Winning at crane games

You know those crane games they have in arcades? In Japan they’re almost all of the brand “UFO Catcher”.
I won at those today. Twice.

Spent 200 yen and won some really cheap digital camera on the first try.
Then I found one with K-On figurines (more specifically Azusa) and after 500 yen spent (one try costs 200 yen, three tries cost 500 yen) an employee came up to adjust the figure (moving it closer to the edge of the stick it was hanging from, as well as straightening it out) to make it easier to win.
When I thanked him in Japanese, he happily concluded that I understand a bit of Japanese.

And then he told me how to win.
I tossed in 500 more yen and won on on the third try that gave me.
Figure is worth 1100 yen (excl. shipping etc.) so I say I just saved money.

And I won at one of those crane games you aren’t supposed to win at. Hell yeah.

Then he congratulated me, gave me a plastic bag and said the he hoped I would create nice memories in Akiba.

Did I mention how awesomely nice the Japanese are?