Claw Machine
Free to play. Land a clean catch and the grab pays 5 coins.
Coins, Tickets and Lives Explained
Everything on MSA Arcade runs on three simple currencies. Here is exactly how coins, tickets and lives work, what every machine costs and rewards, and how to keep all three topped up.
Coins: the everyday arcade currency
Coins are what you spend to start a machine and what you win back for beating it. Every cabinet on MSA Arcade is a real, physical machine that you control live from your browser, and each one has its own rules card listing its entry cost and its reward. Some machines are completely free to play, so you can always earn even when your balance is low. You also collect coins by completing levels on the adventure map — there are 104 stages of real machines in total, and each level bundles several machines that you beat one at a time.
Coins have one more job: in Case Battle, the head-to-head PvP mode, each player puts in a coin entry for a multi-round battle, and the winner earns both entries. Our Case Battle guide covers it in depth.
What the machines cost and pay
These numbers come straight from the in-game rules cards, so you can plan your session before you spend a single coin.
Catch a Colour
Costs 5 coins. The main-colour ball pays 25 coins; any other coloured ball pays 10.
Color Catch
Costs 5 coins. Rewards by ball: yellow 30, green 25, purple 20, blue 15, red 10.
Rebound
Free to play. Bounce a dropped ball off the platform into the scoring hole for 50 coins.
Pachinko
Costs 10 coins. Pick your drop point, release, and let the ball bounce through the pins; the prize slot pays 25 coins.
Random Hole
Costs 5 coins. Drop your prize through a moving, tilting hole for 10 coins.
Alien Ship
Costs 10 coins. Throw a ball into the moving alien ship target for 30 coins.
Sweeper
Costs 10 coins. Grab the prize between passes of the rotating rod for 20 coins.
Bingo
Free to play. Lit holes persist between games; four in a row pays 40 coins and resets the board.
Magnetic Defuser
Free to play. Repeat the blinking sequence — on inverted controls — for 50 coins.
Notice the pattern: free machines reward pure skill, while paid machines return more than they charge when you win — a 5-coin Color Catch that lands the yellow ball pays 30. That is the classic arcade trade, and here it is settled by skill and timing over a live video stream, not by chance.
Two machines score in their own way rather than paying a fixed coin prize: Ocean Pearl, a coin-pusher style pachinko where you release up to 5 marbles and score for every marble pushed into the collection chute, and Carrousel, where you stop a spinning carousel on the highlighted prize zone. Check the rules card in the room before you play.
Tickets: your level and daily-bonus rewards
Tickets are the second currency, and they come from two places: completing levels and playing the Daily Bonus games. Where coins flow in and out with every machine you play, tickets mark steady progress through the adventure. If you play with an account, your tickets are saved with your progress and history across every device you sign in on.
Lives: the cost of the adventure
Some levels cost lives to play, and failing a level costs you a life. The system is generous by design:
- Lives regenerate over time, so an empty bar is never permanent — take a break and come back.
- You can also earn lives through bonus games, which keeps a good session rolling.
- Difficulty scales as you climb the adventure map, so lives matter more on later stages — warm up on free machines first.
One more reason to push forward: the first time you complete any level, you receive bonus rewards on top of the usual ones. First completions are the single best-value plays in the game, so clearing new stages beats replaying old ones.
The two Daily Bonus games
Once per day — resetting at midnight — you can play two free bonus games that reward tickets. In Bouncing Ball, you press DROP and your score depends on which hole the ball lands in. In Pop a Balloon, a prize wheel spins and you press STOP; land on the balloon and you take the grand prize. Both are free, both take seconds, and together they are the easiest ticket income on the platform. Make them a daily habit before you start your levels.
Guest play vs. an account
You can jump in as a guest instantly — no download, no sign-up, straight onto a real machine. Creating a free account saves your progress, tickets and history across devices, and unlocks the leaderboard and the Warrior Challenge streak mode. And a guest session can be upgraded to a full account without losing anything you have earned, so there is no wrong way to start.
No cash value — and why that matters
MSA Arcade is a game of skill and timing, not gambling. Coins, tickets and prizes are all virtual: they are non-redeemable, non-transferable and have no cash value, and that policy keeps the platform family friendly. What you take away is the win itself — the grab happened on a real machine, and the rewards stay in the game. For the full details, see our Terms and FAQ, or write to us at [email protected].
Ready to start earning?
Fire up a free machine, bank your first coins and claim today's Daily Bonus — play as a guest right now. Then go deeper with our guides to the claw machine, Pachinko and Bingo — the machines where a little technique turns into a lot of coins.