The inaugural Lure of the Labyrinth tournament, designed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, challenges kids to navigate an online monster lair by solving math and logic puzzles. Top scorers in the competition, which kicked off this month, can win tablet computers.

DimensionU, an online game company, this week launched another national tournament, DU the Math, to encourage kids to play its free math games. Top players can win a personal music lesson from teen pop star Greyson Chance, a day with the hit band Mindless Behavior or a star-studded rock concert in their hometown — all prizes deliberately chosen, company spokesman Tom Schuyler said, “to make math cool.”

Perhaps the most ambitious effort to give math some sparkle comes from Whitney, the hedge-fund mathematician. He has raised $22 million to build a Museum of Mathematics, due to open this fall in New York City.

via Numbers game: America’s struggle to make math fun | Reuters.