

Yes, the error clears after a few seconds. The game resets back to the first basket and the game plays like normal

[@SunsetfearOFFICIAL]

Hey RamClaw! I’m buying a Toy Soldier soon and I wonder if it is possible to disable attract music but keep the gameplay music? Greetings from Croatia

[@RamClaw]

Yes it's pretty easy to do that, the manual shows which setting to change.

[@HazardzistaZaba]

Toy soldiers in Croatia are so rigged! At least the area i was in. Have you seen anyone win?

[@SunsetfearOFFICIAL]

@@HazardzistaZaba did you enjoy your trip in my country? Anyways i didn’t see anyone win, but i have the video where i won from a Telephone crane, basically a Toy Soldier but in red kzbin.info/www/bejne/goWZdIqjnJd0q9U

[@HazardzistaZaba]

@@SunsetfearOFFICIAL Yes, I did enjoy every time I’ve been but the machines never payout i think and that just got stuck in the claw but anyways nice that you won the prize.

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

Do these pcbs have to have the baskets connected or is it possible they can work like a normal crane?

[@RamClaw]

In its current state it would just time out and show an error if you removed the baskets because it homes them on startup. However as it's just a regular toy soldier PCB but with different firmware, you could totally just pop a regular toy soldier firmware EPROM in there and it would totally behave like a normal toy soldier with no other electrical changes required.

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

I have got 2 paokai pcbs. One on a wooden board with a power supply and the fuse board. And I also have a telephone crane control panel box with the joystick and button wires the VRs and everything else in it and I'm looking to build a machine up. The guy I had them off says he can't remember what machines the pcbs were off since he's stripped so many machines. He said one might be an elfin cupid pcb. and it also had the elfin cupid gantry sat next to it and it looks like an elfin cupid board so I think it is. I think the other one is a bling king board. But I'm not sure whether the elfin cupid board would work on a normal setup or not or what to do to get it to work.

[@RamClaw]

@@CJArcadeMachinesUK Yeah the elfin cupid board will work in any normal setup that a toy soldier board would work. Of course, if it has the elfin cupid firmware EPROM then it'll probably error out because the spinner wheel and baskets are not connected haha

[@RamClaw]

@@CJArcadeMachinesUK If you have photos of the boards with all the numbers and labels on the ICs visible, I can tell you exactly what machine they came from. You can email me photos if you want.

[@CJArcadeMachinesUK]

Thanks I will get some pictures

[@bemblake6390]

LAI distributed Paokai cranes? What areas?

[@RamClaw]

Nah this machine used to be at Timezone which was owned by LAI Games, that's also why it has the Leisure and Allied Industries asset barcode on the back of the coin door.

[@bemblake6390]

@@RamClaw ahhh. That's right. They do own Timezone

[@nathanrichards7930]

​​@@bemblake6390 not anymore though as lai sold its international arcade chain a few years ago and it is now owned by TEEG

[@BurnerAccount-sr3qo]

What happens if you land on either "Chance" or "Fate"?

[@game-azing]

I don't have any knowledge to what "chance" does, but I'm guessing "fate" means that the basket goes back to the start. So don't try to land on "fate'!!!

[@nickpeck4561]

Chance might been a Super Grab, like Toy Solider did.

[@user-wy4wj3kv9c]

0:09

[@SouthPark56]

Hey what happens if you shake stacker does it shout at you in the lady voice? Do the blocks fall down? I would like to know

[@HazardzistaZaba]

Don’t move the machine.

[@nathanielquattlebaum1132]

What year

[@juleksaas4144]

early 2000

[@Vib-Ribbon_2763.]

2004

[@myang12003]

Why is there 2 coin slots?

[@RamClaw]

So you can run 2 coin mechs. Have 1 as a backup in case the other one jams.

[@PB95Alphabetlore]

Big claw machine and it is old