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Which Excel versions had hidden games?
The documented examples differ in both gameplay and how firmly their instructions are established. The Hall of Tortured Souls is described in secondary reporting; the Excel 97 flight-simulator sequence comes from a user-submitted guide; and the Excel 2000 Dev Hunter chapter gives specific version and software requirements.
| Excel release | Hidden game | What it is | Evidence and limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel 95 | Hall of Tortured Souls | Doom-style 3D maze that displays developer credits | Activation steps are reported by PC Gamer as historical instructions, not a currently tested walkthrough. PC Gamer |
| Excel 97 | Flight Simulator | A flight-simulator-style Easter egg | The game’s existence is confirmed in a Pearson sample chapter; a user-submitted guide provides the activation sequence. Comments on that guide report failures in several later Excel versions. Pearson sample chapter; EEggs guide |
| Excel 2000, before Service Release 1 | Dev Hunter | A car-driving game | The Pearson sample chapter specifies the release limit and additional dependencies: Internet Explorer and DirectX. It says the Easter egg is absent from Service Release 1 and later. Pearson sample chapter |
Excel 95: Hall of Tortured Souls
PC Gamer describes this as a Doom-style 3D maze that reveals developer credits. Its account says to begin at row 95, select the second cell with Tab, then use Help and Tech Support. These are reported historical directions, not confirmation that the sequence works in every Excel 95 installation or on a modern computer. PC Gamer’s account of Excel’s hidden games
Excel 97: Flight Simulator
A Pearson sample chapter confirms that Excel 97 included a flight simulator. The activation sequence below is from the community-submitted EEggs guide, so treat it as version-specific documentation rather than an officially supported feature or guaranteed walkthrough. Pearson sample chapter; EEggs guide
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- The Microsoft Office 365 Bible: The Most Updated and Complete Guide to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, Teams, Access, and Publisher from Beginners to Advanced
- ABIS BOOK
- In Excel 97, press F5 to open Go To.
- Enter
X97:L97and press Enter. - Press Tab.
- Hold Ctrl+Shift and click the Chart Wizard icon.
The guide notes a requirement of Excel 97 SR-1 or later, while its comments report that the sequence fails in Excel 2000, Excel XP, and Excel 2007. That conflict is a reason not to assume that a later release will work. An interview with former Excel programmer Ed Fries explains that early Easter eggs used obscure activation sequences and that this one depended on an early DirectDraw version. Fries’s Excel work was from 1986 to about 1991, and the interview says the flight simulator was made after his time; it does not establish him as its creator. Ed Fries interview
Excel 2000: Dev Hunter
The Pearson sample chapter identifies Dev Hunter as a car-driving game and gives a narrow compatibility window: Excel 2000 before Service Release 1. It also lists Internet Explorer and DirectX as requirements. The source says Service Release 1 and later omit the Easter egg. Pearson sample chapter
Its historical directions involve publishing the worksheet as an interactive web page, opening it in Internet Explorer, selecting row 2000 and column WC, then using a keyboard combination and clicking the Office logo. The chapter’s procedure depends on obsolete software and a particular Excel release; it should not be read as a current browser-based Excel feature.
Can you play these games in current Excel?
There is no well-supported indication that current Microsoft 365 can activate or reproduce these legacy games. A Microsoft Q&A response says Office 97 and Office 2000 are out of support, notes that the respondent could not test those versions, and says they could not reproduce the process in Microsoft 365. This is evidence for caution, not a comprehensive Microsoft statement about every historical Easter egg. Microsoft Q&A
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →An old Office CD-ROM is a historical access route, not a guarantee of a working setup. Old installers and their dependencies may not run on a current computer, and the Excel 2000 game specifically calls for Internet Explorer and DirectX. The cited sources do not establish a supported modern installation method.
Why Excel’s Easter eggs were hidden
Ed Fries recalled an early rule for Easter eggs: “we had a kind of weird rule about easter eggs, which was that they were perfectly fine to include in the code, as long as there was no code that actually executed the easter egg!” The interview offers context for the culture around early hidden features; because Fries’s Excel work ended around 1991 and the flight simulator came later, the quote should not be taken as evidence that he made that game. Ed Fries interview
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What about games in Excel 2003?
Claims about additional Excel 2003 games are not sufficiently corroborated by the sources cited here, so they should not be treated as established examples. The three games above are the documented version-specific cases covered here.
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