--- title: Boy Trapped in Claw Machine Rescued by Firefighters description: A 3-year-old boy who crawled inside the claw machine at a Chicago suburbs laundromat had to be freed from the game by firefighters. canonical: https://time.com/5274566/boy-trapped-claw-machine/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-11T19:10:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:49.468Z og:title: Boy Trapped Inside Claw Machine Game Rescued by Firefighters og:description: "We have not had one of these before" og:url: https://time.com/5274566/boy-trapped-claw-machine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c7c2782fccd58a/698930360a4a222c5a9d2ae6/claw-machine-game.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Claw-Machine-Game og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boy Trapped Inside Claw Machine Game Rescued by Firefighters twitter:description: "We have not had one of these before" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c7c2782fccd58a/698930360a4a222c5a9d2ae6/claw-machine-game.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Determined Toddler Trapped Inside Claw Machine Game Had to Be Rescued by Firefighters  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 11, 2018 7:10 PM UTC  Claw machine game Claw machine gameSPmemory/Getty Images/iStockphoto  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer May 11, 2018 7:10 PM UTC A three-year-old boy who crawled inside the [claw machine](http://time.com/64905/missing-toddler-found-playing-with-stuffed-animals-inside-the-claw-machine-at-a-bowling-alley/) at a Chicago suburbs [laundromat](http://time.com/4677651/betty-who-some-kinda-wonderful/) had to be freed from the [game](http://time.com/5238168/billy-mitchell-king-of-kong/) by firefighters. In a video that captured the oh so daring rescue, firefighters can be seen removing the top of the toy-dispensing crane game before lowering one of their own inside to lift the toddler out. When that doesn’t work, a second firefighter climbs all the way into the bin to reach the boy before the team hands him over to his mother for safekeeping. It’s still not clear how the little boy, who was unhurt, originally got inside the machine. However, it seems likely that he climbed through the toy distribution door of the arcade-style game. “We have not had one of these before,” Cpt. Robert Klucek of the Palatine Fire Department told [NBC](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/kid-stuck-in-claw-machine-palatine-482347461.html). “But we’re used to unusual calls and we adapt and overcome.” Watch the full video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5274566/boy-trapped-claw-machine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5274566/boy-trapped-claw-machine/"},"headline":"Determined Toddler Trapped Inside Claw Machine Game Had to Be Rescued by Firefighters","datePublished":"2018-05-11T19:10:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:49.468Z","description":"\"We have not had one of these before\"","url":"https://time.com/5274566/boy-trapped-claw-machine/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c7c2782fccd58a/698930360a4a222c5a9d2ae6/claw-machine-game.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85c7c2782fccd58a/698930360a4a222c5a9d2ae6/claw-machine-game.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Claw-Machine-Game","caption":"Claw machine game","creditText":"SPmemory/Getty Images/iStockphoto","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/5274566/boy-trapped-claw-machine/","name":"Determined Toddler Trapped Inside Claw Machine Game Had to Be Rescued by Firefighters"}}]}] ```