Caine’s Arcade short film hits YouTube


10 Apr 2012

The viral sensation that is Caine’s Arcade has finally hit YouTube. The short film directed by Nirvan Mullick and produced by Interconnected tells the story of nine-year-old Caine Monroy, who built a cardboard arcade using boxes from his father’s used auto parts store in East LA.

Mullick became the first paying customer to the arcade and availed of the $2 “fun pass”. Inspired by the innovative young entrepreneur, Mullick approached Caine’s father with a plan, to make a short film and invite the internet to come and play at Caine’s Arcade. The plan involved organising a “flashmob” to assemble at the arcade on Sunday, 2 October 2011, post the event on Facebook and film the event.

Within an hour of posting the event, the idea had gone viral. NBC News caught wind and were broadcasting the idea to the Los Angeles area, the event made the front page of Reddit and thousands of followers on Facebook from all around the world were leaving messages of support. Hundreds turned up for the flashmob and queued for hours to play the games built from cardboard.

The 11-minute short film is now available on YouTube and Vimeo, although special screenings of the film have been scheduled for film festivals. The accompanying website cainesarcade.com are taking donations for Caine’s college fund and have already raised more than US$5,000 towards their US$25,000 target.

Watch Caine’s Arcade: