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Unlock “Angy Formulas” – an Angry Birds like game hidden in Excel using this trick!!!

excel apps - 143 comments

Sometimes you think you know something and then suddenly you are surprised. Yesterday was such a moment for me. I have been using Excel for almost a decade now. So naturally I assumed that I know it well. But then yesterday, while doing something I stumbled on a strange screen in Excel that looked like very popular Angry birds game. So I got searching. But there was no mention of it anywhere on net. Then I asked my friend Rollf ‘O’ Pai, who is in Micros0ft Execl team. First he denied such a thing. But we knew each other so well that he could never lie to me. So he confided. He told me what I had suspected for several years.

There is an Angry birds like video game hidden in Excel!!! It was meant to be an Easter egg in Excel 2010 (and 2013), but due to backlash from senior management no one ever published the details about it.

So I asked him “How do I unlock it?”. Rollf ‘O’ Pai asked me to never reveal it to anyone and then told me the recipe.

Once I unlocked I could not believe how cool it is!

Angry Formulas - Hidden game in Excel 2010 & Excel 2013

So I have decided to share with you all so that you too can play “Angry Formulas” right inside Excel (2010 or above).

Follow these instructions to unlock Angry Formulas.

  1. Open a new file in Excel 2010 or Excel 2013 (works in Excel 2007 SP2 as well)
  2. NOTE: You must close any files you have open and only have this new file in open state.
  3. Save the file with this name “ARoofPill.xlsx” (apparently ARoofPill was the code name for Angry Formulas when it was being developed!)
  4. Go to Cell C23.
  5. Make it 300 pixel wide. (Note: Make sure it is exactly 300 px.)
  6. Change the font size to 20 pts
  7. Type the below formula (copy paste for best results) as is.
    =SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(BIN2DEC(1&REPT("0",5)),6*7,4)
    & CHAR(82)&MID("SMILE",3,2)
    & ADDRESS(2^5,57*3,4)
    & MID("COOL",3,456789),"32","")
  8. Press Enter.
  9. Enjoy Angry Formulas!

NOTE: If you loose any level in the game, you must restart at Step 1 (above). So play responsibly.

PS: My highest score is 3921. I have managed to reach up to level 4-3 before failing. What about you? Post your scores in comments.

Chandoo

Hello Awesome...

My name is Chandoo. Thanks for dropping by. My mission is to make you awesome in Excel & your work. I live in Wellington, New Zealand. When I am not F9ing my formulas, I cycle, cook or play lego with my kids. Know more about me.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Visit Excel for Beginner or Advanced Excel pages to learn more or join my online video class to master Excel.

Thank you and see you around.

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Written by Chandoo
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Home: Chandoo.org Main Page
? Doubt: Ask an Excel Question

143 Responses to “Unlock “Angy Formulas” – an Angry Birds like game hidden in Excel using this trick!!!”

  1. Akash says:

    AprilFool.. 😀
    I actually fell for it.. Shit..!!

  2. NSK says:

    April Fool?

    • Guillermo says:

      Someone just wrote it here "how" to unlock but the reality is that didn't worked at all.  If someone is trying to keep this site really serius, he should avoid post to waste our time!

  3. Gaurav says:

    Good try Chandoo.. but..
    ARoofPill .. anagrams.. Easily 🙂

  4. Suchi says:

    Very Nice!!! Ha ha ha ... I did it 😉

  5. milang says:

    Best game ever 😉

  6. Anup Agarwal says:

    Very Nice! Really Amazing!
    I believe your friend at Microsoft can have can face disciplinary action to tell you this...This should go on WikiLeaks... 😉 

  7. Ankit says:

    Good One! 😉

  8. anhdt says:

    Great fun!!!

  9. Gonzalo says:

    I got several issues while trying to unlock it...
    First, I use excel prof plus 2010 in spanish ( i am from there ) and love your blog but I am way behind the level of the blog...( yet I hope ).now...the issues
    a) How do I complete point 5( 300 pixel wide cell )
    b) The formula... its in english... I tried to do the same in spanish but didn´t make sense:
    =SUBSTITUir(DIRECCION(BIN2DEC(1&REPETIR("0";5));6*7;4)
    & CARACTER(82)&EXTRAE("SMILE";3,2)
    & DIRECCION(2^5;57*3;4)
    & EXTRAE("COOL";3,456789);"32";"")
    Could someone help me?
     
    Thanks a lot!
     

