9-year-old creates his own arcade from cardboard

One nine-year-old boy loved arcade games so much he made is own from cardboard in his dad’s shop – and it now looks like his project could be enough to not only keep him amused for hours, but also pay for his university education.

Caine Monroy started with a single arcade-style game in the front of his father’s car part shop in Los Angeles, US, now the summer project has become a serious business and raised more than £39,000 [$62,000] towards future university fees, with £15,000 [$24,000] donated on Tuesday alone. A website has also been created to celebrate Caine’s unique arcade.

“Caine does not stop by an arcade without going in,” his father George said. “He loves tickets, playing games and prizes so it was only natural for him to build his own arcade.

“He loves to see how things are built, he takes all of his toys apart to see how they work. He can’t put them together again but he takes them apart,” he added.

The arcade, which is still based in the front of his father’s shop, comprises of a number of rudimentary games that increased in sophistication and design as Caine grew the collection. Customers can pay $1 for four games or $2 for a “fun pass” which is good for 500 plays.

Among the most impressive games on offer is a homemade grabber machine made from string and a hook. Improving the arcade, Caine has a speaker made from an iPod headphone, tokens, tickets and his own business card. Generously there are also a number of prizes available, including hot wheels cars he no longer plays with.

The project shot to fame after filmmaker Nirvan Mullick stopped off at the shop to buy a door handle for his car, was charmed and shot a short documentary about the arcade and later organised a flashmob to surprise Caine, both of which have raised donations to the 9-year-old’s university fund which has a target of £62,800 [$100,000].