# MS Excel flight-simulator trick

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 16, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968 "2003-09-16T17:42:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968/1 "2003-09-16T17:42:28Z")

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Many moons ago, I came across a trick that you do with Microsoft Excel.

Enter a certain formula in a certain cell (it sounds mysterious, it’s not, it’s just that I can’t remember) and hit enter, and your screen goes all black with a ‘landscape’ made of geometrical lines. You could use the mouse to move left/right or faster/slower over this landscape. I stupidly didn’t write it down because hey, it was on my e-mail, and I’d never leave the job without copying all important info from my e-mail, right?

Does anyone know? I swear I’m not making this up !

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**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968/2 "2003-09-16T17:44:31Z")

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These sort of tricks are called “Easter Eggs”. Don’t ask me why. The one you describe is listed here:

[http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/odd/odd01.htm](http://www.j-walk.com/ss/excel/odd/odd01.htm)

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**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968/3 "2003-09-16T17:51:02Z")

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Hey, cool ! Thanks !

Usually I like to hang out in Great Debates and IMHO and when I come to GQ I’m astonished that there actually are questions with answers !

I’ll take a stab at your unasked one: I bet they’re called Easter Eggs because they’re hidden, and they’re fun to find … even if someone shows you where they are …

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**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968/4 "2003-09-16T18:53:44Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Futile Gesture \*  
> \*\*Don’t ask me why. \*\*

Ask the [Jargon Lexicon](http://info.astrian.net/jargon/terms/e.html#Easter_egg) instead!

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**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-excel-flight-simulator-trick/201968/5 "2003-09-16T20:14:38Z")

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The last example in the Jargon Lexicon definition was the Tandy Coco III, I think the sequence was to press the reset button in while turning on the computer to be blessed with an image of the dev team.