--- title: Toddler Found in Claw Machine at Bowling Alley in Lincoln Nebraska description: Missing toddler found inside claw machine playing with stuffed animals at bowling alley in Lincoln, Nebraska. canonical: https://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-16T14:04:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:50.657Z og:title: Missing Toddler Found Inside Claw Machine og:description: Not sure how he got there og:url: https://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Missing Toddler Found Inside Claw Machine twitter:description: Not sure how he got there twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Missing Toddler Found Playing With Stuffed Animals Inside the Claw Machine at a Bowling Alley  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 16, 2014 2:04 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 16, 2014 2:04 PM UTC A missing toddler was found inside the claw machine, playing with the stuffed animals, at a bowling alley in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/nebraska-toddler-gets-stuck-inside-claw-machine). At the same time that a 24-year-old woman called 911 looking for her missing 3-year-old son around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, the bowling alley employees called the police to report an unattended boy had found his way into the game. KUSA-TV [reports](http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/15/boy-found-inside-claw-machine/7754425/) the vending machine company arrived on scene to extract the toddler from the machine — though it’s unclear if it was by the claw or not. The boy reportedly did not sustain any injuries. How the toddler ended up inside the claw machine has yet to be determined. _Toy Story_ fans, maybe the toddler just thought he was Buzz Lightyear? **MORE:** [Now Disney Can Track Your Every Mood with NSA-Style Wristbands](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/02/disney-nsa-style-magic-bands-theme-park/) **MORE:** [It’s So Cold That a Middle Schooler’s Tongue Got Stuck to a Pole](http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/02/14/kid-gets-tongue-stuck-metal-pole/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/"},"headline":"Missing Toddler Found Playing With Stuffed Animals Inside the Claw Machine at a Bowling Alley","datePublished":"2014-04-16T14:04:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:50.657Z","description":"Not sure how he got there","url":"https://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/","name":"Missing Toddler Found Playing With Stuffed Animals Inside the Claw Machine at a Bowling Alley"}}]}] ```