Cipher Shenanigans
By Jared L.
Key by Petrovich9 from Getty Images Created in Canva
Ciphers have been around for hundreds of years. If you want a prime example of a cipher, try learning a new language. You will be stuck on that cipher for years until you finally can crack the code. Ciphers have been used as a way of secret communication as well as purely just for fun! Our minds love deciphering and finding the answers to seemingly impossible equations and puzzles.
The first cipher is extremely common: Morse Code! Morse Code is replacing letters with dots and dashes. It looks like this: - .... .. ... / .. ... / .- -. / . -..- .- -- .--. .-.. . / --- ..-. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. .! Interesting is it not? The cool part is, it does not have to be on paper! Many uses of Morse code require clicking or tapping to communicate with another person who translates the taps into letters (Marinacci).
Let’s get a little trickier. The second common cipher is the Caesar cipher. Think of the guy that got stabbed twenty-eight times, and you’ll be thinking of the right name. This cipher is quite fascinating, as its puzzle mechanic is moving each letter in the alphabet up a certain amount of spaces (Moore et al.). For example, a Caesar cipher that moves seven spaces would make “A” into “H”. Aopz pz hu lehtwsl vm h jhlzhy jpwoly. Looks like gibberish doesn’t it? Let us decipher and see what it says! Taking the rule that each letter is moved up seven spaces, we can find the real letter for each character. The word “This” turns into “Aopz” when put into the cipher format. Take a piece of paper and try to solve the puzzle!
The final common cipher is Base 64. Base 64 is a type of coding cipher in which a sentence, when encoded, looks like this: N¬Ơ欻¦¦W¨|¬{®˲¦ب. Wacky right? I think I even see a Korean symbol in there. This one is extremely complex, so go explore and learn about it! It is a fun cipher to use if trying to prank your friends too, as it is not easily decodable (unless you remember Google gives you a decoder).
There are many more examples of ciphers, hundreds more in fact! A large group of people use these codes either for fun or for serious military operations. Game developers have even implemented these codes into their games to establish more story to those who have a keen eye. At the Navigator, we are incorporating puzzles as well. Look out for hints and clues among the pages as you read other articles. Happy exploring!
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Jared L is a five-year NorthStar Academy student and loves writing. Through his time at NorthStar, he has grown in various types of writing style, including journalism and creative writing. Jared is currently writing a full book that will accompany some prior short stories he had previously written. He also enjoys playing video games and interacting with friends when he can.