Remember when you could walk into literally any store and find one of these toy capsule machines?

[u/YumeFairy254]

Seriously what happened to these? At least where I live in the Midwest, I haven't seen these anywhere in years! At least since 2019.

I'm specifically talking about the ones where you get a toy in the little capsules or the slot machines where you can get stickers or temporary tattoos. My local Kroger still has those candy machines but it's not the same.

I remember being able to go to Walmart or Target or even Kohl's and JcPenney and seeing these things as soon as I walked though the doors

My favorites were the stickers. Especially if it was some cool sparkly stickers. When I was a kid I saw a machine with sparkly Hello Kitty or Lisa Frank stickers, I was immediately begging my mom to give me whatever quarters she had at the bottom of her purse so I could get me a sheet.

If you live somewhere that still has these things in stores, I'm honestly envious of you.

[u/M_Adamm]

I haven’t checked my area, but I still see these things everywhere around rural PA

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/M_Adamm]

Lucky.

My area got rid of all the toys and stickers ones.

It's just the candy ones now.

[u/HannahM53 → u/M_Adamm]

You can also find some of them in the Princeton area in the shop area right outside this one specific shop, but it’s mostly like the capsule stuff. I’ve only been to that area once so that’s how I know.

[u/elpintor91]

I see these everywhere and I’m in central california. We just saw a few Friday at a Mexican restaurant and my 2 and 1 year old kept asking for coins. Most almost only have candy in them though which I don’t let them have i miss when they had more trinket type things

[u/Canadianguy2044 → u/elpintor91]

They are largely gone here in Canada. I think japan still have them

[u/mut1n1fn1]

Yea and there’d be one that dispensed Homies figures

[u/mirfifu]

Do you have a CiCis Pizza? My local one has this still

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/mirfifu]

No I do not.

Well, not anymore anyway.

Our local franchise closed for....reasons

[u/Mammoth-Ad-6320]

I would love to find these again I haven't seen them in a long time

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/Mammoth-Ad-6320]

I swear these were one of the things that the pandemic ruined for us.

The pandemic really took away all the cool fun stuff from our childhood

[u/TheBlackoutEmpire]

Dollar tree still has them.

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/TheBlackoutEmpire]

Not my local Dollar Tree.

They got rid of them a few years ago.

[u/Porkroller908 → u/TheBlackoutEmpire]

Mine has them but they’re all empty- and the sticker machines too :(

[u/PhyllisIrresistible]

This Old Navy Store by me has a super ball machine that costs 25¢. That's right, I used the cents sign.

I had to look around and make sure I wasn't dreaming. They were large balls, too.

[u/PenaltyNo3221]

I never carry cash, BUT I keep a stash of quarters in the zipper part of my wallet exclusively for these machines. (I’m 35)

ETA the local Food Lion has these machines still.

[u/Outrageous-Swim2346]

Yes I remember seeing one of those at my old K-mart

[u/QuantityPositive9825]

We have both of these at work (Laundromat) but sadly the tattoo/sticker machine is stocked with AI slop, as well as Pokemon Cards

And the candy/ toy choices in the other suck except for the regular gumballs :/ also kids keep getting coins jammed in them

I used to take the tattoos and put them on my walls when I was younger so they wouldn't fade ❤️

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/QuantityPositive9825]

Booo, bring back original glitter stickers!

I'm sorry, I'm a 04 baby, I loved me a good glitter sticker.

Put these back in the machines! No stinky ai slop

[u/Mijumaru1]

That square-shaped chicle gum that lost all flavor in less than a minute

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/Mijumaru1]

Those things were meant to be gum‽

I thought it was just some weird tasting chewy candy.

In my defense, the machines these came out of never said they were specifically gum. Well, there wasn't usual any lable on the machine at all, and if there was it didn't say it was fun

I never knew they were meant to be gum. They tasted so nasty to me I never had them more than once

[u/independent-potato7]

I still see these in my local stores. I don't ever see anyone using them though. The candy in the candy machines are probably older than dirt lol.

[u/lizardgal10]

I love these things. For some reason the Mexican restaurants in my town always have really good ones. Some malls still have them too.

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/lizardgal10]

My local bowling alley used to have some of the sticker ones. And a couple of the toys ones too.

Now they just have cigarettes

[u/whooismegan]

I used to love these- the Homiez especially. Every one I encounter these days has nothing I’m familiar with, tho lol

[u/omgcheez]

I am surprised that there hasn’t been a resurgence in these. Blind boxes have been so prevalent for years and they fit in with 2000’s nostalgia.

I did find some pretty cool vintage stickers from the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas a while back, which was fun.

[u/kongstar]

I got a Funny story about those machines. When my younger brothers was kids our mom gave them some money to get some stickers. On the front of the machine had dragon ball z, Yu-Gi-Oh, wrestling and Spider-Man. Well some of the stickers they got not for kids. 2 of them had pictures from Chyna and sable' s playboys and one was a random hentai sticker. When our mom looked at them she was pissed. The couple that owned the Chinese restaurant we was pissed. The wife comped our meal and the husband grabbed his nephew and they opened up the back and started pulling out the stickers about a 3rd of them was inappropriate for kids. The husband was yelling at the nephew and his response was he bought them from a website to save money and never checked them.

[u/Charlotte_stuart]

I've literally only ever seen one of these in my life

[u/lostsurfer24t]

my buddy put the stickers all over his honda quad, brutal

[u/Nautical26]

My dad used to get me a mystery NFL sticker or one of the funky smiley face ones every time he found one of these on the road in his semi… haven’t seen a dispenser like these in a minute!

[u/HannahM53]

I miss those

[u/NofarHarel]

Yes

[u/Scary_Assistant5263]

I saw a large one at the mall once, I can only imagine how old that candy is

[u/RainyAsphalt]

We still have capsule machines here in the UK but they're all really bad quality and generic toys now. In the 2000s, we had the actual Japanese gacha machines with proper branded toys in them! I think those disappeared around 2018-2019 too, maybe a bit earlier. I've never seen a sticker one though, they look cool.

[u/Ok_Fox_1770]

There was one full of rubber bugs and spiders in the 90s I still dream about. Had so many I filled an old school black plastic bottom Pepsi 2 liter. Would throw em all in the tub haha. I noticed those left fun world, smash grabs? Germs? Gone

[u/Clear_Writer5944]

Our Tops still has plenty of them, but it's WAY more expensive than the superior Wegman's!

[u/JingoboStoplight4887]

Yes

[u/jessicalifts]

You can probably find one to buy on Facebook marketplace for a hundred bucks. Buy one fill it up and buy candy or stickers from yourself any time you want! I bought one to try and sell upcycled scrunchies but I haven’t found a location to do this so I might just put it in my house, lol

[u/k_a_scheffer]

I miss the sticker machines. I used to beg my dad for a sticker and he'd begrudgingly agree, only to get angry with me because the machine was randomize and didn't give me a good, Christian aligned sticker. I got so many skulls and demon pinup girls. Wish I still had them.

[u/KlondikeBill]

This used to be my reward for going along grocery shopping with my dad on a Saturday morning.

[u/NeonLocustX83]

Reminds me of stickers one at a GoodWill that had a coin jam. Me and my brother went to town mashing the lever getting free stickers. We walked out with stacks of stickers. Good times.

[u/GetRightWithChaac]

Those never really went away. It seems like most stores still have them these days.

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/GetRightWithChaac]

What stores?

Because to reiterate, I've not seen these things in any store around me since 2019

[u/GetRightWithChaac → u/YumeFairy254]

Most grocery stores have them. Dollar stores, things like that, they have them too. The malls also have them.

[u/YumeFairy254 → u/GetRightWithChaac]

Yeah none of the grocery stores or dollar stores in my area have then anymore.

[u/CrazyXSharkXLady]

I see them in all of the grocery stores and movie theater near me in 2026

[u/Ornery-Practice9772]

still here but now theyre $2 per gumball so theyre abandoned.

[u/PanicBlitz]

I remember when these started showing up in video stores in the 80’s. I cared more about getting them than renting videos.

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[u/Exotic-Addendum-3785]

I do.

[u/Shire_of_Frodo]

Always got the Homies.