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The Claw Machine is a circus minigame added to Crimson Desert in Patch 1.06.00 on May 10, 2026. It is housed at the Laughing Marionette circus to the west of the main Demeniss city and is operated by feeding silver into a coin-op machine that drops a grabber onto a prize pool. The reward pool blends cosmetic furniture, a unique chair, a one-of-a-kind animated helmet, and combat-relevant pulls of Abyss Gear and Abyss Artifacts, which is what makes the minigame worth grinding well past the initial novelty visit.
Quick Information
Property | Value |
|---|---|
Type | Circus minigame |
Location | Laughing Marionette circus, west of Demeniss main city |
Cost per play | Silver per attempt; standard circus-coin pricing |
Reward pool | 12 lighting items, 1 unique chair, 1 unique animated helmet, Abyss Gear, Abyss Artifacts |
Patch added |
Where to Find It
The Claw Machine sits inside the Laughing Marionette circus grounds, west of the main Demeniss city. The circus shares its name with The Laughing Marionette Shield and uses the same checker-painted clown branding as the Marionette Clown performer who roams the tent area. Look for the carnival-style tent cluster outside the city walls; the Claw Machine cabinet sits inside one of the side tents alongside the rest of the circus stalls. If the area shows up as blockaded on the map, complete the surrounding faction objectives before the booth opens to play.
How to Play
Interact with the cabinet to deposit silver and begin a session. The controls scroll the grabber arm across the prize pool, and pressing the drop input lowers the claw. Position over a target before committing, then release. Whatever the claw secures on the way back up lands in your inventory at the end of the round. If the claw slips, the round ends without a prize and the silver is spent. The grab radius and grip strength behave as in any classic carnival claw machine, so the visible target is not always the one you take home; small lighting items grip more reliably than large prizes.
Reward Pool
The pool combines cosmetic and combat rewards. Lighting items dominate the visible spread, but the headline pulls are the animated helmet, the chair, and the Abyss Gear or Abyss Artifacts pulls that filter into upgrade and refinement flows.
Reward | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Lighting Items (12 unique) | Decoration | Lamps, lanterns, and candle pieces for placement in Housing and Farming mode at the owned house. |
Circus Chair | Furniture | Unique seated piece styled to the circus theme. Single chair, one entry in the pool. |
Animated Helmet | A unique helm whose front eye blinks during equip-screen idle and during open-world wear. Single entry in the pool; counts as one of the rarest pulls. | |
Abyss Gear pulls | Gear | Random Abyss Gear rolls feed straight into the standard Abyss equip and synthesis loop. |
Abyss Artifact pulls | Material | Abyss Artifacts pulls fold into refinement at any smithy and into Material Extraction recoveries. |
Why It Is Worth Playing
Most circus minigames retire quickly once their associated challenges and quests are checked off. The Claw Machine intentionally sits outside that pattern. The reward pool is structured to keep returning players engaged: lighting items decorate the player house, the chair is a one-time pull worth chasing, the animated helmet is a unique cosmetic that does not appear anywhere else, and the recurring Abyss Gear and Abyss Artifacts pulls turn the cabinet into a low-key farming spot when nothing else is open.
Decoration runs. Players collecting all 12 lighting items end up with a near-complete carnival theme for the player house lit-up at night.
Helmet hunters. The animated helmet has a blinking eye that catches attention on the equip screen and in the open world; this is the only known source.
Silent farming. The cabinet does not require boss prep or scouting. Pull until silver runs out, then move on.
Companion to Material Extraction. Artifacts pulled from the Claw Machine can be invested into a weapon, then later extracted at a smithy at 100 percent refund.
Tips
Position before dropping. The cabinet aim moves freely until the drop input is committed; line up cleanly to avoid spending silver on a slipped grip.
Prefer smaller items when low on silver. Lighting items grip more reliably than the chair or helmet, so a low-silver run still tends to return a usable furniture piece.
Stack rewards with daily loops. The circus area sits near other daily Demeniss-area errands; folding a few Claw Machine attempts into a routine sweep is cheaper than dedicated runs.
Bank silver before approaching. The cabinet eats silver fast on long sessions. Sell low-value drops at a vendor first so a single visit can cover a dozen attempts.
Display pulls at home. Lighting items, the chair, and the helmet all slot into the placement preview at the owned house through Housing and Farming mode.
Late-Game Silver Sink Context
Late-game players in Crimson Desert generate silver faster than most early-game upgrade paths can absorb it. By the time the boss-rematch and Abyss-cleanse loops are open, vendor inventories at most cities are exhausted of meaningful purchases and the surplus piles up. The Claw Machine at the Laughing Marionette is one of the deliberate silver sinks added in Patch 1.06.00 to drain that surplus into rewards that still feed back into mainline progression.
Compared with the other established late-game silver outlets, the cabinet trades the route and night-window scheduling of a roaming vendor for instant access at a fixed location. The trade-off is randomness: the cabinet is gambling on a grip and a position rather than a guaranteed purchase, which is the point of the design and the reason the more valuable rewards (the unique chair, the animated helmet) are pulls instead of straightforward buys.
Late-Game Silver Sink | Format | Best For |
|---|---|---|
Claw Machine | Cabinet at fixed location, random grip per drop | Lighting items for housing, unique chair, animated helmet, Abyss Gear, Abyss Artifacts pulls. |
Roaming merchant on a night-window schedule | Direct purchases of Abyss Artifacts, ores, herbs, and the Sigil of Valor accessory. | |
Themed reward from the same circus venue | Themed defensive option that ties cosmetically to the cabinet's circus branding. |
Why the Cabinet Folds Back Into Progression
The Claw Machine is the rare late-game silver sink whose rewards do not stop at the cosmetic tier. The two combat-relevant slots in the reward pool keep returning players engaged after the lighting set is complete.
Abyss Gear pulls feed straight into the Abyss synthesis and equip flow, so a pull that would otherwise be a duplicate Abyss Gear becomes a synthesis material for higher-tier rolls.
Abyss Artifacts pulls fold straight into Gear Refinement at any smithy, and because Patch 1.06.00 added a Material Extraction flow that returns 100 percent of artifact-tier materials on rollback, an artifact pulled here can be spent on a weapon refinement and later recovered intact.
Lighting items complete the cabinet's themed set for the player house, with the carnival aesthetic intentionally separated from the standard furniture vendor stock so collectors have a reason to keep playing until all twelve drop.
Related Circus Venue Articles
The Claw Machine shares its venue with the other themed pulls and performers from the circus area west of the Demeniss city. The dedicated pages cover the items and characters that round out the venue.
The Laughing Marionette Shield: themed shield from the same circus venue.
Patrigio's Secret Shop: companion late-game silver-and-currency outlet for players draining silver between cabinet visits.
Abyss Gear and Abyss Artifacts: currency outputs that feed the synthesis and refinement loops the cabinet rewards eventually flow into.
Silver: late-game surplus the cabinet is designed to absorb.
Patch History
Patch | Change |
|---|---|
Added the Claw Machine at the Laughing Marionette circus. Reward pool includes 12 lighting items, 1 chair, 1 animated helmet, Abyss Gears, and Abyss Artifacts. |
Related
Patch 1.06.00: patch that shipped the Claw Machine.
The Laughing Marionette Shield: themed Abyss Gear shield from the same circus area.
Marionette Clown: performer NPC who patrols the circus grounds.
Circus Lion: named circus animal that shares the venue.
Abyss Gear and Abyss Artifacts: currency outputs that fold back into mainline progression.
Night Tone Mode, Display Sheath, and Material Extraction: other features shipped in the same patch.