Hello, I thought I would share this in response to your post. Since you asked why there were mechanical devices in a claw machine
...I wasn't even aware these aren't regular things. It's really common in our local theme parks, they put PlayStation's, Switch, Xbox into the machines.
http://imgur.com/a/KAqkxNU (Xbox and switch in a claw machine). I actually couldn't find many images.
It's not actually the console in the machine, it's an empty box. But if you grab the box you can turn it into the register and they give you the real console.
I've never won, but there's people who spend $100's trying. I never even try anymore, I just dismiss it as throwing my money out.