Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo/Video screen capture
When you walk into an arcade, you see flashing lights and the ringing of buzzers, beepers and bells is endless. Everything is plugged in, energy pumping into metal machines with tickets and toys pumping out. There is a lure there, to be sure. But what if you could make your own arcade out of cardboard and tape, with zero electricity and regifted prizes? One nine-year-old boy did exactly this, creating every last detail down to spitting tickets out of slots and setting up a calculator system to verify if your “funpass” is genuine.
Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo/Video screen capture
Meet Caine, the mastermind behind a cardboard arcade located in his father’s auto parts store in East LA. He’s built the whole thing from used cardboard boxes and materials found around the store. This low-tech arcade skips all the carbon footprint of a real arcade but keeps all the fun.
Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo/Video screen capture
Wired writes, “When Jonathan Liu wrote about the five best toys of all time, he was sure to mention the cardboard box. Caine Monroy, a nine-year-old from Los Angeles decided to add some packing tape and take the cardboard box a step further by creating an entire arcade from boxes and tape.”
This is the perfect example of how technology does not need to dominate a child’s life in order for it to be fun and entertaining. We don’t need video games, pinball machines with flashing lights, and all the various high-tech toys we’ve dreamed up. We need only creativity and some cardboard.
Here is a short film made about Caine’s Arcade — trust me, you don’t want to miss this wonderful story.
Caine’s Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.
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