BoingBoing - 9 y.o.'s DIY cardboard arcade gets flashmobbed (w/ video) - Best 10 minutes you'll spend all day

[Bliz]

What a great story

http://boingboing.net/2012/04/09/9-year-olds-diy-cardboard-ar.html

Nirvan says: "I just finished this short film about a 9-year-old boy's elaborate DIY cardboard arcade. Caine made his arcade using boxes from his dad's used auto parts store. He hadn't had many customers, so we set up a fun flashmob to make his day, and filmed his response. I hope it brings a smile to your day. P.S. Caine's Arcade is in East LA. You should visit it sometime - Caine is still building new additions!"

Caine Monroy is a 9-year old boy who spent his summer vacation building an elaborate DIY cardboard arcade in his dad’s used auto parts store. Caine dreamed of the day he would have lots of customers visit his arcade, and he spent months preparing everything, perfecting the game design, making displays for the prizes, designing elaborate security systems, and hand labeling paper-lunch-gift-bags. However, his dad’s autoparts store (located in an industrial part of East LA) gets almost zero foot traffic, so Caine’s chances of getting a customer were very small, and the few walk in customers that came through were always in too much of a hurry to get their auto part to play Caine’s Arcade. But Caine never gave up.

[Dan T.]

In life, always go for the Fun Pass.

What a sweet story. Thanks for posting that.

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

That was awesome! Makes ya have hope for the human race.

[Enter Apotheosis]

That was awesome! Makes ya have hope for the human race.

Alas, that hope always vanishes with the very next thread you open on ES

[Rocky21]

Bliz you were right. That was the best 10 minutes I spent today.

[sacase]

Great Story. When I get up to LA again I may have to stop by and get a fun pass!

[Mad Mike]

Bah. Just teaching the kid to have unrealistic expectations for producing a crappy cardboard product.

Of course I'm kidding. Gotcha!

[S.T.real,lights,out]

Nice! That was awesome! Thanks for posting that!

[RVAbrendan]

Bah. Just teaching the kid to have unrealistic expectations for producing a crappy cardboard product.

I almost awarded you the Buzz Killington award until I saw the ninja

[S.T.real,lights,out]

Bah. Just teaching the kid to have unrealistic expectations for producing a crappy cardboard product.

Of course I'm kidding. Gotcha!

i was like what????

[Dan T.]

I loved when he crawls into the machine to dispense the winning tickets. Cute kid.

Riding the viral wave, the filmmaker has set up scholarship fund for Caine. Good for him.

[PokerPacker]

Bah. Just teaching the kid to have unrealistic expectations for producing a crappy cardboard product.

gotta beat reality into them while they're young!

[Mongo2365]

Damn onions

[Bliz]

I loved when he crawls into the machine to dispense the winning tickets. Cute kid.

Riding the viral wave, the filmmaker has set up scholarship fund for Caine. Good for him.

Yeah, ticket dispenser was great. I'm guessing a few of the mobbers had to help him run those machines with that big crowd there. He might have collapsed otherwise

[MisterPinstripe]

Man... Looks like they have already raised about 80,000.00 for his school. Thats pretty dang awesome.

[RiggosMohawk]

The Fun Pass is not only a better deal, it offers counterfeit protection. I want one!

[Dan T.]

[China]

[Dan T.]

Brian Williams just closed the NBC Nightly News with a segment on Caine's arcade. The scholarship fund set up for Caine has topped $100,000. Yay!

[FSUSkins24]

Dare I say this made me shed a tear? What a heart warming story. There is hope for humanity yet.

Thank you so much for sharing.

[Dan T.]

L.A. vintage pinball shop "Pins and Needles" owner invites Caine for a visit, then gives him a choice of vintage pinball machines to take one home ...

http://gawker.com/5901347/local-pinball-shop-gives-cardboard-arcade-kid-free-vintage-pinball-machine

[zoony]

Damn onions

I know, right? I shouldn't have been prepping dinner while watching that

[Reic]

http://cainesarcade.com/store/

Put me down for one shirt when they come out!

His fund is at 137,000 so far. Holy cow

[Bliz]

I'd like to know more about how they're actually setting up the fund. Hopefully it's being put into a trust dedicated to his education, or a 529 or something. It appears to be the director of the short, and not the dad, who has set up that page, so that may very well be the case. Regrettably a lot of nice stories end with "...but the family blew the money." Would hate to see that happen here.