Haunted Spreadsheet: free Halloween game to sort and clean data

What is Haunted Spreadsheet?

Four hours to the midnight party, and ghosts have scrambled the candy inventory. Each job is a small table and a request: tap a column, then sort it, filter it or clean it (trim spaces, fix capitals, turn text into numbers, fill down, remove duplicates, find & replace, split). The tools really run on the table, and every job explains the fix.

Haunted Spreadsheet is a free Halloween data game. Ghosts have scrambled the candy inventory of the midnight party, and every job is a small table with one request: put the emptiest jars on top, show only the nut-free treats for a guest with an allergy, or work out why the total looks too low. Tap a column, then pick a tool, and the tool really runs on the table.

The evening climbs in four hours: sorting at 9 PM, filtering at 10 PM, cleaning at 11 PM (stray spaces, mixed capitals, numbers stored as text, gaps, duplicates, misspellings, two facts in one cell), then two-step jobs just before midnight, where you have to clean before you sort or filter. Every job ends with the fix and why it works.

At a glance

Category

Seasonal

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

3–5 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Read the request

Each job is a small candy table and one request: restock the emptiest jars, show the nut-free treats, fix a total that looks wrong…

Column, then tool

Tap a column header, then sort, filter or clean it. 9 PM is sorting, 10 PM filtering, 11 PM cleaning.

Two steps to midnight

The last jobs need two moves, like cleaning a column before you filter it. Order matters when it changes the result.

Score

100 per right step plus up to 50 for candle left. A wrong tool or a burnt-out candle costs one of 3 lives; save the party for +100 per life left.

Scoring

Each right step scores 100 points plus up to 50 for the candle left. Two-step jobs before midnight score each step.

A wrong tool or a burnt-out candle costs one of 3 lives and shows the fix. Save the party at midnight for +100 per life left. Your best score is kept in this browser.

What it trains

Sorting and filtering

Choosing the right column and direction, and hiding rows without deleting them.

Data cleaning

Spotting stray spaces, mixed capitals, numbers stored as text, gaps, duplicates and misspellings, and the tool that fixes each one.

Order of operations

Cleaning before you sort or filter, so the result is right the first time.

Strategy and tips

Sort the right column

Read which column holds the answer: "emptiest jars" is Stock, not Candy.

Ascending means smallest first

Smallest first, or A → Z. Descending is largest first, or Z → A.

Filters hide, they don't delete

A filter only hides rows. Clear it and everything comes back.

Look for look-alikes

" Gummy", "Gummy " and "gummy" look the same to you, but not to a filter. Trim and fix capitals first.

Numbers on the left are suspicious

A number aligned left with a green corner is stored as text. SUM skips it and sorting puts it last.

Why play Haunted Spreadsheet?

Most spreadsheet mistakes aren't formula errors: they're messy data. A label with a hidden space, a number stored as text or a duplicate row quietly breaks every total, sort and filter built on top of it. Haunted Spreadsheet practises the everyday habits behind clean data: pick the right column, sort or filter with intent, and clean the cells before you trust the result.

Frequently asked questions