A true legend among codes, Morse may be both the most easily identifiable and easily disguisable codes around.
This system of dots and dashes – or dits and dahs depending on your outlook – remains one of the most reliable and well-known systems of encoding information.
Morse History Facts
Morse code has played an incredible role in shaping the world as we know it, even beyond coding.
Samuel Morse, having already revolutionised communications with the electric telegraph in the 1830s, gave all its users a simple yet efficient system to use for sending cables and telegrams first locally and then internationally. It helped solve crimes, send SOS calls, and win wars.
It did all this by simplifying words to a form that a user could transmit as electrical bumps over great distances with a little tippy tappy machine (Note: not its real name).
Short Morse Service
Here’s one to show your age (!). Some of us will remember our old mobile phones and the sole notification we had on these bricks: DIT-DIT-DIT. DAH-DAH. DIT-DIT-DIT. Our old favourite: SMS. (Don’t read it now, it’s probably spam).
Inspecting Morse
Old mate Samuel started us off with the most common English letters being those easiest to encode. E and T get the singular ones; J, Q, and other highscoring Scrabble friends get the four-part combinations. The quickest way to figure out how to code your message is an alphabetised key like this one:
For numbers, sets of five signals have amounts of dots moving across the sequence.
Morses For Courses
So how can we unpack a message once we’ve found it? Ideally, a Morse tree decoder is a bit quicker when it comes to decoding your dots and dashes, but the standard key as above will still get you what you need.
Room For One Morse
Your crafty Escape Room designers may have hidden a Morse code message under a layer of obfuscation just because they think you will have it too easy otherwise. It could be visual, or it could be audio.
Look for a pattern with only two pieces or symbols that are repeated in a variety of jumbles. If it’s a set of sounds or a flashing light sequence, you might need to replay it a few times, jotting it down urgently. If it’s graphic objects, scribbles or just a set of long and short words, you can relax a bit and take your time.
