Sega Key Master Arcade Game Rigging Class Action

At issue in this class action are Key Master prize vending machines made and marketed by Sega of America, Inc., Play It! Amusements, Inc., and Komuse America, Inc. The games purport to depend on player skills for wins, but the complaint alleges that “the machines are rigged so that players can only win prizes at certain times.”

The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons in the US who, within the relevant statutes of limitations period, paid money to play, or paid for others to play, the Key Master machine in the US. The complaint also defines California and California Consumer Subclasses.

To win prizes, players have to control a key to enter a keyhole in the machine. But the complaint alleges that the skill of the player doesn’t really matter: “[E]ven if the player skillfully controls the movement of the key by stopping the key in just the right spot, where the key would enter the keyholder if there were no interference by the Key Master Machine’s programming, the player will not win a prize unless the player happens to have played the game at the same time it was pre-programmed to allow a win.”

The machines have a joystick to control the movement of the key. However, the complaint assert they have “been pre-programmed to make the key impossible to successfully maneuver unless a specific number of forced-failed attempts have already occurred.”

Attached to the complaint as Exhibit A is an owner’s manual for the Key Master machine. The complaint quotes it as saying that the “game will not reward a prize until the number of player attempts reaches the threshold of attempts set by [the] operator. … The default number of attempts before a player can win is 700.”

Another setting is also revealed in the manual, called “Compulsory Upper Deviation.” This allows for the owner to set a “deviation” in millimeters, from 0.4 mm to 3.6 mm, which the complaint alleges most likely refers to the positioning of the key.

Sega also offers a “‘Prize Locker’ standalone game and conversion kit, which allows an operator of a Key Master Machine to convert the game to one that is, unlike the Key Master Machine, a ‘100% skill game.’” Key Master is in what’s called the “High-Value Prize Vending Game (HVPV) category[.]” Sega offers the conversion kit with a possibly telling excuse: “Unfortunately, many areas of the world aren’t able to benefit from this outstanding category due to local or state regulations prohibiting their operation.”

According to the complaint, the Arizona Attorney General has already investigated the Key Master Game. The result was a $1 million settlement and state seizure of at least sixteen Key Master machines. However, the companies still market the Key Masters as games of skill.

The claims for relief include common law fraud and fraudulent concealment.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Arcade Game, Entertainment, Fraud, Fraudulent Concealment, Rigged Games or Competitions