Forty-something guy turns his obsession for an unusual toy into a Web business

Oh! Toys is proud to introduce CUBORO, the unique Swiss-made block and marble construction set to the U.S. market. The precisely manufactured toy challenges children (and adults) to develop their conceptual, spatial and creative skills as they build marble tracks from a variety of finely crafted beech wood blocks.

Southborough, MA – September 4, 2001 – It was the winter of 1998 and Ken Kahn, a marketing executive in Boston, found himself spending more and more time in the family room playing with his kids' blocks and marbles. But these weren't just any blocks and marbles. They were Cuboro blocks and marbles from Switzerland, and they were the seeds of an idea that within three years led Kahn to start his own company to introduce Cuboro to the U.S. market. (This in spite of a full-time job and two daughters to raise.) It was definitely a labor of love. I already had my hands full, but I really felt that Cuboro had something special that the other toys my kids were playing with did not," says Kahn, founder of Oh! Toys, now the U.S. distributor of Cuboro. It wasnt something I had actively looked for, but I couldnt resist it."
Cuboro, a Swiss-made marble and block construction toy, challenges children and adults to use their conceptual, spatial and creative skills as they build marble tracks from a variety of finely crafted beech wood blocks. The blocks are fashioned with different tunnels and surface grooves to allow marbles to pass through or over them in infinite combinations. Children design mazes and tracks as they play, then get to test their ideas with the specially manufactured marbles.
Cuboro engages so many of a childs skills," says Kahn. There is the sheer fun of solving the problem of creating a marble track and being able to prove that your idea works. This in turn gives children confidence in their own abilities as they use their own intuition and sense of design." These days, Kahns family room is, more often than not, home to elaborate Cuboro constructions designed and executed by Kahn and his two children. We even bought a new coffee table that would let us store Cuboro cubes so we wouldnt have to pack them away on a shelf," adds Kahn. And as the new sets come out, our collection – and creations – have grown."
Kahn notes, It works on so many levels. There is the mental development it sparks in children as they envision increasingly complex structures and build them. Kids creativity is sparked as they try to use the pieces in new and imaginative combinations. We still see children use blocks in ways we never thought of to provide a new way for the marbles to travel."
There is also the basic pleasure of playing with a finely crafted toy that simply feels good to the touch and is beautiful to look at. And finally, you have the simple challenge and satisfaction of building something that works AND is an interesting structure as well."
"It adds up to an unusual experience that children – and, yes, their parents -- come back to over and over. Some of our friends just leave them out all the time -- you can play with them for five minutes or for hours."
Ken Kahn or, as his business card says, Player #1 at Oh! Toys, discovered the fun of Cuboro when it was offered briefly in the U.S. through a catalog marketer. He tracked down the inventor, Matthias Maettu" Etter, in Switzerland, who first created Cuboro to provide handicapped or immobilized children with a toy or puzzle to occupy their intellect and assist in developing their spatial and aesthetic senses. When I found that Matthias and his marketing staff were fully occupied with the European market," says Kahn, my love of Cuboro drove me to take on the mission of bringing it back to the U.S." As the sole U.S. distributor, Oh! Toys offers multiple Cuboro sets, each with different kinds of blocks. Maettu has done a terrific job in designing new blocks that add to the challenge," Kahn points out. Many customers find that the first set only whets their appetite for the next one."

About Oh! Toys
Oh! Toys is a Web-based toy distributor founded in 2000by Ken Kahn, an executive with 15 years of advertising and direct marketing experience, for the purpose of bringing Cuboro and other stimulating toys, puzzles and games to the U.S. markets. Sales are currently exclusively through the Oh! Toys Web site at www.oh-toys.com.
Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Southborough, MA 01772; Tel: 508-481-2604; Fax: 508-481-7565; E-mail: info@oh-toys.com; URL: www.oh-toys.com.
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