A 14-year-old boy from Beijing is going viral after he turned the 800 yuan ($119) he borrowed from his mother into over 16,443 yuan ($2,400) in a matter of 8 days by opening an ingenious mini arcade business.
Using the money he borrowed, the teen, identified only as Yang, bought 400 glass bottles and 300 ping pong balls and started a mini game arcade stall, according to China Press as translated by World of Buzz.
The game’s mechanics are rather simple. Each bottle contains a cash prize ranging from 5 to 100 yuan ($0.75 to $14). Those who wish to try their luck must pay 10 yuan ($1.49) for 10 balls to play and shoot the ping pong balls into one of the bottles to receive the prize.
This idea of opening up a stall came to Yang years ago after visiting a plaza with various stalls of mini game arcades with similar concepts. Thinking it could be a good way to earn some extra cash during the Chinese New Year holiday break, he decided to set up his own.
Perhaps even more impressive than designing the actual mini game was Yang’s excellent ability to notice a gap in the market for this sort of entertainment.
His stall was so successful that he even managed to pull out an extra 200 yuan ($29) that he used to hire two assistants to help him in his business. However, with the school break drawing to a close, the successful venture must now come to an end.
Like any other good son out there, Yang announced that he wanted to buy something for his mother with his earnings.
“I’m going to buy the best phone there is (for my mother), because if it wasn’t for my mother’s support, I wouldn’t have had the experience of running a successful stall,” he said.
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