Excel Games 

Excel is a serious business tool.  However, it is also a programming tool, which means that you can program anything you like.  Even games.  The advantage to a game written in Excel is that you can play it at work, and should the boss walk by, it still looks like you're doing real work! 
          

X-Ray!  Added 30-June-2000.
Here is a game I wrote several months ago, because I got bored one day.  It is called X-Ray, and is similar to the standard MS Minesweeper game, but with a twist. You find the targets by firing shots into the target region, and figure out the location of the targets by watching whether the shots make hits, exit out to some other cell, or are reflected back to the original cell.   Complete instructions are 
included in the workbook.  All of the VBA code is unprotected, so you are free to see how it works. 

I have two versions of this game.  One has an 8 by 8 cell target area, and allows you to hunt for between 4 and 7 targets.  The second, X-Ray2, has a 16 by 16 cell target area, and lets you hunt for between 4 and 12 targets.  X-Ray2 is considerably more challenging.   Both versions are in the zip file.   Note:  Both games require either Excel97 or Excel2000.  Neither will work in previous versions of Excel. 

Download both here.  (93KB Zipped)

David Hager has contributed two Excel games to the web site.  David is a Microsoft MVP and a frequent and long-time contributor to the Excel newsgroups.  He also publishes the Excel Experts E-Letter (EEE), a monthly newsletter full of superb tips, tricks, hints, and information about Excel. Geared more toward the intermediate and advanced level Excel user, the EEE is a great source of information for Excel "power users". And it's free!  For information about subscribing to the EEE, send David an email at dchager@compuserve.com  .  You can find back issues of the EEE on John Walkenbach's web site at http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/eee/index.htm.

   

 
Mine3D is a 3-D game very similar to the Minesweeper® game that comes with Windows.  But instead of a mine "field", you have to search through a mine "space".  

xlCube is harder to describe.  You search through a 3D cube, searching for smaller cubes located within.  Not only is it a pleasant diversion, it is a great way to teach your kids about the basics of solid geometry.  

Both these games, in addition to being entertaining, are excellent examples of some sophisticated Excel and VBA programming.  So download them for their educational value. 

Download both games in DHGames.zip (about 100KB zipped) here.

 Excel Bingo  Another game from David Hager.

Oleg Andreev contributed an Excel version of the venerable MineSweeper game. Download the zip file.

 

 
 

 

 

If you've written a game, or just something entertaining, in Excel, and you'd like to make it available to the masses, send me an email.  I'll include it here.