Symbol Algebra

A symbol substitution cipher replaces a set of symbols/images/icons with letters or numbers. But to ad a challenge to the puzzle, don’t simply give the players the lookup. Make them work for it.

Hide a conversion from symbol to number in a simple math problem. This takes the form of solving algebra, but with pictures instead of letters for the variables. Here is a simple example.

Note that this problem is straightforward to solve. You don’t need a technique like Gaussian elimination. The system is easily solved from the top down.

The first line has 3 🍗 equal 12. Thus, 🍗 must be 4. The second line has 🍗 + 🥖 + 🥖 = 20. Thus, 2 🥖 sum to 16, and consequently 🥖 is 8. By the third line, it is clear that 🍮 must be 1. From there, it is easy to get that 🧀 is 2, and by the fifth line 🥗 3.

OK. The players have solved the puzzle. Now what? These values are not useful until coupled with another clue. This could be coupled with any puzzle that involves listing symbols in a certain order such as grid lookup. Here is a simple example using a code-word lookup with a clue containing a list of food for a meal.

To completely solve this puzzle, the players have to (1) solve the algebra, (2) notice that the images used for symbols in the math are referenced in the menu, and (3) list the numbers associated with each food symbol in the menu’s order: 82341.