SQL Game Console
The SQL Game Console lets you load and play SQL games. Each game combines a database with a story and tasks that you solve using suitable SQL statements.
Using the console
After opening a game, you have four panels available: Scene shows the current task, text or image. In the SQL panel, you enter SQL statements. Results displays their results and feedback on your solution. Schema shows the tables and columns in the game’s database.
- Click the Open Game folder icon at the top.
- Under Load game from catalog, select a game and, if offered, one of its files. Alternatively, under Open Game File, you can select your own
.xmlor.eskuelgamefile. - Confirm with Open.
The catalog follows the selected language. You can also find descriptions and direct links to play in the game collection.
Read the task, enter your SQL statement and click Execute. The console checks your solution automatically. If it says Not solved yet, you can revise your statement and execute it again. When it says Solved!, the game automatically advances to the next scene, if there is one. New results appear at the top of the Results panel.
For text and image scenes, click Next to continue. Use the Previous and Next arrows above the scene to revisit scenes you have already reached. Skip lets you leave an unfinished task for later. It still counts as unsolved, and you can return to complete it.
You can rearrange the panels by dragging their headings and resize them by dragging their dividers. Use Switch Layout at the top right to choose between Desktop and Mobile. Next to it, you will find the language selector and the switch between light and dark mode.
If you get stuck, look for the Hint button below the task, provided hints are available for that scene. The game determines which hints are available and the order in which they appear. When there are several hints, the button shows a counter, such as Hint (1/3); each click reveals the next hint.
- Text hints appear directly below the task text and suggest ways to approach the solution.
- The expected result appears in the Results panel. For a query task, you see the result table you are aiming for. For a task that changes the database, you see a check query and the result it should return after the correct change.
An ordinary hint does not solve the task for you. If the game also allows a solution hint, Show solution appears after the other hints. This displays the stored SQL solution in the Results panel and marks the task as solved using the solution hint. You can then click Next to continue.
If you solved a task yourself, you can revisit its scene and click Sample solution to view the stored solution for comparison.
If your SQL experiments have “messed up” the database, click ↺ in the SQL panel (Reset the database in the current scene). This restores the database to the state appropriate for your progress in the current scene. Your task progress is preserved. Cancelling a running SQL statement also restores this database state.
Restart above the scene resets the entire game, including your task progress, to the beginning.
The console automatically saves your progress locally in your browser. When you open the same game again later, the Resume game? dialog lets you choose between Resume and Start over. If you are using your own game file, you need to open the same file again.
The current scene and the completion status of the tasks are saved. SQL input, previous results and additional database changes you made are not saved; when you resume, the game’s database is restored to match your progress. Save any SQL statements you want to keep in a separate text file.
Your saved progress is tied to this browser and this website and is not synchronised between devices. If you clear the website’s data or your browser removes it after a private browsing session, your saved progress is also lost.