New sports that are way different from what we’ve seen before have been popping up all over the place. The Microsoft Excel world championship is just one of those quirky events, with Andrew “the Annihilator” Ngai coming out on top of this year’s competition.
The event, which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, saw people from all around the world come together to see who had the best Microsoft Excel skills. There was a moment in the semi-final of the championship when Ngai thought he had been eliminated.
“For some unknown reason there was a mismatch between the scoresheet and the live stream,” Ngai said. “No one really knows why but it got out of sync.”
Once the glitch was fixed, the scoreboard corrected and the 36-year-old from Sydney, Australia, cruised to victory, becoming the triple world champion in data processing. “You didn’t just succeed – you Exceled,” Microsoft told Ngai.
How the competition works is quite simple. In each round, eight players are given a big ream of data, plus a set of instructions. Contestants need to create formulas and subsets to process the data correct while also working against the clock. Bonus questions are also provided and every seven and a half minutes the lowest scorer is eliminated.
“We have to decide, do we go for the bonus questions and get them in before others, or do you solve levels and progress further along?” said Ngai.
Ngai started competing in the Excel championships in 2018 after hearing about the series. He was able to win the title in 2019 when the competition was still new but since then, the game has evolved. The action has even begun to be televised live on ESPN for people at home who couldn’t be in attendance at Luxor Hotel’s HyperX esports arena to watch.
Ngai walked away with the $15,000 prize money and an oversized boxing-style leather belt. Over the years and his three wins, he’s come to realize that the simplest solution is often the best.
“The nature of this competition is you don’t necessarily have to know everything about Excel to be successful,” Ngai said. “Keeping it simple can be quite effective.”