In What's wrong with secretary Kim? Park Seo Joon tries and fails and fails and fails but perseverates because he wants to win. But I don't remember if he is successful.

Legend of the blue sea Fl gets frustrated trying to get a doll and continuously fails

I love claw machines in K-dramas. IRL I would never waste money on a plushie, but if I were a K-drama heroine, I would play all day with my hero.

-The Uncanny Counter 2 (Episode 5): Ha-na playing with her piano instructor crush.
-The Liar and His Lover (Episode 4): I want a Crude Play doll!
-The Legend of the Blue Sea (Episode 9): Our mermaid discovering claw machines.

You Are My Spring.
There's this particular figurine that's loved by both of the leads. However, for each mystery piece they claw out, it happens to be the exact opposite of what they want - not many opposites but the exact opposite. They had won one already so they wanted to make it a thing they both have. So they spend many hours and korean won buying coins to play the claw game to earn another. Until the ahjumma running the claw machine gives them the piece they want. [Ahjumma wants to go home but this two adults are the obstacles preventing her. Their pleading eyes and lovey-dovey have been melting her until it doesn't.]

They're are definitely many more claw machines I've watched. I'm sure Because This Life Is Our First has one but I don't know if it was the leads or the supporting characters. I know they won a large bunny.

WWWSK's ML won a very large bunny for Kim Mi-soo, a really really large bunny that takes a lot of space on her bed.

I'm sure Kim Jae-wook has won a bunny via claw machine but I'm not sure if it's for Krystal or Park Min-young. It definitely wasn't Krystal.

I don't remember it. But there was this recent KDrama where the FL was trying to win a bunny in the claw machine but was failing at each turn. The male lead, thinking it was on easy task whisks the FL out of the way and begins playing only to realize he should have minded his business. At the end, he becomes even more competitive than the FL. Man was so desperate to prove himself a worthy claw man. I think it's Love in Contract.

Goblin - when Kim Shin is on a date with the bride.
I just remember Ji Chang Wook but not the drama - Suspicious Partner, perhaps? 🤔

Off the top of my head, so I don't know the exact episode...
_ Soundtrack #1.
_ The Best Hit (the plushie that ML won for the FL was in her desk for the rest of the show).

I know I have watched more claw machines but as always, I don't remember all of them right now 😅

I dropped the show but I remember in Encounter, the OTP has a thing with the claw machine.

My Wife's Having an Affair this Week
ML is addicted to the claw machine

There’s a pretty funny claw machine scene where the grown adults chase off a kid in their obsessive desire to win in Mystic Pop-up Bar…a little searching shows that it’s episode 6!

Fiery Priest ep11 Prosecutor FL won a doll and gave it to the Priest ML

Lookout episode 24, Kyung-soo showed off his boyfriend power by winning a pile of plushies for Bomi.

Squid Game (episode 1)
The lead character got a birthday gift for his daughter from a claw game. The only reason I remember is because of all the videos about the foreshadowing and hints of Squid Game it was included. The box from the game looked like the box the dead contestants were moved in.

I thought about Doona but I didn't remember if it was a claw machine or whack a hole game.

The Best Hit. I think there was 2 or 3 scenes because the idol trainee took a prize and the female lead also got a prize after.

The variety show Busted, season 1 episode 9 . I mention this because Se Hun's obsession with beating the machine was hilarious. He kept trying to borrow money, he couldn't focus on anything except the machine. If you ever want to see an example of a true personality seeping through, Se Hun's competitiveness is on full display.

Unpredictable Family episode 39 or 40.
A cafe owner loses all the money he got from a delivery trying to get a doll from a claw machine.

He did that because of a bet he made with a woman. She told him that if he couldn't win a prize he had to give her 10 coffee coupons. He said he could even bet a 100 coupons. Useless macho confidence. She didn't pay attention to him and just asked for the 10 coupons at the end.

Good for him he didn't make the bet with someone like me. I would totally make him give me a 100 coupons.

In many claw machine scenes, the ML is trying to impress the FL by winning a prize for her. He starts out all confident and macho, then becomes increasingly frustrated and embarrassed when attempt after attempt ends in failure. When the FL decides to give it a try, he tells her it’s impossible to win. And then, of course, she totally humiliates him by snatching up a prize on her very first attempt.

Since everyone is done playing this round, I wanted to add one of my favorite scenes that no one mentioned: Love is for Suckers, Ep. 3 !
The single 30-something FL jokingly tells the ML, “I’m trying to adopt a pet bear because my life is so lonely.” 😂 It's played for laughs, and I laughed because it just rang true.