Nteido Etuk has one of those cool jobs many people fantasize about.

He’s a video game developer with a twist: His games are designed for classrooms and feature mathematical equations that must be solved to continue to the next level. The concept, which is catching on in schools across the country, gives students an engaging, familiar format to learn mathematical and other concepts instead of the typical drill-and-kill methods.

Etuk, who goes by “NT,” is a native of Nigeria who grew up playing video games. He came to the U.S. to attend Cornell University and majored in electrical engineering. But he lost interest in that field when his first- and second-year courses centered on lectures and discussions about theory—NT just wanted to practice what he was learning.

He began envisioning the concept for Tabula Digita when he volunteered to be a math tutor for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. From that experience, he realized how difficult it is to teach math and motivate students to memorize basic tables and concepts. He wrote the business plan for Tabula Digita as a class project while working on his MBA at Columbia University, and after graduation he founded the company with friend who was a high school math teacher.

Tabula Digita quickly earned a devoted following, and has held virtual tournaments between classrooms and even brought national winners to Atlanta last year for its first tournament using its Dimension M line of games.

“The response has been phenomenal,” NT says. “There’s no question this is actually about learning style and the way students want information to be presented to them.”

Students also love the “social networking” aspect of competing against one another, he says. Most teachers, on the other hand, are wary of having video games in the classroom, but he says he’s gotten positive feedback from some that have integrated it into their curriculum. For instance, he said, some teachers have used it for an hour and a half each Friday and found that their classes suddenly became captive audiences.

So far, Tabula Digita has focused on middle school math, but NT says they soon plan to expand their product line to include games for elementary and high school math classes and science lessons, too. Read more about NT’s thoughts on the future of educational gaming in the classroom in this month’s ASBJ.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor