Press enter after choosing selection

Secret Codes #10

You have come to the LAST code in the series! For this devious substitution cipher, a plaintext message is converted into a series of regular and boldface letters. It doesn't matter what the ciphertext is, only the pattern of regular and bold letters in that ciphertext.

As an example, let's say the plaintext that we want to encipher is "PIZZA."

Randomly choose a phrase that will have 5 times as many letters as the plaintext. Let's use the famous Jaws quote "You're gonna need a bigger boat." But it could be any string of words.

Break the phrase into blocks of 5 letters: YOURE GONNA NEEDA BIGGE RBOAT

The first letter in the plaintext "PIZZA" is "P". The pattern for "P" in the chart below is regular, bold, bold, bold, bold. The asterisk stands for regular typeface. So the letters in the first block of ciphertext are written with that same pattern. The next letter in the plaintext is "I" which corresponds to the pattern regular, bold, regular, regular, regular. The completed ciphertext is:

YOURE GONNA NEEDA BIGGE RBOAT
  P   I   Z   Z   A

Remember, each block of 5 letters in the ciphertext refers to a single letter in the plaintext.

Once the text is cleaned up with proper spacing and punctuation, it looks slightly less suspicious:

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

 

A=*****  G=**BB*  M=*BB**  S=B***B  Y=BB***

B=****B  H=**BBB  N=*BB*B  T=B**BB  Z=BB**B

C=***B*  I=*B***  O=*BBB*  U=B*B**

D=***BB  J=*B**B  P=*BBBB  V=B*B*B

E=**B**  K=*B*B*  Q=B****  W=B*BB*

F=**B*B  L=*B*BB  R=B**B*  X=B*BBB

 

This badge has been awarded to 256 players

Sign in to see clues and check your progress on this badge

Comments

I fixed the cipher key so that the 4th block of letters should decipher correctly now. I don't see any other mistakes, but feel free to post if there is another problem. Sorry for the mixup!

After you decipher the message, which is a partial phrase, you will need to complete the phrase. The one word that completes the phrase is the game code. It is 5 letters long. The badge image is a clue.

Thank you so much for playing Winter Game and enjoying the codes! And thanks again for pointing out the mistake. It's even harder to decipher the message if it's not correct. :)

Hi, do you mean those letters are missing in the key above? They should be visible and I checked with other people and they can see them. Of those that you can't see, you only need "S" which is B***B. I hope that helps.

I found the S but the letters don't make any sense when I deciphered. I feel like I am being spoon fed but I am missing something. I double checked each letter with the pattern and I get letters but they don't form anything. What do I do?

Once you decipher the message, it spells EGGSAND, or "Eggs and". Finish the phrase, using the badge image as a clue, and that single 5-letter word is the game code. Sorry this has been so problematic!

This was a fun and tricky one! I wouldn't have gotten it without reading the comments though, because the instructions don't mention what you have to do after deciphering the message.

Badge Series
Winter Game's Secret Codes and Ciphers
Winter Game's Solve

Game
SummerGame2021

Difficulty
⭐️ Standard 1 of out 4 difficulty

Badge Points
200

Back to play.aadl.org