$2 Lobster

After a disappointing lunch at Tinoco's (not worthy of its own review as it was neither frugal nor exciting), Ian spotted an incredibly unique food vending machine at The Vegas Club Hotel downtown. I've never stepped foot inside this deteriorating hotel in my 27 years as a native Las Vegan, and won't likely come again, but I do have to give them personality points for putting in a lobster arcade game called The Lobster Zone. It doesn't require the same set of skills generally used to catch lobster, but I'm betting it's even more difficult based on my own frustrating experiences trying to grab at cheap stuffed animals. The slogan on the front is "You catch 'em, we cook 'em," but good luck. The price of $2 per play isn't bad if you manage to grab one of the poor unsuspecting creatures within thirty seconds of depositing your cash and manipulating the claw, but unfortunately their are no consolation prizes (I was thinking a shrimp would be nice) and based on what an employee says in this local video, not many people win. If we hadn't just eaten and if the lobsters had been larger, I might have played, yet there was still something unsettling about it. If monkfish is referred to as the 'poor man's lobster,' then the crustaceans in The Lobster Zone must be the 'cheap, drunk Vegas tourist's lobster,' because I'm not sure who else would actually attempt catch one. I suppose it gets one closer to catching their own food than they otherwise would be, but when neither the animal nor hunter have much of a chance of winning, it just seems cruel for everyone involved. Anyhow, if you're really on a budget give it a whirl, and let me know how it goes. My bet, however, is that you're better of going to Red Lobster for the money, where you're also rewarded with delicious free cheddar biscuits!