Sega is being sued following more claims that its Key Master arcade machines are not a game of skill, as advertised, but winning a prize from them is based purely on luck.
The first thing you think of when you hear Sega might be Alex Kidd, or Yakuza, or, of course, Sonic. However, the developer continues to have a big hand in the arcade game business. Sega's creations have filled amusement arcades for years, some of which you might not have even realized were Sega creations when you used them.
The Key Master, for example. You will have almost definitely seen one if you have ever been to an arcade. The aim of the game is to move a key so that it lines up with a prize. If you're successful, you'll win that prize, and it's usually a prize worth winning. Some sort of expensive gadget or device.
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Key Master machines are advertised as games that require skill and technique in order to increase your chance of winning a prize. However, a new lawsuit against Sega claims Key Master actually offers up a game of chance. That the machines are designed to only give out a prize after a certain number of losses, and that the skill of the player actually has very little to do with it.
The lawsuit, filed by Marcelo Muto, is seeking out $5 million in damages from Sega that will be shared among those who feel like they have been cheated by the machines. “Nowhere on the Key Master Machine do Defendants inform consumers of the truth: that the machines are rigged so that players can only win prizes at certain times,” Muto states in their lawsuit.
It's alleged that that the Key Master's default setting allows for one win in every 700 turns. However, the machines can be tweaked to make the odds even lower. In 2019, Betson Coin-Op, which distributes Key Master machines, settled a lawsuit for $1 million after it was accused of adjusting the machines to only payout once in every 2200 turns. Sega no longer sells the Key Master through its site. It has since been replaced by the Prize Locker which it guarantees is 100% skill-based.
Source: Polygon
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