Another thing to keep in mind is there are two different CASEs with MySQL: one like what @cdhowie and others describe here (and documented here: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/control-flow-functions.html#operator_case) and something which is called a CASE, but has completely different syntax and completely different function, documented here: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/case.html
Invariably, I first use one when I want the other.