BGP goes to BPP

 The Excel Esports UK Championship this year was held in the head office of BPP in London - if you're an accountant (like a lot of Excel Esports competitors are), you'll know BPP and have probably used their training for your qualifications. Their offices are really awesome, and a great venue for 31 Excel Experts to come together and solve brilliant puzzles using spreadsheets, competitively! If my middle name started with a P, it would have made for all kinds of comedy routines, but unfortunately it's George. Maybe I can persuade BPP to rename themselves in time for future competitions?

I came 10th, one place down from last year, but I was actually really happy with my performance all day. The first challenge - Giles Male's "The Humble MVP Returns" - was a bit tricky (ones that involve moving around a map are never my strong point), but the next two I definitely found a way to work through the complexities in ways that impressed me with my own ingenuity! And I'm very hard to impress when it's myself doing the impressing.

The second case, "James Frond in A View to a Krill" by Elliott Patterson and Myles Arnott, was brilliantly silly and a perfect example of the kind of thing you'll get in these events - and it had a series of bonus questions to unlock the final puzzle, and I got them all right, which is enormously satisfying. And the final case, Michael Jarman's "Mind the Gap", a London Underground puzzle with a twist, was extremely difficult to figure out and again I made a good job of it, so I'm really happy about this result!

The top five were the same as last year, in the same order (so maybe this scientifically proves that this competition is an accurate measure of ability rather than random chance), but the standard all round has definitely got higher over the last twelve months, there are really good people who weren't there last year (Andy, Guy, Karim), and to finish in the top ten among such a quality field is a really great achievement that I'm honestly very proud of!

I mean, look at the names just below me in the table - really really great Excel Esportlers, famous in the community! Yes, it was a fantastic day all round!

I have to say, I'm really, really impressed and delighted that there are people like the UK organisational team who put together amazing competitions like this, just basically out of the kindness of their hearts and because it's such fun to do! (The entry fee is very modest, and I do recommend everyone to give it a go in future!) It's the kind of thing that makes you feel there's something really right with the world.

Anyway, I've neglected this blog for far too long, and I'll have to get back into writing in it. I have book reviews I want to share with the world, you know.