At some point in everyone’s life, they have played some sort of a game. Whether it is a video game or a sport such as soccer or baseball, or even a simple round of tag in the elementary playground, at some point everyone has played a game. What if I told you that a new game was created, based on arcade games, but it was made out of cardboard and built by a 9 year old. Would you believe me or think I was joking? Well that is precisely what Caine Monroy did.
Around 2011, Caine was helping his Father with work in the family’s used auto part store. Caine, being 9 years old at the time, was easily bored and wanted to do something more fun. He found some cardboard and some prizes, and created his first cardboard arcade games: soccer goals and the claw.
Caine continued to make these cardboard games, until one day a customer came in looking for a car door handle, but instead left with a newfound inspiration. This customer is named Nirvan Mullick, and he filmed the short documentary named “Caine’s Arcade.” The video was a viral sensation, and customers began to go the store not for used auto parts, but to play Caine’s cardboard arcade games. People were so impressed that they began to pay large sums of money so that Caine could afford to go to college. Eventually the fund had accumulated nearly $250,000 for Caine’s college education and Caine wasn’t even in High School yet!
Caine began to go to different colleges and universities, and spoke about what he learned from this experience. Eventually at 13 years old, Caine retired from the cardboard arcade industry to focus on Junior High School, as well as begin his new venture… a bicycle shop that repairs and remakes different existing bicycles. While this is certainly an intersecting way to pivot, Caine seems to have done well for himself.
What makes Caine’s story so unique is how young he was. While much of his success can be credited to Nirvan, who created the video that went viral, Caine created a unique product while he was bored, using old materials that otherwise would have just been thrown away. There are great example of this in third world countries, such as tire sandals, however for a 9 year old to initiate the process and design it himself, that is truly impressive. Another thing that makes this story unique is how Caine gained popularity. Without Nirvan creating that documentary video Caine’s wonderful idea may have gone unnoticed. The funny thing is that Caine wasn’t even trying to market his idea much up until Nirvan came in. Caine’s cardboard arcade idea was able to grow even without a strong liquid network.
https://www.cerebralpalsy.org/inspiration/opportunities/creativity
On a hot LA summer day in 2012, nine-year-old Caine started working at his father’s used auto parts store. While working there, Caine noticed that there were a lot of empty boxes in the back room that weren’t being used. He decided that it would be fun to make arcade games out of them. He set up the games in his father’s shop and began charging people a nickel to play them. He used his old toys, which were mostly hot wheels, and some toys that he bought at the dollar store.