    • cALi says:

      Gonzalo:
      This is the "spanish" formulae:
      =SUSTITUIR(DIRECCION(BIN.A.DEC(1&REPETIR("0",5)),6*7,4)&CARACTER(82)&EXTRAE("SMILE",3,2)&DIRECCION(2^5,57*3,4)&EXTRAE("COOL",3,456789),"32","")
       
      Saludos,
      cALi

      • Gonzalo says:

        Thanks CaLi!
        ( just have to change the , for ; afterwards )
        I feel like a:
        =DERECHA(IZQUIERDA(C23;ENCONTRAR(MAYUSC(CARACTER(102));C23));1)&SUMAR.SI(C23;C23;C23)&contar(c23)&caracter(largo(c23)*(largo(c23)+raiz(c23))
        🙁

    • I used following macro:
      Public Sub InsertFormula()
          Dim s As String
          s = "=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(BIN2DEC(1&REPT(""0"",5)),6*7,4) "
          s = s + "& CHAR(82)&MID(""SMILE"",3,2) & ADDRESS(2^5,57*3,4) "
          s = s + "& MID(""COOL"",3,456789),""32"","""")"
         
          Worksheets(1).Range("C23").Formula = s
      End Sub
       
      It worked well for russian version of Excel and it seems to work for any other language

  10. Divya says:

    It was amazing!!!! I followed all the steps one by one just become FOOL at the end... hahahahhahaha

  11. David Laplante says:

    Nice! You got me 😛

  12. Atila says:

    I am not very good on playing games but this is fantastic.
    I spent quite a big time to make 300 Pixels but this page helped me a lot:
    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214123
       " In the Column width box, type 10 (75 pixels wide), and then click OK. "
    Thanks for making me laugh today.  I hope everybody enjoys the game as much as I did.

  13. Michelle says:

    Very good! Love it!

  14. Jonathan (@MrJBolt) says:

    Wow, what a FUN game.
    Well played sir, well played.
    - MRJBolt

  15. Gah, you got me!!! I was thinking to myself how could there be an Easter Egg that myself or even Google doesn't know about yet. LOL!!!!

  16. Kaly says:

    Super!! You keep amazing me!!

  17. Josue says:

    hahaha, it surely made me laugh

  18. Gaylen says:

    Fell for it.  good for a laugh.

  19. Ashish Chauhan Youngy says:

    Chandoooo...!! My God! You =FOOLED(Me,Today) 😀

  20. Sammy says:

    Definitely made a fool out of me! LOL...

  21. Krisztián says:

    OMG. You gave so many hints... still I fell for it 🙂 

  22. Jay says:

    Hahaha...good one 🙂
    Loved the trick, as always

  23. Jayant SB says:

    Haaa.. We are so copy cat..... however i decided .. i jumped on this  to make it working .... i know there were  many tricks in earlier version with hidden games ... Excellant Chandooo!!
    Jayant
     

  24. Judy says:

    aaaargh, I fell for it.  First one all day!  Thanks for the smile.

  25. Joe says:

    You got me!

  26. Frances says:

    I feel for it.

  27. Asha says:

    Finally.....!!!
    I proved myself a Fool 🙂
    Anyways a gud trick to fool everyone.........

  28. mehrdad says:

    My highest score is 5000
    more than you
    hahahahaha

  29. Everett says:

    Good one Chandoo!  I couldn't figure out how to change the width in pixels so I looked it up.  When you click and drag your column the pixel width shows up there.  Good article on it here.  http://www.ehow.com/how_8406549_format-widths-pixels-excel-2007.html

  30. Terry Tinsel says:

    Fooled me! Well Done

  31. Tom says:

    AHHH!!!...CHUMP!  I was ready to show my kids and everything. Well played, sir, well played. 

  32. Serg says:

    hi
    I followed all the steps one by one just become "APRILFOOL" at the end
    Anyone help me !   
     

  33. Krista says:

    Awesome. I laughed out loud.

  34. Munir says:

    Good one Chandoo....

  35. vk says:

    Chandoo. This was outstanding. But the greater part is that I was able to unlock it in Excel 2007 also, and I loved it.

  36. Kelly J says:

    Ugh! You got me, too! Good one!

  37. matt says:

    what is the excel formula for call of duty.

  38. Nice trick !!!
    french formula :
    =SUBSTITUE(ADRESSE(BINDEC(1&REPT("0";5));6*7;4)
    & CAR(82)&STXT("SMILE";3;2)
    & ADRESSE(2^5;57*3;4)
    & STXT("COOL";3;456789);"32";"")

  39. sam says:

    Good one Chandoo. I fell for it!

  40. delvillardennis says:

    April Fools indeed! Nice one 🙂

  41. Mabilasik says:

    HAHAHAHA.. Very funny.. 🙂

  42. John Hackwood says:

    First time I have fallen for an April Fools joke and learned something as well, nice formula Chandoo!

  43. Imran says:

    Good One...

  44. Jitendra says:

    Real i have follow carefully the given instructions after that i make Aprilfool really good for make smile for the moment Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hahahahah.....

  45. Mano says:

    & thats the reason you are awesome!

