Chicago startup provides brain-boosting activities

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Charles Rodriguez plays "Quarto" at the Marbles store at 55 E. Grand. Rodriguez discovered Marbles: The Brain Store after he started looking for an alternative to his previous standby, Gamer's Paradise, which went under in 2008.

Updated: December 5, 2010 4:36PM

Charles Rodriguez loves board games, and after his favorite store closed, he discovered a Chicago startup that treats customers to fun and brain-challenging activity at the same time.

Rodriguez, a 39-year-old Logan Square resident, is experiencing a retro renaissance: He and his friends, many of whom met playing Team Trivia at local bars, get together at one another's homes to play board games.

He has become the go-to board-game provider with the games he has found at "Marbles: The Brain Store," a rare retailer that has thrived during the recession as people work to keep their skills and minds sharp.

"I gravitate toward critical-thinking games, rather than games of chance," said Rodriguez, a native of the Bronx who works in a local law firm's information-technology department. "Growing up, my favorite board game was Othello, which my mom taught me."

Rodriguez discovered Marbles: The Brain Store after he started looking for an alternative to his previous standby, Gamer's Paradise, which went under in 2008.

He appreciates that Marbles' salespeople bring out games and teach shoppers how to play them, and that the atmosphere isn't nerdy.

"The board games are great fun, and they look beautiful out on the table," Rodriguez said.

The idea for a store that touts its products as brain and memory boosters came from Lindsay Gaskins, a former Sears home-fashions strategist who joined West Loop-based business incubator Sandbox Industries in 2007.

"With the recession, we've seen people wanting to improve their skills, their vocabularies and to sharpen up for job interviews," said Gaskins.

The company has also benefitted from shoppers looking for money-saving ways to entertain or to have fun as a family, and baby boomers who are intrigued by the emerging idea of brain fitness, she said. Many of the games, puzzles and brain teasers sell for $15 to $30.

"Brain fitness, which is also referred to as Neurobics, is the idea that if you work your brain like you exercise your body, you can experience benefits in the way your brain functions," she said.

Most of Marble's games don't claim to be clinically proven in sharpening one's mental skills, but studies are emerging that show mental sharpness can be honed and that it can delay the onset of dementia.

The stores offer games, puzzles, music and other products that children can enjoy, too, Gaskins said.

Marbles, with five stores in the Chicago area, expanded this year to Minnesota, and intends to open in two or three more regions in 2011.

"The store feels similar to the Apple experience -- it has the buzz, high energy and participatory experience," said Keven Wilder, president of Chicago consultancy Wilder Inc.

And parents know that brain-stimulating toys are an important part of a "balanced toy box," which provides children "a different level of experience than a sports toy," said Chris Byrne, content director of TimeToPlayMag.com.