It’s not a surprise to those familiar with Northern New Jersey that the Garden State Plaza is growing. What was once a mall known for shopping, now includes luxury brand stores, additional restaurants, a movie theater, + entertainment section. A new addition to the entertainment district of the mall is Horae Play: a claw-machine arcade. Keep reading to hear more about Horae Play, a new attraction at the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, New Jersey.

About the Space

Many have struggled as children (or adults) to maneuver the claw over their favorite choices behind glass, all to no avail. Horae Play guarantees everyone can be a winner. Staff is more than willing to help all those who try to succeed by providing tips for the most effective attempts. For those who just can’t seem to catch the claw-catching skill, staff at Horae Play will make sure that participants don’t leave empty-handed. The best part is that this arcade is fun for all ages. Kids can enjoy the magic of the claw with parents, while young adults can play some claw-machine games and enjoy a snack from the front desk.

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Horae Play is a claw-machine arcade where everyone wins. The arcade has over 25 claw-machines on site (in addition to a Pac-Man video game), and over 35 varieties of plushies available. To give the feel of an old-school arcade, participants are given coins to put into machines to play. Visitors can collect + trade in their plushies for bigger prizes such as other plushies + games.

The room itself is brightly lit with purple, pink, blue, + green lighting that changes from machine to machine. There is also a section in the back of the establishment where kids can decorate their plushies. Horae Play has all the materials needed for this. On Friday afternoons, the owners have classes for children to learn how to decorate their plushies with markers, glitter, + other arts + craft favorites. During this time, the arcade is also closed so children can have their space without the interruption of others in the arcade.

About the Owners

Married couple Wally Xiang + Elena Wang currently live in New York, but are familiar with the Northern New Jersey area as they’ve previously lived in Summit + Edgewater, + have friends that live in the Paramus area. They like Paramus and also feel it has one of the better shopping centers.

As far as what got Wally + Elena into the claw-machine business, it was their daughter. She has a mild obsession with plushies and claw-machines that her parents found so interesting. She has become their main inspiration for creating these stores. After taking their daughter to many claw arcades, Wally + Elena were disappointed at how many children came up empty-handed time + time again. They vowed to create a fairer experience when they opened Horae Play.

A lot of thought goes into this fairness. Machines are constantly monitored to make sure plushies have a fair shot of being selected by the claw. Wally + Elena are also monitoring machines behind the scenes, and can tell immediately which claw machines aren’t performing as well as they could. Then, they make adjustments as needed.

When asked why this line of business, Wally mentioned bringing families together. The idea of giving parents + children a space to hang out and be together is something they cherish. Elena also mentioned the monitoring of all three locations and machines can be very tiring, but having excellent customer feedback (both in-store + online), as well as a staff Elena + Wally can see themselves growing with are qualities that make it all worth it.

Horae Play has two other locations. The original storefront is located in Flushing. The second store is in Manhattan on Lexington Avenue, between 88th Street + 898th Street.

Parties + Events

Horae Play has party packages available with pricing for weekdays + weekends. The timeframes for these events typically run between an hour + 90 minutes. The Paint-Your-Own-Plushies option is available for parties, as well as the class held on Fridays. Horse Play also has a Parents' Drop-In Night. This event allows children ages 4+ to be dropped off “for an epic night of creativity + fun” which includes claw-machine experiences, painting plushies, + pizza.

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Horae Play also has options available to take the party on the go. In addition to renting out claw machines to local businesses, claw machines can be brought to birthday parties + other events. It’s best to call + inquire with Horae Play for more information about rental claw-machine units.

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