diff --git a/spec/rich_enums_spec.rb b/spec/rich_enums_spec.rb
index 8b7cbcd..37ba0ae 100644
--- a/spec/rich_enums_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rich_enums_spec.rb
@@ -1,10 +1,149 @@
+require "spec_helper"
+
 RSpec.describe RichEnums do
-  it "has a version number" do
-    expect(RichEnums::VERSION).not_to be nil
+  describe "error scenarios" do
+    it "raises an error if the argument to rich_enum is not a Hash" do
+      expect do
+        Temping.create(:course_class) do
+          include RichEnums
+          rich_enum([])
+        end
+      end.to raise_error(RichEnums::Error)
+    end
+
+    it "raises an error if an empty Hash is passed to rich_enum" do
+      expect do
+        Temping.create(:course_class) do
+          include RichEnums
+          rich_enum({})
+        end
+      end.to raise_error(RichEnums::Error)
+    end
+
+    it "raises an error if the enum definition uses the Array form" do
+      # This is not supported yet
+      expect do
+        Temping.create(:course_class) do
+          include RichEnums
+          rich_enum({status: [:active, :inactive]})
+        end
+      end.to raise_error(RichEnums::Error)
+    end
   end
 
-  it "does something useful" do
-    # TODO write tests
-    expect(false).to eq(true)
+  describe "rich_enum usage" do
+    context "it calls the ActiveRecord::Enum.enum method" do
+      let(:course_class) do
+        Temping.create(:course_class) do
+          with_columns do |t|
+            t.integer :status
+            t.string :category
+          end
+
+          include RichEnums
+        end
+      end
+
+      it "invokes the enum method with the correct arguments" do
+        allow(course_class).to receive(:enum).and_call_original
+
+        course_class.rich_enum status: { active: 0, inactive: 1 }, alt: :name
+        # it passes only the necessary arguments to the enum method, stripping out the alt: option
+        expect(course_class).to have_received(:enum).with(status: { active: 0, inactive: 1 })
+      end
+
+      it "invokes the enum method with the correct arguments" do
+        allow(course_class).to receive(:enum).and_call_original
+
+        course_class.rich_enum status: { active: [0, 'LIVE'], inactive: [1, 'NOT_LIVE'] }, alt: :name
+        # it passes only the necessary arguments to the enum method,
+        # stripping out the alternate names LIVE and NOT_LIVE and the alt: option
+        expect(course_class).to have_received(:enum).with(status: { active: 0, inactive: 1 })
+      end
+
+      it "invokes the enum method with the correct arguments" do
+        allow(course_class).to receive(:enum).and_call_original
+        course_class.rich_enum status: { active: [0, 'LIVE'], inactive: [1, 'NOT_LIVE'] }, _prefix: true, alt: 'state'
+        # it passes only the necessary arguments to the enum method,
+        # stripping out the alternate names LIVE and NOT_LIVE and the alt: option
+        expect(course_class).to have_received(:enum).with(status: { active: 0, inactive: 1 }, _prefix: true)
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "with only an alternate name specified without additional mapping" do
+      let(:course_class) do
+        Temping.create(:course_class) do
+          with_columns do |t|
+            t.integer :status
+            t.string :category
+          end
+
+          include RichEnums
+          rich_enum status: { active: 0, inactive: 1 }, alt: :name
+        end
+      end
+      let(:test_instance) { course_class.new }
+
+      it "defines a class method for each enum" do
+        expect(course_class).to respond_to(:status_names)
+      end
+
+      it "returns a hash of enum values and names" do
+        expect(course_class.status_names).to eq({"active"=>"active", "inactive"=>"inactive"})
+      end
+
+      it "defines an instance method for each enum" do
+        expect(test_instance).to respond_to(:status_name)
+      end
+
+      it "returns the value in response to alternate name" do
+        test_instance.status = 0
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq(test_instance.status)
+        test_instance.status = 1
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq(test_instance.status)
+        test_instance.status = :active
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq(test_instance.status)
+        test_instance.status = 'inactive'
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq(test_instance.status)
+      end
+    end
+
+    context "with an alternate name and mapping specified" do
+      let(:course_class) do
+        Temping.create(:course_class) do
+          with_columns do |t|
+            t.string :status
+          end
+
+          include RichEnums
+          rich_enum status: { active: [0, 'LIVE'], inactive: [1, 'NOT_LIVE'] }, alt: :name
+        end
+      end
+
+      let(:test_instance) { course_class.new }
+
+      it "defines a class method for each enum" do
+        expect(course_class).to respond_to(:status_names)
+      end
+
+      it "returns a hash of enum values and names" do
+        expect(course_class.status_names).to eq({"active"=>"LIVE", "inactive"=>"NOT_LIVE"})
+      end
+
+      it "defines an instance method for each enum" do
+        expect(test_instance).to respond_to(:status_name)
+      end
+
+      it "returns the alternate name of the enum value" do
+        test_instance.status = 0
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq("LIVE")
+        test_instance.status = 1
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq("NOT_LIVE")
+        test_instance.status = :active
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq("LIVE")
+        test_instance.status = 'inactive'
+        expect(test_instance.status_name).to eq("NOT_LIVE")
+      end
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index ccf0686..2a61bd0 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 require "bundler/setup"
 require "rich_enums"
+require "temping"
 
 RSpec.configure do |config|
   # Enable flags like --only-failures and --next-failure
@@ -11,4 +12,15 @@
   config.expect_with :rspec do |c|
     c.syntax = :expect
   end
+
+  config.before(:all) do
+    ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
+      adapter: "sqlite3",
+      database: ":memory:"
+    )
+  end
+
+  config.after do
+    Temping.teardown
+  end
 end