The blog has been quiet lately because I’ve been busy learning R and Python to complete a research project.

And I’ve been missing Excel.

But today I found a nice diversion.

A Python Magic 8 Ball

The best introduction to Python I have found is Al Sweigart’s Automate the Boring Stuff with Python. Get it for free at the link.

As the title suggests, Al takes an applied, hands-on approach to learning Python and getting it to help you.

Most of the lessons are quite practical, but one of the first is a nice diversion: creating a Magic 8 Ball.

And as I worked through the lesson, I thought: Wouldn’t this be cool to do in Excel?

So, I took a little break. And here is what I have.

Download here

There are probably cleaner ways to design this workbook. But this is a nice, easy, fun Magic 8 Ball using basic a VLOOKUP (learn more about those in my course) and VBA…

Want to learn VBA?

I got into VBA far too late in my career. It intimidated me. I thought it was for “real” developers only.

Then I took Jon Acampora’s VBA Pro Course.

This thing is an Excel tour de force. I had applied his tutorials to my own work before the course ended, automating tasks that took hours.

Check out the class. Use this link and I receive a portion of the sales from the course.

Enjoy the workbook… back to work.