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Caine's Arcade

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    My name is Caine, and I am 9 years old.
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    My arcade is named Caine's Arcade. It's open on weekends only.
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    And, it's really cheap.
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    Caine does not pass by an arcade without stopping in.
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    He loves tickets, playing games. He loves prizes.
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    So it was only natural for him to build his own arcade.
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    He loves to see how things are built.
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    He takes his toys apart to see how they work.
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    He can't put them back together, but he takes them apart.
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    Caine spent summer vacation coming to work with me.
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    We sell auto parts in East LA.
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    My dad has a lot of boxes back there. We ship parts out.
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    So I cut them up and make my arcade games out of it.
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    My first game I made is a basketball hoop I got at Shakey's Pizza... and it's really cool.
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    He taped it onto a box, and he offered people chances to play for a nickel.
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    He started with that little game, and little by little it got fancier and fancier.
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    And eventually it took over the whole store.
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    I met Caine randomly.
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    I had to get a door handle for my '96 Corolla, so I pulled into this used auto part store.
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    And I just came across this elaborate cardboard arcade.
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    I asked him how much it was to play.
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    He was like "for $1 you get 4 turns.
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    But for $2 you get a fun pass."
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    Well, how many turns do you get with a fun pass? You get 500 turns with a fun pass.
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    I got a fun pass.
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    I made this fun pass expire in one month. And you get 500 plays on any of these games.
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    It is a great deal!
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    I started making my office. It has a speaker, so on the other side I can talk through.
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    I got tokens, my business card, fun passes, and prizes.
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    My first prizes I used my own toys, like the cars - my own toys.
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    I used to like Hot Wheels when I was little.
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    I work from the back office, so it kept him out of my hair all summer.
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    He would work on the arcade, i would work on eBay.
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    My next game I built was a soccer game. First of all, it didn't get no goalies.
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    People said it was too easy, so I bought army goalies, and there are blockers.
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    I tell them, "is it easy now?"
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    It's pretty hard, so you get two tickets if you make in here.
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    I give it a 4 stars. Hard game, challenging game. 4 stars.
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    One day, Caine tells me, "Dad, I want to buy a claw machine."
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    I say, "why don't you just build it?"
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    So he got an S hook and put a piece of yarn on it, and then put a little track on top of the box.
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    And then I said, "What the heck? He figured out how to make a claw machine with a string and a hook."
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    Here are some sunglasses. These are the glass I like the most - star sunglasses.
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    He buy calculators to put on every arcade game. I ask, "what's that for?"
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    The calculators right here are for security to see if it's a real fun pass or not.
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    On the back, the fun pass has a security number.
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    So when you go here you turn it around and put the pin number in it.
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    And press the check mark button and the big number comes out.
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    That's how you know it's a real fun pass!
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    My dad started the business in 1955. We have used auto parts.
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    Most of our business has gone online because we really don't get the walk-up traffic like we used to.
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    So Caine's chances of getting one customer is pretty hard.
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    Caine is always waiting in front, sitting on his little chair and trying to convince people to play.
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    But not too much luck.
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    Caine's Arcade grand opening!
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    But he never gets discouraged. He is always sweeping up and dusting off the game. Waiting for customers.
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    He only wears his shirt on Saturdays and Sundays when he comes open up his arcade.
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    And he is really proud of his shirt because he thought it up and he designed it.
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    When Caine got back to school from vacation, he kept telling everybody that he got an arcade, and nobody believed him.
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    So he won't wear his shirt to school because he's afraid that kids might tease him about it.
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    He told them, "hey I got my arcade!" But they're like, "yeah, yeah sure."
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    So one day, my secretary comes running into the office, "George, you'll never believe it! Somebody is playing in Caine's Arcade."
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    And I go, "no way!" I was looking through the security camera and watching him.
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    I'm playing miniature soccer, miniature basketball.
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    And then, when you score a point, he would crawl into the box and he pulls out these little tickets out on the side of the cardboard.
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    Like a real arcade, game tickets come from the bottom.
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    And I was like, "this kid is a genius."
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    Nirvan came back one day when Caine wasn't here and told me, "you mind if I make a short film about Caine's Arcade?"
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    And I said, "well, actually, it's kind of a little joke around here, because you are his only customer."
