Game: Cupiclaw
Genre: Casual, Indie, Simulation, Strategy.
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Typin
Controller Support: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Price: US $8.99 | UK £7.65 | EU € 8,77
Release Date: March 5th, 2026
Review code provided with many thanks to Keymailer.
Cupiclaw – Grab Something Different
I never thought I’d see the day when a claw machine became the centre of a roguelike. Yet here we are.
Cupiclaw takes the familiar arcade grabber machine and turns it into something surprisingly strategic, slightly ridiculous, and very hard to stop playing.
The premise is wonderfully daft. Morris has bought an engagement ring. Morris has then immediately lost said engagement ring. Instead of… I don’t know… looking properly, he decides the solution is to win a new ring from the top floor of a local arcade. Because, of course, that makes sense.
So begins your journey through a stack of increasingly demanding claw machines, all in the name of romance.
Grab First, Think After
The core gameplay quickly grabs you. Insert coin. Move claw. Drop claw. Hope for the best.
You guide the claw left and right, hit the button and try to scoop up prizes from the pile below. Each round gives you a limited time to grab as much as you can. At the end, the prizes tumble into a collection pool, and their total value is calculated. Hit the required money target, and you move on. Fall short, and your run ends.
Every few levels, there’s a key hidden in the machine. Grab the key, earn enough money, and you unlock the next floor of the arcade, where things get trickier. And they do get trickier.
Machines start shifting shape. Obstacles appear. You might be dealing with water, pebbles or even portals because why not. It keeps each floor feeling slightly different without overcomplicating the controls.
It’s Not Just Luck
At first glance, it looks like pure arcade randomness, but there’s more going on.
Each prize has a value. Some are simple plush toys. Others are food items or odd little collectables. Then there are penalty prizes, tin cans, ghosts and bombs that reduce your total money, debuff items’ skills or just blow up other useful items in the machine.
That’s where the strategy creeps in.
Between rounds, you can add new prizes to the machine pool, upgrade existing ones or remove items entirely. Removing a good prize is cheap. Removing a penalty item costs more. So you’re constantly weighing up risk versus reward.
There are also blue and red tokens. Blue tokens let you reroll prize options. Red tokens allow you to remove prizes from the pool. Slowly, you’re shaping the machine to suit your run.
Some prizes boost others. For example, certain items increase the value of plush toys. Others add flat bonuses to everything you collect. If you stack the right combinations, your totals start climbing fast. It’s simple on the surface but surprisingly satisfying once the combos start clicking.
The Pressure Builds
Each new floor raises the money requirement. What felt generous early on quickly becomes demanding. You can have a great round and still fall just short.
And yet… I kept going back.
Even after a failed run, I’d immediately think, “Right, okay. This time I’ll remove that penalty item first. Maybe focus on item upgrades. Add more time to the clock.”
Yes, you can also unlock buffs between floors. Extra time. Better claw grip. Improvements to certain prize categories. It’s not complicated, but it’s enough to make each run feel slightly different. It’s surprisingly addictive for something that is essentially “move claw, press button.”
Tone and Presentation
Visually, Cupiclaw goes for light pixel art with a slightly Japanese arcade feel. The machines are colourful. The prizes are varied enough to stay interesting. The character designs have a playful energy without being over the top.
There are small snippets of dialogue between Morris and the arcade owner that push the story along. It doesn’t take itself seriously, which is absolutely the right call.
There are even bad endings alongside the more positive endings if you reach the top. I won’t spoil either, but it adds a bit of extra motivation.
One thing I really appreciated, no microtransactions. In a game about arcade machines, that would have been far too easy to lean into. Instead, everything is contained within the base game.
Conclusion – Hooked
Cupiclaw is a fresh take on the roguelike formula without overloading the player. It’s light, a bit silly and genuinely enjoyable to dip into for “just one more run.”
The claw mechanics are straightforward, the prize-building system adds real strategy, and the steady difficulty climb keeps things interesting.
It won’t be for everyone. If you dislike repetition or prefer deep narrative experiences, this may not grab. But if you enjoy arcade-style gameplay with a strategic twist, there’s a lot to like here.
I went in expecting a novelty. I came out slightly obsessed with claw machines again.
That probably says enough.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
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