Microsoft Excel is an excellent program for handling tax matters, tormenting office workers, or neatly archiving important data. However, the best of the best of the spreadsheet program can do so much more and compete in a world championship. We show you how it works at MeinMMO.
Microsoft Excel drives millions of people insane every day. If you never had a certain fondness for math subjects in school, you will rarely warm up to the spreadsheet program later on.
Excel-friendly users, however, know the fantastic things that can be done with this program. A programmable calculator with over 17 billion cells that can even be illustrated and equipped with graphs. The slide rule of the 21st century.
The many possibilities Excel offers are also demonstrated by the annual world championship, which has been held since 2020. 8 participants competed for the victory in 2022, most of whom had over 10,000 play hours … uh, work hours in the program.
MeinMMO took a look and explains how e-sports works in spreadsheet form.
=IF(Excel-Championships=E-Sport,”cool thing”)
How does an Excel world championship work? The competition takes place over three rounds that each last 30 minutes. Half of the participants are eliminated each round, so after one round, there are 4 players left and in the final, the best 2 compete against each other.
In the three rounds, mathematical puzzles must be solved that actually remind of gaming:
- Round 1 – Slot Machine
- In 5 levels, the participants must calculate the points achieved at a slot machine
- Round 2 – Yacht Regatta.
- Six simulated yachts with different characteristics navigate a course. The wind plays an important role.
- Round 3 – Platformer
- In the final, participants must calculate how many points simulated players achieve in an Excel jump’n’run. The character “Modelario” plays the main role.
The whole event was accompanied by two commentators, lasted just under two and a half hours, and even aired on US television on the pay-TV channel ESPN 2.
We embed the English YouTube video of the world championships for you, below we briefly explain the individual rounds in more detail:
Round 1: The participants must add up the points that players achieved at a slot machine. The slot machine has 5 columns with 19 rows each and 8 different symbols, each symbol with its own point value.
If a symbol appears more often after a spin, there are extra points.
The participants know from each column how the symbols are arranged in the 19 rows. It is also known how many symbols are skipped for each spin per column.
In a first step, the correct symbols must be selected for each spin to then calculate the points.
The four winners of the first round all mastered 5 levels and were able to solve the entire task series.
Round 2: The participants receive a pre-prepared course with different wind conditions after each movement of one of the six yachts.
All yachts have different characteristics and react to wind directions differently. Certain areas of the course also change the score. At the end of the task, the points for all six yachts must be calculated when they reach the finish line.
In round 2, the two best participants were once again able to solve the game completely and thus meet in the final.
Round 3: In the final competition, the participants were shown the layout of six levels that somewhat resembled a Nintendo jump’n’run. The inputs of simulated players were also predetermined.
There are enemies that provide extra points, and the character “Modelario” can attack, jump, run, and even has life energy.
The participants must calculate how many points the simulated players could collect at the end with their run. There were many runs to simulate per level.
This complex task could not be completely solved by either finalist. However, the winner Andrew Ngai completed three of the six levels, while his final opponent completed only two.
The Excel World Championship is a lovable nerd fest where the greatest Excel enthusiasts in the world showcase their skills and talents. If the sum formula annoys you, take a look and be surprised by how powerful the spreadsheet tool can really be.
Leave us a comment on the topic or check out an article about another crazy world championship: “Oh my god, the floor is lava!” – 622,000 viewers watch balloon world championship on Twitch
