As a digital marketing agency that focuses on Return on Investment (ROI) for our clients, we work with them to set goals for website traffic, lead conversion, and sales and ultimately achieve them. This work requires a significant amount of focus and attention on computer screens for long periods of time to analyze numbers, links, cost per click, online engagement, and other metrics that help us realize results. So, having a fun outlet (or several) in our creative and casual work space is a welcome and encouraged distraction.

When you walk into our office, you'll set your eyes on a shuffleboard table that is too long to miss and too easy not to push a puck across. Walk a few steps further into our "playground" and just past the vintage refrigerator housing drinks and snacks for client meetings, you'll likely be drawn to our office's most prized possession in our common lounge area: the Ms. Pac Man machine.

Do we like it because it's retro and we work in one of Chicago's most creative neighborhoods, Wicker Park? Probably. But even more so, "It helps you make a clean break from your thought process; when you come back to a problem after a quick game, you see it with new eyes," says Daniel Dietzel, our Reporting Developer.

In fact, it might not be a stretch to say that games such as Ms. Pac Man parallel the challenges we face every day at work and in general. Controlling our path through the maze and getting the cherry or to the next level is what we're going for (like our business goals) when we sit down at the arcade game table and push the start button. And, dodging pac-dots or pellets are like dodging competitors or hurdles that inevitably arise in an ever-changing business landscape where we work to keep up with new technology daily.

Our SEO Analyst, Roger Panella, says, "I like being able to take 10-15 minutes out of the work day to hang out with someone on our team in a non-work context." And, our Principal and Strategic Director, Taylor Cimala says he likes having the games in our office for the team building component.

So, whether we're focused on the cherry or running away from ghosts, we maintain a balanced work environment where short breaks for a quick game or two is encouraged. After all, we always celebrate the high scores, and give words of encouragement when the game doesn't go our way. This behavior translates directly to our day-to-day work and the end result is a happy team with happy clients.