The Arm Breaking Machine

If you can think of something that a human can accomplish, someone has created a video game version of it. There's a game for everything, from the commonplace to the bizarre. As a result, arm wrestling should come as no surprise. However, the Japanese Arm Spirit game was unique in its execution of the concept. This was no ordinary platformer. This machine was complete with a phony arm. The issue was that it was far too good at what it did.

Three people shattered their arms while playing the game, prompting the distributor to recall all 150 units nationwide. You'd think they were admitting some sort of fault, but they weren't. According to a company spokeswoman, it isn't extremely strong and "even ladies" should be able to win a match. They reasoned that gamers must have wrenched their arms and caused the harm themselves. Given that breaking a bone requires considerable effort under normal circumstances, it appears that there was a serious flaw in the game's design. It appears that it was never reintroduced to the market following the recall.