Three years after pitching a crude prototype to Educational Insights, first-time inventor Fred Lusignan's idea for an electronic multiplication game has become a reality. Digitz by Educational Insights hit online and retail shelves this summer and is now available through school supply dealers and educational toy retailers throughout the United States, Canada, and England.

With the official release of Digitz in August 2007, online reviews have started popping up everywhere and the consensus is that Digitz really does "multiply the learning fun." An article on www.Kidzworld.com calls Digitz a "fun brain game that boosts your gray matter." The game received four-star status and an enthusiastic "thumbs up" as both a valuable educational tool and a portable and versatile game that offers up to five different play options.

Digitz may be purchased through multiple venues online (including here) and at traditional brick and mortar retail outlets nationwide. To find a dealer near you, click here.

Digitz was highlighted in the October 2007 edition of Boys' Life Magazine, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America. Published 12 times a year, the magazine boasts an audience of more than five million, which includes both male and female readers primarily between the ages of 6 and 17.

Entertaining, educational and informative, Boys' Life magazine serves the active lifestyle of its audience while fulfilling the vision of the Boy Scouts of America. Educational Insights, manufacturer of Digitz and a host of other award-winning educational products shares the publication's mission to engage, entertain, and educate.

Digitz inventor Fred Lusignan is excited to have Digitz recognized by such a prestigious publication. "I spent a lot of years in the Boy Scouts as a kid and read Boys' Life. It's really fulfilling to see Digitz, a product that I invented, featured some 30 plus years later in such a highly respected magazine."

Local inventor with Educational Insights to introduce educational toy at largest trade show in Western Hemisphere

PROVIDENCE — On February 11, 2007, Foster native Fred Lusignan will join more than 1,500 manufacturers, distributors, importers and sales agents from 30 countries at the AI Toy Fair in New York City. Lusignan will be showcasing his invention Digitz, a challenging electronic board game designed to teach kids multiplication and division.

Lusignan pitched a prototype of Digitz to California-based manufacturer Educational Insights back in 2004. More than two years and several subtle refinements later, the company, which produces over 800 learning products for both school and home markets, is now ready to bring Digitz to market. In fact, the product graces the cover of the company's 179-page catalog of products for 2007.

Lusignan, president and co-founder of a small Providence-based marketing communications firm called CA Group, is a first-time inventor. He developed the idea for Digitz when he was home sick one day, bored and couch-ridden. "I was staring at the dartboard on the wall," he explains. "Dartboards have the numbers 1 through 20 in random order, but I found myself trying to see how quickly I could chase the numbers around the board in sequence."

He immediately jotted down his idea for what he thought might be a fun math game for kids. Later, he showed the game description to his brother, an artist, and asked him to create a rendering of what the game might look like.

Lusignan took the rendering and game description to friends, schoolteachers and independent toy-store owners and got nothing but favorable responses right out of the gate. Encouraged, he proceeded with developing a working prototype, which he then tested with a small focus group of children.

Lusignan recalls a brother and sister pair in particular who really enjoyed the game. "Within 20 minutes, the 8-year-old had not only learned his 8 tables, he was beating his 12-year-old sister at the game. His mom said he was reciting his eight tables in the car all the way home."

Educational Insights is equally excited about Digitz, which officially hits the streets this February at the AI Toy Fair where 20,000 attendees from 94 countries will get to see Lusignan's game firsthand.

The inventor of Digitz does have other game ideas percolating, but he hasn't quit his day job managing CA Group yet. "At CA Group, we spend a lot of time branding and promoting other people's companies and products, but this experience has given me a new perspective," says Lusignan. "This really is a very satisfying experience, not only from a personal perspective but realizing that this Digitz game could have such an impact on children learning and retaining multiplication. Several teachers have told me that there haven't been any new effective tools introduced since flash cards and they intend to utilize Digitz as a fun and effective way for their students to learn. I'm also very appreciative of the fact that Educational Insights, one of the largest and most respected educational toy companies in the industry, made the investment to bring Digitz to market. I really do feel that Digitz is not only fun to play but really works whether for school use or home use!"