The winner got $5,000, a fancy title, and perhaps most importantly -- a real championship title belt. Turns out, you really can make a competition out of almost anything. A recent The New York Times piece peeled back the cover on the e-sport you didn't know you were missing: the Microsoft Excel World Championship.

In a spectacle that blended corporate precision with e-sports flair, the Microsoft Excel World Championship turned a traditionally mundane tool into the centerpiece of a riveting Las Vegas competition.

The event’s organizer hopes to turn competitive Excel into a popular e-sport where pros compete for million-dollar prizes and big-league glory. That’s still a ways off.