2. Pigpen and Rosicrucian Cipher

OLD EPISODE
Are you ready? I am too, so lets dive into the wonderful world of the code that is much too good for the pigs and it's unknown companion with Steve, Dan, and the Evil Ant. Plus, the Evil Ant's  plan is in action. And could you rate and review us on Apple Podcasts? It would be a big help.

Here are the links to pictures of the code key in case you didn't understand them:
Pigpen
Rosicrucian Cipher

The background music used in this episode is Bio Unit, Outer Reaches, and Zone, all by Bio Unit, and our theme song is Mosquito by Caspar Babypants.

 You can find Dr. Gareth's work at drgarethmoore.com. He has released many puzzle and cipher related books for kids, as well as a lot of stuff for adults, too. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Theme Music
• 1:40 Intro
• 1:59 The Key of Pigpen & Rosicrucian Cipher
• 6:09 Story
• 9:57 The History of Pigpen
• 11:37 Outro

Transcript

Barnabas  01:40
Welcome to the kids' code podcast. I'm Barnabas, your host, and Today we will be talking about Pigpen and Rosicrucian Cipher. Steve, Dan, and the Evil Ant are here here. Here is the key of Pigpen*.

Dan  01:59
To make the grid the first thing you need to do is write 2 parallel lines, each going from the top to the bottom. Then write another set of parallel lines crossing the first 2 to make a grid like in a tic-tac-toe game. Each square of the grid represents a letter, starting with A in the top left corner, then B in the top right, and C in the top right. The middle row represents D, E, and F, and the bottom row represents G, H, and I. Then make a second grid, just like the first one, and add a dot to each square. These squares represent the letters J through R. The third grid is in the shape of an X. The spaces around the X are for the next 4 letters, with S on the top, T on the left, U on the right, and V on the bottom. The last grid is the same shape as the third one, but has dots in it like the second grid. It stands for the letters W through Z. Here's how to use the grids. When you want to write a message, instead of writing a regular letter, write the lines next to that letter's place in the grid. So, sneaky would be written as S - a V, N - a square with a dot in it, E - a square, A - a backwards L, K - a square without a line on top and a dot in it, and Y - a V on it's right side with a dot in it.

Barnabas  04:08
Pigpen is much less complicated than it sounds at first, and so it is good for quick messages, but you'll need another code for top secret messages. Steve, could you explain Rosicrucian Cipher to us?

Steve  04:27
Okay. Rosicrucian Cipher is a lot like Pigpen, but much more compact. The grid in it is similar to the second one used in Pigpen, but the position of the dot matters. So, instead of a backwards L, a box without a top, and an L, A would be a backwards L with a dot on the left side, B would be a backwards L with a dot in the middle, and C would be a backwards L with a dot on the right.

Barnabas  05:03
It's important to note that in the last square there are are 2 letters - Y and Z - while the other squares have 3, so you have to be careful not to put a dot in the middle because if you do your partner won't know whether you mean Y or Z. This code is better for very secret messages (and not as widely known) as Pigpen, but, if you have a very secret message, you will want a different code. Hey guys, I think that this is a good place for the story. Do you agree?

Dan  05:48
Yeah, I agree.

Steve  05:51
Me too.

Evil Ant  05:53
Me 5,157.

Barnabas  06:00
Does that mean yes?

Evil Ant  06:02
It does.

Barnabas  06:05
Okay, then.

Barnabas  06:10
Steve and Dan are at the HQ taking orders from Codemaster Cole, the leader of the spy ring.

Codemaster Cole  06:22
Go and get me a coded secret message in Pigpen from over there so that we can crack it

Barnabas  06:32
Said Codemaster Cole. They looked for it, but they couldn't find any secret messages in Pigpen. They told him, and he said

Codemaster Cole  06:50
You didn't look.

Steve  06:53
Yes we did. There wasn't any message in Pigpen there.

Barnabas  06:59
Codemaster Cole went to look, and quickly came back with a sheet of paper.

Dan  07:06
That's not Pigpen, that's Rosicrucian Cipher.

Codemaster Cole  07:13
Whatever. Let's sit down and decipher it.

Barnabas  07:19
They were siting down to decipher it when Dangerous Dave and Emily End, 2 badguys, came in.

Dangerous Dave  07:33
Aha! we finally found your headquarters. Where is the message that I sent to Horrible Hal about robing a bank? You must have intercepted it because he hasn't gotten it.

Barnabas  07:56
Before the good spies could say anything Fred Fine, a police officer, came in.

Fred Fine  08:08
Aha! I finally found where your headquarters is. Now I can arrest you. That's what the police officer does when he finds the criminals, right?

Steve  08:24
No. We're the goodguys. They're the badguys trying to get a secret message telling another of their spies where a robbery that they're going to do later is going to be.

Barnabas  08:45
Just then, Emily End grabbed a laser and zapped Fred the dog and the goodguys. THE END.
Wait! No, that's not what happened!

Evil Ant 09:00
Argh! I dropped my mind control ray!

Barnabas  09:05
Stop it, Evil Ant. So, actually  what happened was that Fred arrested Emily End and Dangerous Dave and was going to take them to prison, but Dangerous Dave escaped. Then, he, Codemaster Cole, Steve, and Dan deciphered the message. It said that the badguys were going to try to rob the museum. THE END.

Barnabas  09: 44
Well, I hope you liked the story, even with the Evil Ant trying to control what I said.

Evil Ant  09:58
I must think of a new evil plot during the history section.

Barnabas  10:05
I don't think I will bring the villains into the studio much after this - they could take over the world! Here's the history of Pigpen. Pigpen is very old. Some people even think that it was first used 800 years ago during the Crusades.

Dan  10:31
Wow, that's old!

Barnabas  10:34
It wasn't used much after that until the 1700s when a secret society called the Freemasons started using it. That's why Pigpen is sometimes referred to as the Freemason cipher.

Steve  10:51
That makes sense. Before now I couldn't figure out the difference between Pigpen and Freemason Cipher.

Barnabas  11:01
Pigpen surfaced again during the Civil War when a postal inspector found it's odd symbols in a letter written to a suspected spy for the Confederacy. Today, Pigpen is one of the most famous codes there are, and there are lots of variations and related codes - like Rosicrucian Cipher.

Evil Ant  11:27
I can't figure out an evil plot that will work. I'd better try next time.

Barnabas  11:37
That's it for this episode. Next time we will talk about concealment. My sources for the episode are Top Secret by Paul B. Janeczko and Explorer Academy Codebreaking Activity Adventure by Dr. Gareth Moore. See you next time!

*Forgot to add - check the show notes to see pictures of the keys of Pigpen and Rosicrucian Cipher.