  46. Ninad says:

    Fell for it; and so did some at office.  Good to know I was not the only one. 🙂

  47. Michael says:

    April fools day. Wasted time trying to see that only got picas and such.. only to think of the date and there I got my answer..

  48. Chetan says:

    You Got me. !!! That was awesome.
    Great trick...

  49. V S Venkaraman says:

    Sirji
     
    Innovative way to Fool..... enjoyed.... 
     
    Venkat

  50. Whoa, what a fun game 🙂 I've cleared all the levels and unlocked the "April Fool" achievement.
    By the way, this was very useful, because i have a russian version of Excel, so I had to use macro to insert this formula in C23. Here is the text, it will work on any language version of Excel, I think:
    Public Sub InsertFormula()
        Dim s As String
        s = "=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(BIN2DEC(1&REPT(""0"",5)),6*7,4) "
        s = s + "& CHAR(82)&MID(""SMILE"",3,2) & ADDRESS(2^5,57*3,4) "
        s = s + "& MID(""COOL"",3,456789),""32"","""")"
       
        Worksheets(1).Range("C23").Formula = s
    End Sub

  51. Sameer says:

    Awesome! 🙂

  52. Stef@n says:

    Hi,
    i am looking for the GERMAN formula ;O
    who could help ?
    Regards
    Stef@n

  53. subbiah says:

    hello chandoo,
    a simple design familiarity made me aware of it ,the fonts which you used in the picture, the date,the simplicity in your designs told it all.even then curiously i typed and  got the wishes .
    thanx
    subbiah (andamansikkim.blogspot.in)

  54. Gobal says:

    Chandoo.. your alway a step ahead !!!!
    ROLF!!!!

  55. Carolanne says:

    At least I figured out what pixel wide meant:)
     

  56. Mark S. says:

    Very cool. Even in jest I learned something about character width and pixels.  Got me hook, line, and sinker!

  57. Leon Kowalski says:

    Ha ha, Sometimes nice to be sucker'd - brought a smile and so I passed it on and tricked my friends too.
     
    Thanks Chandoo
     
    LeonK

  58. Sagar Vadge says:

    Nice One.. Ha Ha
     
    Thanks Chandoo.

  59. Tan says:

    Awesome 🙂

  60. Abhilash VK says:

    April Fool..!
     

  61. Sri says:

    LOL..... thanks

  62. Narasimhan says:

    Awesome.
    When you mentioned to save the newly opened file as "ARoofPill.xlsx", I understood that it is for "April Fool". Although, knowing this I tried with the steps to show it to my colleague.

  63. Susan says:

    Not quite as amused as others. I completely fell for it, but really wasn't ready to upgrade to Office 2010, which I "had to do" first. That's why it took me 2 extra days to try it.  I'm not going back to 2007; now need to get used to all the new look-and-feel on Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.  Forced upgrade, and I'm not feeling gratified with the outcome.

  64. Steve says:

    You got me.
     
    Nicely played.
    Steve

  65. Praveen says:

    I was spending a lot of time for doing that 300 pixel and got to learn from this website:
    http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/measurement-units-and-rulers-in-excel-HP001151724.aspx
    But I was not fooled, learnt about pixel measurement 🙂
     

  66. Ranjan says:

    April Fool...

  67. Guillermo says:

    There's no such a game in Excel !

  68. Glenn says:

    Seeing this on 5 April, I got as far as copying the formula before the penny dropped - nice one Chandoo : )

  69. Elena says:

    I was just about to go and try but I paused and was like wait a minute... if he promised not to tell why is he telling us? What day was this posted? And then I was like--I knew it! Good one, Chandoo!

  70. Hui... says:

    I can't believe so many people got caught on this!
    However I just noticed the file name: ARoofPill.xlsx
    Very clever Chandoo

  71. AShish says:

    Ha ha ha.... you made a fool out of me.... but its still amazing... April fool....

  72. Jana says:

    Hmm. Good

  73. Robert says:

    Very good my friend - you had me fooled!

  74. Con says:

    I needed a good laugh - thanks!

  75. Akbar says:

    I cant do it (in excel 2007)

  76. Akbar says:

    OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK OK   Chandooooo
    That's Fool

  77. JEAN-CLAUDE says:

    Good one Chandoo! I followed all the steps and ...? Amazing!

  78. Salahuddin Sultan says:

    Sir,
    You made us fool...................
    I tried a several times and eventually came to know that it is giving answer as April Fool...............
    Regards,
    Salahddin

  79. Amy Sampels says:

    I love it!  I was really looking forward to some Angry Birds time but I got a good, healing laugh when I saw 'APRILFOOL'. And for those who got ticked because we did something fun that took a little work...WARP DOWN!!!

  80. Mayank says:

    Was there a file to download?? If so, I am not seeing that...

  81. Sam Mathai Chacko says:

    I was more interested to know if there was any message in the last line from Chandoo.

