Ghost in the SQL Data All Cases Solutions: A Complete Walkthrough Guide

Stuck on a case? Our Ghost in the SQL Data all cases solutions guide covers query strategies, table joins, and the investigator's board for every Paris mystery.

Why a Solutions Guide Matters in a Detective Game Built on SQL

Ghost in the SQL Data isn't a game where you can brute-force your way to the answer. Released on October 29, 2026, by solo developer Isaac Menard, it drops you into a year of Paris emergency switchboard calls and asks you to find the truth using nothing but queries. If you're searching for Ghost in the SQL Data all cases solutions, you already know the feeling: the question is clear, but the path through the tables isn't.

This guide walks you through the reasoning behind each case type rather than just handing you a copy-paste answer. That matters because the game's later cases deliberately withhold the teaching wheels — they give you a question and nothing else. Understanding the query logic is the real solution.

A quick note up front: the developer has confirmed that AI was used to assist with programming and produce translations, so if a line reads oddly in your language, the community hub is the place to report it. That doesn't affect puzzle logic, but it's worth knowing as you play.

How the Case Structure Works

Before diving into specific solutions, it helps to understand how the game scaffolds its difficulty. According to the official Steam store page, the first cases teach you the basics of filtering and joining tables, while later cases only give you the question. That progression is the key to solving everything efficiently.

Case Tier	What You're Given	What You Must Figure Out	Typical SQL Skills
Tutorial cases	Full question + guided hints	Which columns to filter	SELECT, WHERE
Early cases	Question + table hints	Which tables to join	INNER JOIN, ORDER BY
Mid-game cases	Question only	Which tables are relevant	JOINs, GROUP BY, aggregates
Late cases	Vague question + investigator board	Entire query chain	Subqueries, HAVING, date logic

The investigator's board is your secret weapon at every tier. You pin results, charts, and notes, then connect clues visually. Many players report that the board, not the query editor, is where the actual "aha" moments happen.

The School Fire Case (Opening Case)

The game's flagship example: a call reported a school fire 14 minutes before the first witness saw it. Your job is to find who made that call. The solution path involves filtering the emergency call log by timestamp and location, then joining to any caller-identity table the game provides.

Think of it in steps:

Filter calls to the school's district and the relevant date window
Sort by timestamp ascending to find calls preceding the witness report
Join caller records to identify the name behind the earliest matching call
Pin the result to the board and connect it to the witness statement

This case is essentially a lesson in time-window filtering and table joins. Once you internalize that pattern, every subsequent case becomes a variation on it.

Ghost in the SQL Data All Cases Solutions: Core Query Patterns

Rather than memorizing individual answers, learn the recurring patterns. Community reports and player experience suggest that nearly every case in Ghost in the SQL Data all cases solutions boils down to a handful of query archetypes.

Pattern	When to Use It	Example Scenario
Time-window filter	Finding events before/after a known moment	The school fire call
Multi-table join	Linking a record to a person or object	The nameless metro ticket
Aggregate + GROUP BY	Finding anomalies or repeated behavior	Suspicious call clusters
Subquery comparison	Comparing a record against a baseline	The stolen Musée d'Orsay crown
String/pattern match	Searching partial or missing data	Unnamed ticket holder

The Nameless Metro Ticket

A metro ticket with no name attached is a classic "missing data" puzzle. The solution usually requires joining the ticket table to a passenger or transaction table where a name does exist, then tracing the link. If a direct join fails, look for an intermediate table — perhaps a payment log or a turnstile record.

Player experience suggests the trap here is assuming the name is simply absent. In most cases it isn't gone; it's stored in a different table you haven't joined yet.

The Stolen Crown at the Musée d'Orsay

The crown theft is one of the more complex cases because it combines multiple patterns. You'll likely need an aggregate query to spot unusual access patterns, then a join to connect those patterns to a suspect. Subqueries help here: compare each record against the museum's normal baseline to isolate the outlier.

Step	Action	Purpose
1	List all access records for the museum	Establish the dataset
2	Aggregate by time or person	Find anomalies
3	Filter outliers with HAVING	Narrow suspects
4	Join to identity tables	Name the culprit
5	Pin and connect on the board	Confirm the solution

Building an Effective Investigator's Board

The investigator's board is where scattered query results become a coherent case. Treat it like a real detective's corkboard. Pin only what matters, label your connections, and keep your notes short.

Here's a practical workflow that works across all case tiers:

Run your query and pin the result table immediately
Add a note explaining why the result is relevant
Connect pinned items with lines only when you can justify the link
Use charts for anything time-based or frequency-based
Revisit the board before submitting an answer

Community reports indicate that players who skip the board often solve the query but fail to assemble the final answer. The board isn't decoration — it's part of the solution.

Troubleshooting Common Stuck Points

Even with a solid grasp of Ghost in the SQL Data all cases solutions, you'll hit walls. Here are the most common ones and how to break through.

Problem	Likely Cause	Fix
Query returns nothing	Over-filtered WHERE clause	Remove conditions one at a time
Too many rows	Missing JOIN condition	Check your ON clause
Duplicate results	One-to-many join	Add DISTINCT or refine keys
Wrong suspect	Ignored a table	Review the schema for unused tables
Can't submit answer	Board incomplete	Re-check pinned clues and links

If you're still stuck, the Steam community hub for the game is an active place to compare notes. Since the game includes Steam Workshop and a level editor, some players have even built custom cases to practice on — a genuinely useful way to sharpen your SQL before tackling a hard official case.

You can also review the game's official Steam store page for the latest updates and patch notes, which sometimes clarify puzzle behavior after release.

Tips to Solve Cases Faster

Speed comes from pattern recognition, not from typing faster. Keep these habits:

Read the question twice and underline the time or location constraint
Sketch the tables you think you need before writing a query
Start broad, then filter — never start with everything at once
Save successful queries as templates for the next case
Use the board to track which patterns you've already tried

Players familiar with deduction games like Return of the Obra Dinn will recognize the "assemble the truth" rhythm here, but the SQL layer adds a satisfying technical twist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there official Ghost in the SQL Data all cases solutions published by the developer? No official full solution list has been published. The developer designed the game so that early cases teach the mechanics and later cases test your understanding, so the intended "solution" is your own query logic.

How many cases are in the game? The store page references multiple Paris-based cases — including the school fire, the nameless metro ticket, and the Musée d'Orsay crown theft — plus Steam Workshop and level editor content. The exact count isn't specified in official materials.

Can I use the investigator's board to skip a query? No. The board organizes results you've already found; it doesn't generate answers. You still need to run the correct queries to populate it.

Where can I get help if I'm stuck on a case? The Steam community hub is the best place. You can also practice with Workshop cases to build the skills needed for Ghost in the SQL Data all cases solutions without spoiling the official puzzles.

Final Thoughts

Solving every case in Ghost in the SQL Data is less about memorizing answers and more about internalizing query patterns: time-window filters, multi-table joins, aggregates, and subqueries. Master those, use the investigator's board deliberately, and the Paris mysteries unravel one table at a time. Whether you're chasing a phantom caller or a missing crown, the logic is always in the data — you just have to ask the right question.