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    I was blown away. Caine has only sold one fun pass?
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    Like the fun pass is an awesome deal.
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    So Nirvan says, "well, what if I could get him a couple of customers?"
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    I said, "that would make his day. If you could get him one customer, he would be happy.
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    And at that point, we hashed a plan to invite everybody in LA to come play at Caine's Arcade.
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    The idea was to do a surprise flashmob of Caine's Arcade on Sunday afternoon.
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    I was thinking, "who is gonna come down to a junk yard on Sunday afternoon in East LA? Who's really gonna show up?"
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    So then I made a little facebook event which a friend posted on HiddenLA which has over 230,000 fans, and all of a sudden it just started going viral.
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    Nirvan put it on the internet, and all of a sudden, within an hour, we had NBC news here.
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    Then it hit the front page of reddit, which is like being on the front page of the internet.
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    I started reading the comments. "I wish I could be there - I live in New York. I wish i could be there - I live in Europe." And then I go, "wow!"
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    It was getting big.
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    The plan is I am going to take Caine to Shakey's Pizza. We are going to play some arcade games.
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    We are going to eat lunch, while Nirvan sets up a big surprise party.
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    Caine has no idea what we're doing, and when we get back, he is going to have the biggest surprise of his life.
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    And the idea is to get as many people as we can to come out to Caine's Arcade, and just make his day.
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    Caine is dying to have one customer show up to his arcade.
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    So Caine is going to be the most surprised little boy in the whole wide world.
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    Hey, we're ready.
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    In about a minute, he is going to ride here.
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    Hey Caine, can we go home early today? We had no customers.
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    No.
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    No?
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    Come on, Dad's tired!
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    No can do! No can do?
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    We're back Caine.
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    Wow! What's going on over here? Haha. Huh?
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    [ cheering ]
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    We finally got some customers here.
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    [ cheering ]
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    WE CAME TO PLAY.
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    [ cheering ]
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    Alright everybody, this is Caine.
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    Hi Caine! [ cheering ]
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    Caine, this is everybody. All these people came to play your arcade. Did you know they were coming?
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    No.
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    Are you ready to run your arcade?
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    Yeah.
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    Alright, what did you guys come here to do?
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    WE CAME TO PLAY!
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    Good. Welcome to Caine's Arcade.
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    [ song ]
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    Well the "C" could be for Cardboard
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    And the "A" could be for Arcade
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    But the "A" could also be for Auto Parts
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    Cause in his Pop's shop's where it's made
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    And the "I"'s gotta be for imagination
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    Of which this kid's got a lot
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    And the "N" oughta be for Noggin'
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    Where the idea first got thought...
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    But then the "E" (Oh yes the E!)
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    Oh yes the "E" (Oh yes the E!)
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    Well the "E"'s gotta be for Everybody
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    (That's you and me!)
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    Cause Everybody is who's invited
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    To come on down and play
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    If you've got the pluck to try your luck
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    Come on down to Caine's Arcade
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    Oh Caine's Arcade (Caine's Arcade!)
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    Oh Caine's Arcade (Caine's Arcade!)
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    It's the best cardboard arcade ever been made
    (Ever made!)
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    So grab yourself a fun pass
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    And y'all come on down and play
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    If you've got the pluck to try your luck
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    Come on down to Caine's Arcade
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    [ cheering ]
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    First of all, I want to know how you got all of these people.
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    Are those your friends?
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    So when I came back, I was like, "is this real life or was I just dreaming?"
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    So I came out and there were real people in real life.
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    Like they're really playing the games.
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    I saw a lot of people, and I was like, "I don't know." It's probably a little parade around somewhere.
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    And they were all like that... when i was right here. So I thought they were cheering for me, and they were.
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    And I was proud.
Title:
Caine's Arcade
Description:

A 9 year old boy - who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad's used auto part store - is about to have the best day of his life.

Help Caine's Scholarship Fund:
http://cainesarcade.com

Caine's Arcade Online:
http://facebook.com/cainesarcade
http://twitter.com/cainesarcade

Credits:
Directed by Nirvan
http://twitter.com/nirvan
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Video Language:
Czech
teamcaine edited English, British subtitles for Caine's Arcade
teamcaine added a translation

English, British subtitles

Revisions

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