Strange items sold in vending machines around the world

We are used to seeing potato chips, chocolate bars or pop in vending machines, but many carry much more bizarre items as well such as live bait or anger management.

The strangest may be the live lobster game, which is a vending machine with a claw on it like those games people play to snag stuffed toys behind a glass wall. Called the Maine Lobster Game, it is advertised as being a fun way for customers to go catch their own dinner in a restaurant. "If you own your own bar or expanding a vending zone, this is the ultimate vending machine for you," reads the website.

Lobsters aren't the only live undersea creatures available at the ready. Live bait is a 24-hour bait shop that caters to fishing enthusiasts who may be working odd hours. It offers a wide array of bait and tackle, including minnows and worms, at all hours of the night. "The only thing we haven't figured out how to vend is a rod," said PA Live Bait Vending's owner Gary Harsel to Modern Marvels.

A vending machine that would be perfect for Vancouver is one that dispenses umbrellas. People in Tokyo have such a service, but pay an inflated price to get an umbrella from one of these machines if they get caught in the rain.

People in Japan can also purchase batteries, ties and even fortunes 24 hours a day. We're guessing the people who purchase an umbrella didn't receive a fortune saying it was going to rain.

Interesting items can also be purchased outside of Japan. An Australian company called Picture Perfect has started selling nail polish through vending machines.

Sometimes when people go to vending machines they aren't actually purchasing items and walking away with a product. Sometimes they gain a sense of calm. A machine in Europe created by Yarisal & Kublitz allows people to insert a coin and watch a piece of China dishware break into many pieces at the bottom of the machine. They call it the Anger Release Machine.

If you are already calm and in the mood for some hot food, machines also dispense fries by Canadian company McCain's and piping hot personal pizzas. The french fry ones have even made it as far north as Saskatoon, according to All Vending Machine Locators. Here's how the pizza, in a machine called piz.top, cooks from frozen in 90 seconds.

In some cases, as Yahoo! Canada News recently reported, machines can be used to recycle. The Swap-O-Matic machine in New York City uses a credit and honour systems to allow people to donate, swap or just take items from boxes in a machine. People get credit for putting items in the machine and must use credit to take items out.

"(It) playfully tries to remind us that reusing and recycling can be just as fun as buying something new," reads the official website.

According to Modern Marvels, self-service in the U.S. is a $300-billion industry and there are more than seven million machines south of the border.