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Caine's Arcade is a 2012 short documentary film directed by Nirvan Mullick. The film tells the story of a cardboard arcade created by the then 9-year-old Caine Monroy, which he operated from his father's auto parts store in East Los Angeles in mid-2011. After buying a $2 Fun Pass and becoming Caine's first customer, Mullick decided to document the project, creating an 11 minute-video to YouTube.
Before 2011, Caine would spend weekends at his father, George's, auto parts store. To pass the time and earn some money, Caine tried out various business ideas, selling items such as yard signs for sports teams and snacks from vending machines. However, as the store was located in an industrial area of East Los Angeles with low foot traffic and mainly served as a warehouse for online sales, these efforts were largely unsuccessful.[2]
In the summer of 2011, Caine discovered several discarded cardboard boxes at the store and asked his father's permission to set up an arcade in the front. George agreed, and Caine built the games and created a ticket and prize redemption system. Initially, he used his old toys, like Hot Wheels cars, as prizes, before switching to items purchased at dollar stores. Caine operated the games manually by retrieving balls and handing out tickets to players through slots. During a family trip to Palm Springs, Caine asked for a custom T-shirt with "Caine's Arcade" printed on one side and "Staff" on the other, though he did not know what the word 'staff' meant at the time.[3][4]
Filmmaker Nirvan Mullick first noticed Caine's project while getting a door handle for his 1996 Toyota Corolla. Mullick was intrigued by the arcade and spoke to Caine about it. Mullick was impressed by the business elements, such as the $2 "Fun Pass" offering 500 plays.[5] Mullick bought a enjoyPass and played the games.[6]
Documentary
After visiting Caine's Arcade, Mullick returned a few weeks later to ask George for permission to make a short film about the arcade, which he planned to debut at DIY Days, held at the University of California, Los Angeles, in late October. George approved and mentioned that Mullick had been Caine's first and only customer. Upon learning this, Mullick coordinated a flash mob with the help of social media platforms such as Facebook and Reddit, intending to include it in the documentary.[5]
On the day of the flash mob, George took Caine out for pizza in the afternoon to allow over one hundred participants time to gather and prepare signs. When Caine returned, the crowd greeted him with a cheer of "We came to play."[7]
Mullick edited a 14-minute rough cut of the documentary, which was shown at a UCLA event in October 2011. The film featured an original song called "Caine's Arcade" by local musician Juli Crockett, along with a track by the band Dead Man's Bones, fronted by actor Ryan Gosling.[5]
The final 11-minute version of the documentary was released online on April 9, 2012, on Vimeo and YouTube. The film quickly gained attention, accumulating over a million views on the first day and over 5 million views within five days.[5] Mullick attributed the success to "the strong emotional impact" of the documentary.[8]
While open, nearby businesses and local musicians worked to create a street fair-like environment surrounding the arcade.[10]
Caine reportedly continued operating the arcade on weekends for approximately 18 months, eventually closing it at age 11. According to interviews, he expressed interest in starting a bicycle repair and customization project.[15][7] According to HuffPost, Caine was, at the 2013 Colorado Innovation Network Summit in Denver, Colorado, offered a scholarship to attend Colorado State University.[16]
Mullick established a college fund for Caine, with an initial goal of $25,000. Contributions quickly surpassed this amount, reaching over $60,000 on the first day[5] and exceeding $170,000 one week later.[2] The total fund has raised over $240,000, with an ultimate goal of $250,000.[17] With a matching grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation, Mullick started the Imagination Foundation, a non-profit seeking to initiate programs fostering creativity and entrepreneurship in children.[17]
Educators and parents shared photos and videos of similar cardboard arcade projects, reportedly inspired by the documentary. One such clip included actor-musician Jack Black and his children.[18] Later, Mullick and his team would work with volunteer teachers to create an open-ended curriculum, which hoped to enable students to develop similar projects from scratch.[18]
In September 2012, nearing the first anniversary of the surprise flash mob event, Mullick released a sequel: Caine's Arcade 2, comprised mainly of footage of children inspired by the original project.[18][19] As part of the foundation’s outreach, Mullick launched the Global Cardboard Challenge, an annual event inviting children to build projects using cardboard and recycled materials. Three weeks after the follow-up film, volunteers organized over 270 Cardboard Challenge events across 41 countries, including one at Caine's Arcade in Boyle Heights.[17] The event became an annual event, with initial sponsorship from Mattress Firm, which learned of the story after Mullick and Caine spoke at a Mattress Firm event.[20][21]
The Imagination Foundation has since expanded its programs, adding Imagination Chapters[22] in 2014 and an Inventors Challenge[23] in 2016.
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