Pigpen Cipher

The pigpen cipher is a simple and well-known substitution cipher that uses lined grids to define unique symbols for each letter in the alphabet. There are several variants of the pigpen cipher, but a common substitution table looks like this.

Each letter in the pigpen cipher is defined by the border of its region. For example, E is in the middle of the grid, surrounded by borders, so it is represented by a square. B, above it, has an open border on the top, so it is represented by a box with an open top.

Ultimately, this leaves a code that looks like this.

    ,

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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Using the pigpen cipher above, the shapes can be matched to letters that spell out this secret message.

Because the pigpen cipher is quite well-known, there is a good chance that players will already be familiar with it and will be able to decode a message without a provided substitution table. Thus, consider providing the decoding table before providing the message.