Summary
The best Esport that you’ve never heard of, the Microsoft Excel World Championship, features something to which most of us can relate: spreadsheets. It sounds drier than it is, and the championship offers a glimpse into the incredible efficiency some people have with shortcuts and custom functions.
Yes, Excel Esports Are a Thing
It was 3 am, and ESPNews had resorted to reruns of dog surfing and the College Cornhole Championships (both real things). That was the scene when I first discovered Microsoft Excel Esports and watched the 2023 Microsoft Excel World Championship. It was equal parts thrilling and fascinating. The commentators were calling the “battle” with all the excitement of a cross between a Spanish-language soccer game and a Pro Wrestling match, which added to the experience.
Who Runs Excel Esports?
How Do Excel Esports Even Work?
Each contest is called a “battle,” and consists of 1 case with 8 leveled tasks and 5 bonus tasks. In the MEWC the tasks are never financial. They are logic challenges that do not require any pre-existing content knowledge besides familiarity with Microsoft Excel. Creativity is encouraged by only scoring the numeric answers of each task. Contestants have 30 minutes to complete all the tasks and are free to seek the solution however they want. Formatting and style are also not judged. Anything goes.
Anyone Can Enter
I applaud the organizers for inclusion. They seem to have gone out of their way to remove any potential obstacles to entry. All 10 qualifying roundsandthe playoffs are online. Only the Las Vegas finals are in person, and the entry fee for any round is just $20 (US). Each player’s 30-minute session begins according to their time zone.The complete rules for the championshipare pretty relaxed. Any version of Microsoft Excel from 2010 to current is accepted, and you can use yourcustomized toolbaror customizedkeyboard shortcuts to symbols.
You Can Do It!
Is your curiosity piqued? Are you ready to enter? Well, there’s still time! Only seven of the 10 open qualifying battles have been played. There are twomore occurring in 2024: September 19th and October 10th. Later in October, there will be a last-chance qualification round, and then the online elimination playoffs for those who make it that far. The finals take place over 3 days in Las Vegas with the final battle consisting of 24 players and taking place in front of a live audience and televised.
Excel World Championship: Battle 1 - January 25th, 2024
If you’re like me, the next thing you want to know is what the tasks are like. The battles are all on YouTube, and I’ve reviewed the case from Battle 1 so you don’t have to. Here is the introduction to the first task.
I was immediately overwhelmed. I have never needed to do tasks that navigated around a spreadsheet in that way! I’m curious about what profession would need to use Microsoft Excel like this. Perhaps interior design?
Level 1 - Easy Movement Basics
The entire case is designed to be completed within 30 minutes, but the Level 1 task would likely only take one minute of that time. My technique would only involve the SUM function for this one. Let’s skip ahead to level 4.
It took me more than a minute just to reread this task enough to understand it. However, once I processed it, I think I could make a decent attempt at this one. I appreciate all the more that ‘anything goes’ during the battles because I’d have to do a quick Google search for this one. Honestly, I’m not sure whether I’d make it further than this level in 30 minutes. Even if each of Levels 1 and 2 only took me a minute, I suspect I would need 10 minutes for levels 3 and 4. By this point, I could easily be past 20 minutes and about to start an even more difficult task.
The Championship Livestream
After everyone has battled and sent back their “.xlxs” file within 30 minutes, 5 expert players complete the task in a livestream onYouTube. I’ve taken a screenshot of the Level 8 task from the Battle 1 livestream to demonstrate. You can see this player has completed the first 5 tasks and 1 bonus question, and has less than 8 minutes remaining! Points are assigned according to each correct answer. This player has 565 points from his completed work. In the online rounds, players wouldn’t receive their scores until after they turned in their work. However, seeing each player’s points accumulate during the livestream as the time ticks down adds to the drama of the sport. They also capture player keystrokes and explain many of the functions players are using.
Level 8 - Very Hard
As I used to say in elementary school, “Not me, said the flea”! This question was easier for me to understand, but I wouldn’t even know what to search for to get the solution.
The Grand Prize
The FMWC has done a fantastic job creating and running this sport, especially given the subject matter. The only improvement I’d suggest is increasing the Championship prize to more than $3,000 (USD). Last year’s champion had to travel to Las Vegas from Australia for the in-person finals. He works as an actuary (assessing financial risk for business clients), and I hope he does well, because it’s doubtful his prize even paid for the trip. That said, this is one Esport win that would look great on a resume.
I don’t think I’m quite ready to compete. I need to brush up on myExcel quick tips, but I will continue to watch the battles on YouTube. Learning new functions in Excel has never been more exciting!
