THE BUREAU · FRAUD DESK
Learn Excel by solving mysteries
An Excel detective game with a real course behind it: a gamified Excel course, not a video playlist. Work fraud cases on a real spreadsheet engine in your browser: no install, no add-ins, and no answer you can look up, because every case is dealt to you from its own evidence.
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invoice | Payee | Amount | Times paid |
| 2 | INV-2041 | Meridian Ltd | 480.00 | 2 |
| 3 | INV-2042 | Harbour & Co | 312.50 | 1 |
| 4 | INV-2043 | Meridian Ltd | 480.00 | 2 |
| 5 | INV-2044 | Kestrel Print | 95.20 | 1 |
| 6 | INV-2045 | Aldgate Fuel | 218.40 | 1 |
| 7 | INV-2046 | Bexley Signs | 75.00 | 1 |
| 8 | INV-2047 | Corvid Media | 1,240.00 | 1 |
| 9 | INV-2048 | Dray & Sons | 88.60 | 1 |
HOW THE DESK WORKS
Spreadsheets, taught as casework
A real engine, not screenshots
Formulas calculate, fills adjust references, lookups walk tables, pivots pivot. The grid in your browser behaves like the one at work, because it is one.
The dirt is the evidence
Trailing spaces LEN can see and eyes cannot. Dates wearing disguises over their serials. Numbers that are secretly text. Every cleaning lesson doubles as forensics.
Colour to see, formulas to prove
Conditional formatting finds the pattern; COUNTIF puts it in ink. Charts show the story; the axis check keeps it honest. Nothing closes a case but the working.
THE CURRICULUM
57 cases. 10 drills. 4 exams.
Four examiner ranks.
Every rank ends in a hands-on exam on a freshly seeded workbook: pass it and the plate goes up on your desk. Fully gamified with XP, streaks and earned ranks. No videos, no multiple-choice stand-ins for real work.
Formulas, references and fill, $ pinning, the SUM family, sorting and formats
IF and the criteria family, multi-sheet workbooks, and the lookup dynasty from VLOOKUP to XLOOKUP
Text forensics, manufactured keys, and the date arithmetic under the ink
Filters, conditional formatting, charts, pivot tables and INDEX MATCH: the whole Bureau kit
INVESTIGATIONS
Open cases with no hints
A rigged song contest. A sabotaged bake tent. A locked-study murder worked entirely through door logs and a will that sums to nothing. A casino comp table taught to steal.
Each one is seeded per detective, so your guilty party is not your neighbour's, and each ends the same way: an accusation backed by a proof sheet whose cells must hold formulas that reference the evidence. Read nothing. Prove everything.
THE SANDBOX
An open workbook, no case file
Sometimes you just want the sheet. The sandbox is the same engine the cases run on, opened flat: practise a formula that got away from you, rebuild a lesson from scratch, or bring your own spreadsheet problem from work.
Blank books and prepared datasets are free. Bringing your own CSV is Full Access. Nothing to install, and nothing watching over your shoulder.
| B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Item | Qty | Price | Total |
| 2 | Bolts | 120 | 0.40 | 48.00 |
| 3 | Nuts | 340 | 0.15 | 51.00 |
| 4 | Washers | 95 | 0.22 | 20.90 |