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Japanese arcades now have crane games where you can win sweet potatoes then roast them in-store

Casey Baseel Oct 22, 2024
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Will sweet potatoes won taste twice as sweet as sweet potatoes earned?

Whether you shout it out for all to hear or whisper it inside your heart, “Ah, sweet!” is a perfectly logical reaction to winning something at a crane game/UFO catcher. If you’re playing the machines at certain arcades in and around Tokyo this fall, though, you can amend that to “Ah sweet…potato!”

Tore Tore Ya is a chain of crane game-exclusive arcades known for their massive selection of machines, with their branch in the city of Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture, being recognized by the Guiness World’s Records association for having the largest number of crane games in a single location in 2012. Having so many machines lets Tore Tore Ya go beyond the orthodox offerings of Pokémon plushies, anime figures, and the like, and as of October 7 four Tore Tore Ya branches have Yaki-imo (Roasted Sweet Potato) Catchers in operation.

You play the game just like any other crane game, using the controls to manipulate the claw and grab your prize, which in this case is a raw sweet potato. Of course, while autumn is the season for sweet potatoes, they need to be roasted to unlock their full flavor, so near the Yaki-imo Catcher you’ll also find a microwave to roast them in, with a specially designed sweet potato roasting container inside.

The cooking directions, posted on a sheet above the microwave, say to place the sweet potato you’ve won inside the container and let it cook for 4 to 5 minutes at a setting of 500 to 600 watts. Once that’s done, use the provided oven mitts to carefully remove the container and turn the potato over. Replace the lid and put the container back into the microwave for a second round of roasting of 3 to 4 minutes, and once your potato is cool enough to eat, you can dig in! The exact roasting time depends on the size of the potato, but as a rule of thumb they’re ready to eat once they’ve cooked long enough to become soft.

▼ It looks like some of Tore Tore Ya’s crane games are stocked with citrus fruit too, and the microwave has written directions for making curry, suggesting that instant curry packs may also be possible prizes at certain branches, so you can put together a pretty decent meal if you play well enough.

Tore Tore Ya’s initial stock of winnable sweet potatoes are of the Beni Azuma variety, known for their chestnut-like sweetness and fluffy texture once roasted. As we get deeper into autumn, other types of sweet potatoes might start showing up in the machines too, depending on availability.

This is the second consecutive year for Tore Tore Ya’s Yaki-imo Catchers, which in 2023 were only at the chain’s Gyoda and Yashio branches in Saitama. This year, though, the branch in Okegawa, Saitama, is getting one too, as is the Tama no Kuni location in Tokyo’s Tama City.

They say that money won is twice as sweet as money earned, and we have a hunch that holds true for sweet potatoes too.

Related: Tore Tore Ya Gyoda branch, Yashio branch, Okegawa branch, Tama branch
Source, images: PR Times
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