Rail Cipher
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Catherine Salatandol
5M ago
At first this might seem a simple cipher, but taramnntigsiteogetidohniltl (14/13). Our rail fence system is one of the earliest methods of transposition, based on placing letters in a series of levels, or, imagining that they have been written up and down the rails on a fence. Let’s have a look at a few quotes from this guy as examples to see how it works. Fencing for beginners Our most basic version of this has just the two levels. Start with your text: “Elementary, my dear Watson” Take out all the punctuation and spacing (note: this isn’t always the case – make sure you and the message reci ..read more
Visit website
Polybius Square
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Catherine Salatandol
5M ago
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 tower. Squaring Things Up First we need a little table of our alphabet. This cipher typically combines the letters ‘i’ and ‘j’ in one cell. Each letter of the alphabet has its own grid reference. ‘A’ is 11, ‘B’ is 12, and so on. Using everyone’s favo ..read more
Visit website
Combination Ciphers
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Julia Billyard
6M ago
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 can certainly thank the internet for that!) There is no doubt this has led many designers to consider bolder, more complicated and ambitious systems of code making. Today, it may not even be enough to use fancy symbol-based codes (which are rea ..read more
Visit website
Caesar Ciphers
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Julia Billyard
6M ago
Last time, we discussed one of the most classic ciphers that are found in many escape room games. But in this month’s installment, we’ll be covering a cipher that has literally been with us since ancient times. The Caesar Cipher The Emperor’s Biggest Secret As the name implies, the Caesar cipher was famously used by Julius Caesar during his military campaigns. It uses letter substitution (the oldest cipher technique) by substituting one letter with another. These ciphers almost always operated by manipulating the order of the alphabet like this: ABCD XYZA The upper set of letters belong to ..read more
Visit website
Mary Queen of Scots Cipher
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Catherine Salatandol
11M ago
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 at now was developed in the 16th Century by Mary Stuart in captivity. The then Scottish Queen was trying to contact her supporters. The young royal was found to have used 100 iterations of her cipher, which used a series of symbols in a direct substitution for the alphabet ..read more
Visit website
Dot Ciphers
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Catherine Salatandol
1y ago
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 will brighten up any puzzle. Get out your crayons! For this we don’t actually want your full set of Derwents, with just nine colours recommended. We need to choose some that are distinct enough from each other so as not to be muddled (having a unique colour for each of our 26 letters ..read more
Visit website
Semaphore Cipher
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Julia Billyard
3y ago
You may not have heard of a semaphore before, but it is most often recognised in fields where technicians and workers communicate with flags (such as in the navy). Now, you might be wondering, how can this type of system make its way into games, puzzles and escape rooms? Well here’s a surprise: It’s not limited to flags! Everything from smoke signals to blinking lights qualify as a semaphore as long you are using them to send a coded message. And unlike other ciphers, a semaphore is not necessarily limited to just using the letters of an alphabet. What may seem like a three-letter set of signa ..read more
Visit website
Cipher of the Month – Combination Ciphers
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Julia Billyard
3y ago
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 can certainly thank the internet for that!) There is no doubt this has led many designers to consider bolder, more complicated and ambitious systems of code making. Today, it may not even be enough to use fancy symbol-based codes (which are rea ..read more
Visit website
Elude Escape Rooms 2020 Year in Review
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Julia Billyard
3y ago
Firstly, a huge thank you to all of our customers for supporting us over the past 12 months.  This year has certainly been a challenge for everyone however it has also helped us grow our business to a whole new level. We started the year out with Bush Fires and to support those in need ran a competition and took two of our amazing customers to the Fire Fight Concert. Then COVID-19 hit. Suddenly going from January being our busiest month on record to a negative income as we refunded many forward bookings. We realised that we had to source another income and designed and developed Mystery M ..read more
Visit website
Symbol-Based Ciphers
Escape Rooms by ELUDE
by Julia Billyard
3y ago
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 escape rooms and games who have gone beyond just using conventional formats. These take the simple act of letter substitution while using a cipher that has symbols inspired by ancient glyphs or letters entirely made up. Thus, we have the cat ..read more
Visit website

Follow Escape Rooms by ELUDE on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR