Final Friday Fix: November 2023 Challenge

On the final Friday of each month, we set an Excel / Power Pivot / Power Query / Power BI problem for you to puzzle over for the weekend.  On the Monday, we publish a solution.  If you think there is an alternative answer, feel free to email us.  We’ll feel free to ignore you.

The challenge this month is to create a cumulative COUNTIF with only one [1] Excel formula.

The Challenge

Consider this example: three [3] players play a game together and each time there is only one [1] winner. They keep a record of the results (as in the picture) and they would like a running count of how many times the current winner has won. For example, player ‘A’ won the sixth game, which is their third personal victory, so the sixth running count should be three [3]. Similarly, the seventh count should be four [4]. How do we create the following with only one [1] Excel formula?

The data is stored in a Table we’ve called  Tbl_Outcomes, and the result should look like the above.  There are the usual requirements:

• the solution should be a single formula, within one cell
• this is a formula challenge; no Power Query / Get & Transform or VBA.

You could download the question file here.

Sounds easy?  Then why not have a go?  We’ll publish one solution in Monday’s blog.  Have a great weekend in the meantime!