offbeat
Defending world champ Diarmuid Early wins again despite being forced to solve puzzles outdoors
The Excel games have gone extreme, tossing four top competitors into urban wilds around the world in a one-off battle, which reigning champion Diarmuid Early won at the last minute. Irish phenom Early captured the win in the Microsoft Excel World Championship’s (MEWC) inaugural Landmark Battle over the weekend after a last-minute comeback that saw him take down Andrew Ngai by a mere 40 points (1060 to 1020) in the 30-minute contest. Jaq Kennedy and Nicolas Micot made up the back half of the chart.
The entire Landmark Battle, if you want to witness all the gripping action for yourself
The conceit of the whole one-off contest, which was co-sponsored by hardware manufacturer Asus, was to stick the four contestants in the wild around four landmarks, forcing them to deal with weather, potentially flaky internet, and - shudder - the public who might wander over and question what exactly they were doing. Early, who now resides in New York, competed overlooking the Statue of Liberty; Kennedy near Big Ben; Micot at the Eiffel Tower; and Ngai overlooking Sydney Harbour.
