Codes

Who's This Square? Old mate Polybius was a Greek born about 200BC, but the method he made famous has influenced more sophisticated systems to this day. Originally, old mate Polybius had intended this code to be used in conveying messages long distance by moving a flaming torch up and down in sequence, with the message passed from tower to distant…

Our next project is the Bacon Code. It's an older code, but it definitely still checks out. This episode's man with the plan is philosopher, statesman and "father of empiricism", Sir Francis Bacon. While most of our ciphers and codes (Morse, Pigpen, etc) are fairly secure, they are pretty obvious as being secret messages. Steganography seeks to hide the fact…

We're back to a substitution cipher in this edition, but one with a special twist. All my 1990s Microsoft Word users might see echoes of the Wingdings font (which isn't a bad place to start if you want inspiration for your own symbol creation), but this one goes back a lot further than that. The cipher system we are looking…

Grille A grille, also known as a cutout, is a great way to hide your message away in text that you know will be seen no matter what. We aren't going to try and hide this text, only our intended message. Prepare for arts and crafty codes! Our old French mate Cardinal Richelieu, is credited with coming up with method…

Here's a code that will put a spot of colour into your Escape Room experience! The Colour Dot cipher is a way to substitute letters of the alphabet for splashes of colour, via numbers used in easy sums that are then swapped out. It might not be a code that you have encountered before, but it is definitely one that…

For code makers and puzzle designers, sometimes it is not enough to use a single cipher. This isn’t even because today’s technologies can easily spot what kind of cipher is being used at any given time. It is also because many individual ciphers are so well-known and recognisable that even the average escape room player can instantly identify them. (You…

For a lot of casual code breaking enthusiasts, most ciphers are pretty recognisable. They often still use letters and a particular format (such as letter substitution). In fact, even something like a pigpen cipher can be easily identified once you know how the basic corners, squares and dots of its messages are actually made. But today, there are plenty of…