there are actually upgrades to improve the player's reach/speed but I didn't make that obvious in the game. Oh well.
I gave it another go and found the upgrades, i thought the cups and weapon racks were just props not upgrades. Some kind of tutorial or maybe particle effect or glow around the upgrades would have helped make them more obvious.
yeah, another person also pointed out the same issue. It wasn't apparent to me until the comments come in :/