# Caine's Arcade

Caine's Arcade is an 11-minute short documentary film directed by Nirvan Mullick, released on April 9, 2012. The film documents a cardboard arcade created by then 9-year-old Caine Monroy, operated from his father's auto parts store in East Los Angeles in mid-2011. Mullick encountered the arcade by chance while purchasing a door handle for his car. After becoming Caine's first customer by purchasing a $2 Fun Pass, Mullick decided to create a documentary highlighting Caine's work.
Following its upload on YouTube, the short film quickly gained popularity and went viral. In response, numerous individuals contributed to a college fund established by Mullick for Caine. The film's success also led to the creation of similar cardboard arcades in schools worldwide and inspired the formation of the Imagination Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on fostering creativity and entrepreneurship in young people globally.

## Background

Before 2011, Caine spent weekends at his father George Monroy's store, where he tried selling various items such as yard signs for sports teams and snacks from vending machines. However, these efforts were largely unsuccessful. 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.
In the summer of 2011, Caine discovered several discarded boxes at the store and asked his father's permission to set up an arcade in the front. George agreed, and Caine built and designed all the games himself, creating a ticket and prize redemption system. Initially, he used old toys, like Hot Wheels cars, as prizes before switching to items purchased at dollar stores. Caine operated the arcade by retrieving balls and handing out tickets to players. During a family trip to Palm Springs, Caine also asked for a custom t-shirt that read "Caine's Arcade" on one side and "Staff" on the other, though he did not know what "staff" meant at the time.
Due to the store's location, the arcade had no visitors until filmmaker Nirvan Mullick noticed it while coming to the store for a door handle for his 1996 Toyota Corolla. Mullick was intrigued by the arcade and spoke to Caine about it, impressed by the business elements, such as the $2 "Fun Pass" offering 500 plays. Mullick bought a Fun Pass and played the games, not realizing he was Caine's first customer until later when George mentioned it to him, noting that Caine was happy even with just one customer.

## 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 premiere at DIY Days at the University of California Los Angeles, in late October. George gave his approval and mentioned that Mullick had been Caine's first and only customer. Upon learning this, Mullick decided to organize a surprise flash mob for Caine, which would be part of the film. The flash mob was scheduled for October 2, 2011, and was promoted via Facebook and Reddit.
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." Surprised and excited, Caine initially thought he was dreaming but quickly realized it was real and that people were there to play his arcade games.
Mullick edited a 14-minute rough cut of the documentary, which was shown at the UCLA event at the end of 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.
The final 11-minute version of the documentary was released online on April 9, 2012, on Vimeo and YouTube. The film quickly gained widespread attention, accumulating over a million views on the first day and more than 5 million views within five days. Mullick noted that the film "made grown men cry."

## Impact

Following the release of the documentary, Caine was invited to speak as the youngest entrepreneur at USC Marshall School of Business. Caine was also the youngest speaker at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology invited Caine to participate in a summer program, while the University of California Los Angeles offered to help design a course curriculum for Caine when he is ready to attend college. Business journals such as Forbes and Fast Company have highlighted the factors that made Caine's arcade applicable to any business venture, such as Caine's perseverance and optimism. The arcade was temporarily displayed in the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Caine continued to operate the arcade on Saturdays to a steady stream of guests for 18 months after the documentary's release, eventually "retiring" from running his arcade on his 11th birthday. While open, nearby businesses and local musicians worked to create a street fair-like environment around the arcade. Caine was offered a full-scholarship to attend Colorado State University after Mullick and Caine spoke in Denver at the 2013 Colorado Innovation Network Summit.
Mullick established a college fund for Caine to which viewers could contribute, with an initial goal of $25,000. This was quickly surpassed, raising over $60,000 on the first day, and exceeded $170,000 one week later. The total fund has raised over $240,000, with an ultimate goal of $250,000. With a matching grant from the Goldhirsh Foundation, Mullick started the Imagination Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to foster creativity and entrepreneurship in children. Mullick had not originally planned on this, though had been working in non-profit foundations before. After three days of the video's release and the donations to Caine's college fund, he began working out the mission statement for the Imagination Foundation. Mullick launched the non-profit by making a follow-up film, Caine's Arcade 2—which launched the Imagination Foundation and a Global Cardboard Challenge, culminating in a Day of Play (celebrating the anniversary of the surprise flashmob from Caine's Arcade). As of 2017, over 750,000 kids in 80 countries have taken part in the Global Cardboard Challenge. Mullick has become a motivational speaker, sharing the story with educators and business leaders around the world.
Mullick began receiving praise from parents and teachers shortly after the release of the video, including photos and videos of cardboard arcade games created by children inspired by Caine's Arcade. One such clip included actor-musician Jack Black and his children. From this, Mullick and team worked with volunteer teachers to create an open-ended curriculum allowing students to create something in the same manner that Caine approached his arcade. In September 2012, nearing the first anniversary of the surprise flash mob event, Mullick released a second video, Caine's Arcade 2, which primarily was a montage of these video clips. As a means of launching the Imagination Foundation, Mullick arranged the Global Cardboard Challenge to encourage creativity with cardboard. 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. The event was popular, and became an annual event, with initial sponsorship from Mattress Firm, who learned of the story after Mullick and Caine spoke at a Mattress Firm event.
Two years after its opening, Caine 'retired' from running his arcade, partially as he was entering junior high school, but also to start a new business of a bicycle shop to help repair and remake existing bicycles.
The Imagination.org and the Global Cardboard Challenge have continued to grow, adding Imagination Chapters in 2014 and an Inventors Challenge in 2016.