Hundreds of city public school students who gathered at a gaming competition at Columbia University on Friday can truthfully say they are doing their math homework as they play video games. NY1's Education reporter Lindsey Christ filed the following report.

Thousands of city students have become hooked on DimensionM, a role-playing video game that requires quick math skills to keep going. The top competitors from 20 of the 80 city schools that use the game competed on Friday at Columbia University in a math video game tournament sponsored by the Department of Education.

It had a rap concert-like atmosphere and all the trappings of the Final Four -- screaming supporters, cheerleaders, a marching band and a mascot.

After months of training six hours a day, sixth-grader Mahlek Abdlu, right, earned a hard-won victory that he dedicated to his fans, his parents and his math teacher.

"Amazing, exhilarating. Like everyday, I started to worry about, what if I lose? But then I came here and everybody started cheering for me and I felt awesome," said Abdlu.

Chief Executive Officer Nt Etuk of Tabula Digita, the company that makes DimensionM, served as the event's emcee.

"We needed to make education more fun, because the things that kids are doing on the outside, instant messenger, video games, email, social networking, very little of that comes into the classroom," said Etuk. "So we have to get down on our knees and communicate them in the way that they're used to being communicated with."

Students say that strategy works.

"It's helped my math get 10 times better," said student Issa Aabulawi.

The game is three-dimensional and multi-player, so kids compete against each other, but teachers can still tailor the math to what each student needs to work on.

If a school uses the game, students can also take it home. DOE officials said 35 percent of the time city students have spent playing DimensionM this year has been after-school.

Students say the competition is thrilling.

"We get a lot of glory from this," said Aabulawi.

"It was amazing. I didn't know I could go this far. I've to thank Mr. Spec, who introduced me to this game, and all the people who have helped me," said student Joseph Zarrouk.

The participating students had a blast playing video games, cheering on their friends and competing against other schools, and hardly seemed to remember that it all is rooted in mathematics.