Microsoft Excel 95 included a hidden, first-person Doom-inspired credits experience called the Hall of Tortured Souls. It is a short environment to explore, not a full Doom game, and it is not a feature of current Excel. The original can be experienced by running Excel 95 in a Windows 95 virtual machine with Office 95 installed, then using the sequence below.
How to open the Hall of Tortured Souls in Excel 95
These historical instructions apply specifically to Excel 95. The Hall is launched from the About dialog, but the worksheet selection and key combination matter.
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- Open Excel 95 and start with a blank worksheet.
- Select the row 95 header so the entire row is selected.
- Press Tab. The active cell moves to column B.
- Open Help and choose About Microsoft Excel.
- Hold Ctrl, Alt, and Shift together, then click Tech Support.
- When the Hall of Tortured Souls window opens, use the cursor keys to navigate.
The sequence is documented in archived Excel Easter egg guides, including the archived guide at Memorial University and ActiveWindows’ Easter egg page.
What the Easter egg contains
The Hall is a first-person, Doom-inspired space that presents developer credits. Calling it a “Doom clone” is understandable shorthand, but it overstates what it is: the sources describe a walkable credits sequence, not a complete Doom game.
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Find the hidden passage
At the starting wall, enter excelkfa. Historical instructions say this reveals a secret passage leading to another section, where developer images appear. The code and route are described in the archived guide.
How to experience it today
A recent how-to describes recreating a Windows 95 virtual machine, installing Office 95, and then using the original Excel sequence. This is a legacy-software setup, not a supported feature in modern Excel; the procedure is reported by Yahoo Tech, rather than established here as a tested installation guide.
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Current legitimate sources for Windows 95 or Office 95 installation media, and the present-day licensing terms for those products, were not verified. Do not assume old software is freely redistributable or download it from an unverified source. A video or a source-code recreation may let you see or study the idea, but neither is the same as running the original Easter egg inside Excel 95.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the Easter egg is associated with Excel 95
The instructions identify Excel 95 specifically; they do not establish that the Hall exists in today’s Excel or that the same sequence works in later versions. A Google Groups archive preserves a 1995 Usenet discussion of the Hall, evidence that it was being discussed at the time rather than invented as a recent internet story: Google Groups archive.
Rank #3
- Developed by id Software, DOOM: The Dark Ages is the prequel to the critically acclaimed DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal that tells the epic cinematic origin story of the DOOM Slayer’s rage.
- In this third installment of the modern DOOM series, players will step into the blood-stained boots of the DOOM Slayer, in this never-before-seen dark and sinister medieval war against Hell.
- A dark fantasy/sci-fi single-player experience that delivers the searing combat and over-the-top visuals of the incomparable DOOM franchise, powered by the latest idTech engine. With a customizable difficulty system, it’s the perfect entry point whether you’re new to the franchise or a long time fan.
- As the super weapon of gods and kings, shred enemies with devastating favorites like the Super Shotgun while also wielding a variety of new bone-chewing weapons, including the versatile Shield Saw.
- Experience the origin story of the DOOM Slayer’s rage in this epic, cinematic, and action-packed story.
There is also a community reverse-engineering project that describes decompiled source code for the Easter egg. Its author notes that the main loop sleeps for 20 milliseconds to prevent the experience from running unplayably fast on modern CPUs. That is a technical note from the repository, not official Microsoft documentation: the Hall of Tortured Souls repository on GitHub.
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