After almost a year in the making, Jake Edelstein opened his cardboard arcade on the lawn of his suburban home in Caldwell Saturday. 

Games included a remote-control car race and a ticket grab powered by a leaf blower, as well as miniature basketball and soccer. The games were manned by Jake's friends and fellow students at Jefferson Elementary School.

The arcade raised some $500 in donations for the Imagination Foundation, a scholarship fund for young inventors such as eight-year-old Jake. Another $200 came in through online donations.

Jake is one of thousands of children around the world inspired by another boy, Caine, a nine-year-old from southern California who has become a YouTube phenomenon thanks to a film created by the first visitor to his cardboard arcade in East L.A. 

Saturday's Global Cardboard Challenge marked the first anniversary of a flash mob visiting Caine's Arcade. Events took place across the United States—from Southern California to Loveland, Co.—and abroad in Toronto and elsewhere.