The Microsoft Excel World Championship Is My New Favorite Esport

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?

The Microsoft Excel World Championship is conducted by the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) organization, which also runs a separate Excel competition that is called the Financial Modeling World Cup. The sports are technically separate, but the top 16 FMWC competitors automatically get into online elimination rounds of the Microsoft Excel World Championship (MEWC). So, there are some small connections. Microsoft does not run the events, but they are a major sponsor.

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 rounds and the 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 championship are pretty relaxed. Any version of Microsoft Excel from 2010 to current is accepted, and you can use your customized toolbar or customized keyboard 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.

In "Doggie Daycare," you will track dogs movements as they move able the doggie daycare facility, determine how far they have traveled, and make sure they are well-fed and bathed. Levels 1 and 2 introduce you to the movement mechanics. Levels 3 and 4 ask you to calculate how far the dogs have traveled, and Level 5 asks you to locate the dogs after many turns of movement. In Levels 6 through 8, you put all of those techniques together to determine when dogs eat, when they take baths, and where they end up throughout their many daily adventures. There are 5 bonus questions, some of which are independent of the levels. Good Luck and bow wow!

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

At Doggie Daycare, the dogs move around the facility each turn in a given direction and a given number of cells. To get used to the mechanics, first sum the numeric portion of each turn's movement. What is the sum of the numbers in all of the movement cells.

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.

You want to know how far a dog traveled from its starting position over 5 turns. Determine how far the dog moves vertically and horizontally each turn and calculate the net distance traveled over the 5 turns. For example, moving 3 cells to the right followed by 2 cells to the left results in a net movement of 1 cell to the right. Adding the vertical and horizontal components, what is the net distance traveled from the starting position?

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 on YouTube. 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

In Level 8, all of the rules from Levels 6 & 7 apply, but now the dogs have room to run and extra energy from eating! Whenever dogs eat, for the next three turns their movement distance is doubled. In addition, when dogs reach the border of the Doggie Daycare, they must stay within its walls. If the border restricts movement in one direction, it does not restrict movement in the other direction. For example, if a dog is in cell C27 and wants to move 5 cell up and left, they will end up in cell B22 (five cells up and 1 cell left). Sum the turn numbers that each dog eats food. 

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 my Excel quick tips, but I will continue to watch the battles on YouTube. Learning new functions in Excel has never been more exciting!