SEOUL — South Korean students Jang Jiyeon and Han Ji Young scurried through the crowded arcade in Hongdae, a bustling university district in Seoul.

One claw machine in the array caught their attention. It was packed with stuffed Pikachu, the pointy eared yellow rodent from the Pokémon franchise.

The students, both 22, spent roughly 30,000 South Korean won (about $26). They won two.

“When we hang out together, we usually go to a bar or karaoke, but it’s too early for that,” Jang says. “So we’re passing our time at the arcade.”

Jang and Han could have easily spent that sum to buy the dolls in a store, but then they wouldn’t be participating in a hot trend among South Korea‘s youth.

The claw arcades, often no-frills storefront operations featuring cash-only machines, are sprouting across the country. The new popularity can be attributed to an emerging interest in stuffed character dolls, observers say, but also a desire to boast on social media and escape the pressure of the country’s hypercompetitive education and job markets.

Some historians date claw machines back to the U.S. in the 1890s, when they were built to resemble machinery used to construct the Panama Canal. Their popularity ebbed and flowed during the 20th century. Before taking off in South Korea, they caught on in Japan, first booming during the country’s economic crisis in the mid-1990s. The Japanese call them “UFO catchers,” as the metal crane resembles a UFO.

In South Korea today there are more more than 1,900 such claw arcade rooms, according to the national Game Rating and Administration Committee. Such operations have only been tracked for a few years, so the statistics aren’t comprehensive, but the increase is significant. There were only around 20 claw arcade rooms in 2015.

According to Daumsoft, a big data analysis agency that tracks social trends, the number of mentions of claw arcades on social networking sites began to rise in August 2016. While 52 percent of social media users reacted positively to the term “claw arcade” in 2015, since 2016, around 71 percent have reacted favorably.

Other signs of the interest are evident.

The hashtag in-hyeong bbob-gi, or claw arcade, has been used in more than 470,000 posts on Instagram, the social photo sharing service, for example.

Je Minseok, a graduate student who frequently posts claw machine prize toys on his Instagram account, seeks a variety of dolls, from popular Pokémon series to Overaction Rabbit, a popular Japanese emoticon character.

Je has snagged score of dolls over time, estimating that he’s spent more than $100 at arcades around his university. He sometimes shares his prizes with friends, and he isn’t shy about noting his wins online.

The games also offer stress relief, he says, for youth who struggle amid high unemployment and difficulty finding full-time, salaried jobs that open doors to lifetime security and wealth here — even after childhoods packed with intense studying and preparation.

South Korea is now the world’s 15th largest economy, according to the World Bank. But the wealth has not been evenly spread. The country’s unemployment rate hit a 17-year high in April, at 4.2 percent, according to Statistics Korea. But youth unemployment was far higher, at 11.2 percent — following a steady climb upward from about 7.5 percent in 2007.

“Claw machines became so popular because it’s difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment in our society,” Je says. “We don’t get as much as we worked for. Of course 1000 or 2000 won ($.88 to $1.75) is not that much money. But by spending that money at a claw machine, we can feel a sense of accomplishment and relieve stress.”

Koo Jeong-woo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University, puts it this way: “It has a lot to do with the fact that young people are under pressure to compete in society and survive. They are so stressed out. The reason they are drawn into these claw machines is it gives you the feeling that, if you work hard, your effort will be rewarded.”

Commentary about claw arcades has creeped into the social media discussion.

In a tweet shared more than 6,000 times, for example, a South Korean Twitter user noted, “If university students had enough money and searched for hobbies suiting their preferences instead of picking fake pokemon dolls from claw machines, they would collect original character dolls, go snowboarding, skiing or play an instrument.”

According to Daumsoft’s analysis, South Koreans frequently used the terms “wasteful,” “poor” and “sense of accomplishment”‘ in association with “claw arcade” when posting online.

Whatever it reflects in terms of customers, the trend also indicates a bustling new business.

Um Sungwoo, who leases the machines and owns an arcade, says the boom began last year as interest and access to popular toys grew. Cheaper machines cost more than $1,300, and pricier versions sell for more than $2,200.

The investment can pay off, however.

“If you own a claw arcade in a developed area like Hongdae, you can make up to 300 million won (about $26,000) a month,” he says.

One such place, Zzang Arcades, has three floors in Hongdae. There’s a wide variety of games for customers.

The first floor is filled with around 40 claw machines with different types of character toys. The second and third floors have shooting games, driving games, air hockey, darts and even whack-a-mole.

Kim Soo Yeon, who visited the arcade with her boyfriend, says it was worth her time and money.

“We could have just bought a doll outside on the streets of Hongdae, but I don’t think it would have been as much fun. We spent about half an hour here trying to get this doll and had fun because we weren’t sure if we were going to get it or not,” she says.

“I would have spent less money if I just bought the doll, but it feels good to win a prize.”

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South Korea’s Claw Arcades Explode in Popularity originally appeared on usnews.com