diff --git a/NOTES.md b/NOTES.md
index 0298bce..bbbb26c 100644
--- a/NOTES.md
+++ b/NOTES.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 - [X] Basic Player Definition
 - [ ] Basic Deck Definition
 - [X] Figure out how to return JSON or html (`render_template`)
-- [ ] Basic testing
+- [X] Basic testing
 - [ ] Swagger API
 - [ ] Local development tool to clear/seed database
 ...
diff --git a/app/__init__.py b/app/__init__.py
index 48b4f98..a111afe 100644
--- a/app/__init__.py
+++ b/app/__init__.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def create_app():
     app.config['SECRET_KEY'] = secret_key
 
     # TODO - support other database types 🙃
-    app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'sqlite:///db.sqlite'
+    app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = os.environ.get('DATABASE_URI', 'sqlite:///db.sqlite')
 
     db.init_app(app)
 
diff --git a/app/main.py b/app/main.py
index fb51730..3536e6d 100644
--- a/app/main.py
+++ b/app/main.py
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@ def create_player():
 
 @main.route("/player/<player_id>")
 def get_player(player_id: str):
-    player_data = _jsonify(db.session.get(Player, int(player_id)))
+    player_from_db = db.session.get(Player, int(player_id))
+    if not player_from_db:
+        return 'Not Found', 404
+
+    player_data = _jsonify(player_from_db)
+
     content_type = request.headers.get('Content-Type')
     if content_type == 'application/json':
         return player_data
@@ -34,4 +39,4 @@ def get_player(player_id: str):
 # extend?
 # (Probably not, as we'd still need to explicitly call it - it wouldn't be implicitly called _by_ Flask)
 def _jsonify(o):
-    return {k: v for (k, v) in o.__dict__.items() if k is not '_sa_instance_state'}
\ No newline at end of file
+    return {k: v for (k, v) in o.__dict__.items() if k != '_sa_instance_state'}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..816cbdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import os
+import pathlib
+import pytest
+
+# TODO - this seems to be a "magic path" which makes fixtures available. Learn more about it by reading
+# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34466027/what-is-conftest-py-for-in-pytest
+
+from app import create_app
+
+# https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/2.3.x/testing/
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def app_fixture():
+    # Start afresh!
+    test_database_name = 'testing-db.sqlite'
+    database_location = pathlib.Path('instance').joinpath(test_database_name)
+    if database_location.exists():
+        database_location.unlink()
+
+    os.environ['DATABASE_URI'] = f'sqlite:///{test_database_name}'
+    os.environ['SECRET_KEY'] = 'testing-secret-key'
+
+    app = create_app()
+    # app.config.update({
+    #     'TESTING': True
+    # })
+
+    # other setup can go here
+
+    yield app
+
+    # clean up / reset resources here
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def client(app_fixture):
+    return app_fixture.test_client()
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def runner(app_fixture):
+    return app_fixture.test_cli_runner()
diff --git a/tests/test_fresh_db_tests.py b/tests/test_fresh_db_tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5f0822
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_fresh_db_tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# These tests expect that the database starts empty.
+# TODO: create tests with initialized states
+
+def test_add_and_retrieve(client):
+    response = client.get('/player/1', headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
+    assert response.status_code == 404
+
+    client.post('/player', headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'}, json={'name': 'jason'})
+    response_1 = client.get('/player/1', headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'})
+    assert response_1.json['name'] == 'jason'