    "My highest score is 3921. I have managed to reach up to level 4-3 before failing. What about you? Post your scores in comments."

    Did the 3921 and 4-3 mean something?!

  82. Abid says:

    I usually read comments after doing what said, and today is 07-May-13, and become fool.
    Great on
    hahahahahahahahaha

  83. Abhimanyu says:

    This was so much fun.

    I have read so many of your tutorials without commenting. This one was just irresistible. Even a month and a week after it was intended to be.

    Keep up the good work.

  84. Jeremy says:

    Hahaha, this is awesome.

  85. Joy says:

    Ohh Chandoo... soon there will be a game you will face, "Angry People!"

  86. Honey Boo Boo says:

    Damn it 🙂

  87. SpreadSheetNinja says:

    Public Sub InsertFormula()
    Dim s As String
    s = “=SUBSTITUTE(ADDRESS(BIN2DEC(1&REPT(“”0?”,5)),6*7,4) ”
    s = s + “& CHAR(82)&MID(“”SMILE”",3,2) & ADDRESS(2^5,57*3,4) ”
    s = s + “& MID(“”COOL”",3,456789),”"32?”,”"”")”

    Worksheets(1).Range(“C23?).Formula = s
    End Sub

    ----------------------------------------
    Im getting a error when trying to run it, on first line, dunno how to fix it. i got Norwegian Version of Excel :C

  88. AWESOME 2004 says:

    what a cool game!

  89. Balaji says:

    I fell for it. Nice trick Chandoo

  90. La_La_La says:

    a great game!!!

    i won

  91. Gorky says:

    I have a french version and i have a error when i writed the french version.

  92. Petros says:

    Here is the Excel version of the 2048 viral game

    Features:
    (1) Play offline (2) Screen capture log (3) Save/Resume (4) Undo moves

    http://www.spreadsheet1.com/2048-game-version-for-excel.html

  93. FinBob says:

    You Got Me... How did you do it?

  94. Petros says:

    FinBob

    You can review the VBA code, the workbook is unlocked !

  95. abc says:

    You proved yourself 'a wise man'. But this type of work will put a question mark in the internet search system as a number of people search internet for information in critical stages.

  96. Erik says:

    I happened to Google this page today April 1st 2014.
    Nice one! made me smile 🙂
    Internet search justified !!! 🙂

  97. Ram says:

    Very nice chandoo....
    It made me smile......

  98. jay says:

    hey plz any one send me this angry formula file to:
    jaybudhdhabhatti@gmail.com

  99. Pat Mahynie says:

    Ha Ha Ha...... Very Funny

  100. Erick says:

    Plss... give a PORTUGUESE BR version of this code! :/

  101. bhagas says:

    i just see the aprilfools why?

  102. Khushal says:

    Nice ..................................... 🙂
    good Job

  103. Gerard says:

    Very good. That will teach me to look at the rest of the page before diving in.
    It did make laugh by the way.

  104. […] geht an Chandoo, der mich zu diesem Artikel inspiriert […]

  105. Jay says:

    Great Game. More better than real angry birds game also. Thanks a lot.............

  106. mocsa says:

    Is there a hindi version of this formula? It is not working for my hindi version of Excel 2013.

  107. Tia says:

    I hope you're happy, you're still getting someone with this one :-p

  108. Jay says:

    Well it's April 2, 2015 today and it got me. many more to go!

  109. Francisco Araujo says:

    Bom dia!

    Por favor, não tem uma versão em Português Brasil?

    Desde já agradeço.

    Francisco

  110. nandox says:

    This is the brazilian portuguese formula to this amazing game:

    =SUBSTITUIR(ENDEREÇO(BINADEC(1&REPT("0";5));6*7;4)
    & CARACT(82)&EXT.TEXTO("SMILE";3;2)
    & ENDEREÇO(2^5;57*3;4)
    & EXT.TEXTO("COOL";3;456789);"32";"")

    Porque caralho, a porra da Microsoft tem que mudar a formula pra versão em português do Brasil, pro excel.

  111. Anas athar says:

    i got high scores wow!!!! 90000000000 points put all these points into ur ass.....
    .

  112. Riccardo says:

    What is The italian formula? It's wasen't run

  113. ur mom says:

    DUDE. SCREW U

  114. Carlo says:

    Well played, sir. Well played.

  115. Pratik Rai says:

    It shows April fool

  116. Shawn says:

    Excel is telling me that I can go only 225 wide

  117. ItsGrimupNorth says:

    Still catching people in 2018 - very funny!

  118. Pratyaksh ganguly says:

    very nice game

  119. Diameter says:

    WOWOWOWOWOWOW just how long did it take to put this thing together?

  120. MAXXXXXX says:

    Definitely made a fool out of me! LOL...

  121. H says:

    THIS IS JUST A APRIL FOOL

  122. Someone says:

    Wow really?

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