Lobster Game

There are crane games all over the place here. (Put your coins in, move the claw, try to pick up a prize.) They're filled with your typical goodies--candy, stuffed animals, cheap trinkets. But last night, Lauren showed me a new one that topped them all: live lobsters. That's right, for 25 cents and well-placed claws (no pun intended), you can bring home your very own lobster! This is one game I doubt PETA would ever condone. So of course I had to try it, though I felt pretty bad hassling the undoubtedly-terrified lobsters. I came extremely close to dropping a nice fatty down the victory hatch, but was (admittedly) happy to not win, because I wasn't quite sure what I'd do with a 3-lb lobster; there was no bag or bucket available to carry them home in. And I can only imagine what goes through the hapless crustaceans minds when they hear the coins plop and the machine's music start up: "Oh crap, boys, here we go again! Remember, zig zag, ZIG ZAG! Here it comes...it's dropping! Oh no! He got your tail, Larry.... HE GOT YOUR TAIL! WIGGLE, BUDDY! WIGGLE FREE!!!" Ridiculous; it definitely gives new meaning to "Survival of the Fittest." But that said, I've already convinced myself to buy a bigger cooking pot, because I have a pretty good idea as to where my spare change is going to start disappearing. I think I'll have to draw the line when I see puppy and kitten crane games though...