A class action lawsuit against Sega says their arcade game Key Master is intentionally rigged against players

Japanese multinational video game developer and publisher Sega was spotted at a gaming center in Tokyo, Japan. Budrul Chukrut / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

• Sega is being sued for $ 5 million for alleging his Key Master arcade game has been rigged.

• One lawsuit states that the game was marketed as a game of skill but is more of a game of chance.

• The game will only allow a player to win after a certain number of losses, the lawsuit states.

• Check out Insider’s business page for more stories.

Sega’s arcade game Key Master is at the center of a class action lawsuit that claims the game was deliberately rigged against players.

The lawsuit, filed in California on Monday, said the game was “systematically marketed and sold” as a game of “sheer skill” but instead manipulated to “keep even highly skilled users from winning.” until there is a set number of losses.

Plaintiff Marcelo Muto is suing the company for $ 5 million.

“Nowhere on the Key Master Machine do the defendants tell consumers the truth: that the machines are manipulated so that players can only win prizes at certain times,” said Muto’s lawyers in the lawsuit.

The game can be found in arcades and shopping malls across the country, Screen Rant reported.

Players have to press a button to insert a key into a specific keyhole to win prizes such as earphones and video games.

The lawsuit stated that even if a highly skilled gamer stuck the key in a particular keyhole for a price, if it wasn’t in a preprogrammed time to win, the game would pass the keyhole and the gamer would lose . There are several YouTube videos of tips and tricks on how to beat the game that identify the problem.

In the lawsuit, Muto’s lawyers said the standard number of losses on a machine is set at 700 before a win is allowed. They added that each machine can also be individually programmed for any number of losses before a win.

The game is no longer featured on the Segas website, but a similar game called Prize Locker has been released and is being advertised as a “100% Qualifying” game. The lawsuit states that Sega itself acknowledged that the game of renaming is not a game of “sheer skills”.

The story goes on

The lawsuit states that Sega made the switch because they realized that regulations in many places around the world do not allow the Key Master game. They added that a conversion kit sold to convert Key Master machines into skill-based machines also shows Sega was aware of the problem.

“The defendants have refused to stop their fraudulent behavior and continue to manufacture and promote the Key Master Machines as games of skill, in contrast to the illegal slot machines that they really are,” the lawsuit states. “This refusal and the continued marketing of the Key Master Machines as games of skill only serve the profit interests of the defendant.”

This isn’t the first time the Key Master game has caused controversy. Tucson.com reported in 2019 that a provider had settled a $ 1 million lawsuit over the game. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the game was set up so that no one could win until 2,200 tries and that it was more of a random game that was only legal in state casinos.

Insider tried reaching Sega for comment.

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