Photo By Gail

Sweet Cats Bubble Tea and Claw Machines is Asian-inspired dessert cafe which I am told specializes in “plush toys and desserts in colorful gift boxes.” There’s one on East 17th Street that opened recently and I walked by it just this week. In addition to serving ice cream and bubble tea, the cafe is crammed with a variety of colorful and dazzling claw prize machines, because you need more cute stuff to spend your money on.

Among the collection is the Pink Date prize machine, an arcade vending machine in which the big prize is hung on a string. Players press a button to cut the string and release the featured prize, so that is the ‘skill’ involved. Beyond boutique cafes ike Sweet Cats, Pink Date machines can be found in shopping malls, supermarkets, and the personal game rooms of folks with too much spare cash.