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9 year old boy’s cardboard arcade: The Power Of A Child's Imagination
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.One day, by chance, I walked into Smart Parts Auto 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.
A roughcut of the film premiered at DIY Days, where Caine set up his arcade for people to play. Caine was commissioned by an attendee to build a custom cardboard claw machine, which he did for $80.
This film is a collaboration between all of my friends who chipped in, as well as all of the folks online who got behind the idea of helping to make Caine’s day. Big THANKS to everyone who helped! See FILM CREDITS
After the flashmob, at the end of the day as Caine and his dad drove home, Caine turned to his dad and said, “Dad, this was the best day of my whole life.”
If you like the film, please share it with a friend, and leave Caine a message on his Facebook page. If you are in the LA area, come on down and play Caine’s Arcade hours/directions) – Caine loves customers!
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