BERLIN - A thief in the German town of Hamelin robbed an amusement arcade by threatening the attendant with a cup of coffee, authorities said on Tuesday.

“He wasn’t going to pour coffee over her, he was going to hit her with the cup,” a spokesman for local police said.

Brandishing the steaming cup he had just ordered, the thief forced the 26-year-old to open the till and fled with cash.

Police would not say how much money he had taken from the attendant, who had been alone in the arcade. “We don’t want to encourage others to try this,” the spokesman said.