CAINE'S ARCADE: WHY KIDS ARE THE COOLEST PEOPLE

I may never look at a Fed Ex box the same way again after learning about 9-year-old Caine Monroy. 

While spending time with his dad at his east L.A. auto parts shop, Caine decided to create his own entertainment—by making an arcade. That’s right. No X Boxing here. Caine took all the different boxes his dad uses to ship parts and cut, pasted, and navigated the shapes into the most unforgettable recyclable cardboard kingdom of fun you’ve ever seen.

Think army men and re-purposed loot from Shakeys pizza as prizes, rolled up duct tape as soccer balls, and Caine himself climbing into the box to hand you your tickets or the FUN PASS—two bucks for 500 chances to win something and have fun trying. Does it get any cooler than that? (And I thought The Paper Bag Princess rocked.) Caine’s even devised a security system to prevent counterfeit FUN PASSES.

Still, business was slow for Caine, but it didn’t matter. He’d sit in his lawn chair making more cool games out of boxes.

But in a curious twist of fate along with good vibes, Caine’s tenacity and innovative genius now inspires tens of thousands around the world, and just might take low tech to new heights.

Here's how it happened. When Caine went to chat with his dad one afternoon in the back of the parts shop, his father noticed on the surveillance camera that someone was actually playing in the arcade. Caine’s first customer! And not just any customer—Nirvan Mullick, a filmmaker who would turn out to be Caine’s biggest booster.

Mullick soon invited a thousand of his closest virtual friends to come to the arcade for a day that Caine won’t soon forget. (Check out the video that has made Caine a welcome sensation and join in the fun.)