Missing boy found in bowling alley claw machine

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A 3-year-old reported missing in Lincoln, Nebraska has been found alive and well inside one of those arcade games where you try and grab stuffed animals with a claw.

The child's mother called police around 5.30pm on Monday after he went missing from her apartment, KETV reports.

He was soon found to have made his way not only across the street to a bowling alley, but inside a claw machine, presumably after some sort of Toy Story adventure that involved shrinking potions and mild peril.

Employees called the vendor who quickly arrived to let the boy out, disappointingly using a key and not the remote controlled claw.

According to police, the mother was not cited as she contacted the authorities as soon as she discovered the toddler was missing.

He is now doing fine after briefly experiencing life as a stuffed zebra, with the vendor even giving him a toy to take home.