Microsoft's 29-Year-Old Flight Simulator Hides in Plain Sight Within Excel

A secret 3D flight simulator has been hiding in plain sight within Microsoft Excel since its release in 1997. The Easter egg was first discovered by Tony Phillips, an experienced Microsoft Office user and writer for How-To Geek.

The original simulator, which can still be accessed with a working copy of Excel 97, drops players into a surreal purple landscape where they must navigate to find the names of the developers who created it. Unlike modern flight simulators, this one lacks airports, instrument panels, and passenger jets, instead resembling a blocky, low-resolution game from the 1990s.

Jeremy Sachs, also known as Rezmason, has recreated the original Easter egg in an open-source browser-based version that can be played without the need for Excel 97. This faithful reproduction of the 1997 version preserves the look and behavior of the original simulator, including its quirky graphics and controls.