Boy's cardboard arcade goes viral, nets $100k 'college scholarship'

Thanks to a viral Internet video about his makeshift arcade, a nine-year-old boy in east Los Angeles is on his way to earning $100,000 for his college education.

 

Caine Monroy built an elaborate cardboard arcade in his father's used auto parts store but did not get any customer until Nirvan Mullick dropped in.  

 

"One day, by chance, I walked into Smart Parts Auto (Caine's father's shop) looking for a used door handle for my ’96 Corolla. What I found was an elaborate handmade cardboard arcade manned by a young boy who asked if I would like to play. I asked Caine how it worked and he told me that for $1 I could get two turns, or for $2 I could get a Fun Pass with 500 turns. I got the Fun Pass," Mullick, an independent filmmaker who made a documentary of Caine that went viral, said in a blog post.

 

He said Caine had dreamed of having customers visit his arcade, spending months preparing his games and security systems.

 

But since his father's auto parts store in an industrial part of east L.A. gets "almost zero foot traffic," his chances of getting a customer were very small.

 

Mullick also put a widget on his blog seeking to raise funds for Caine's college education.

 

As of 6 p.m. Friday, the amount raised had reached $132,977. A Facebook account has gained 65,635 likes.

 

"Chip in $1 or more to help Caine to go to college. Imagine what this kid could build with an Engineering degree!" Mullick said.

 

The Los Angeles Times did a feature story on the arcade, lauding Monroy for his ingenuity.

 

"How he made a claw machine out of an S-hook and a piece of yarn, and made fun passes that can be verified by pressing the square root button on old calculators taped to each cardboard game," it said.

 

It also narrated how Mullick makes Monroy's day by using Facebook to set up a flash mob of people to assemble outside Monroy's "usually empty" arcade, all clamoring to play his games.

 

Another Los Angeles Times story said that, since school has already started, Caine's Arcade is only open on weekends —but he personally attends to customers wearing a shirt that says "staff" on the front and "Caine's Arcade" on the back.

 

"When you win a game, Caine will climb inside the box and push tickets out a slot. The prizes include his old matchbox cars, silly sunglasses and bubbles," it said. — TJD, GMA News