The Pig Pen cipher is of the most historically popular ciphers. It was used by Freemasons a century ago and also by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Since it’s so popular, it’s not a very good choice for top secret messages. Lots of people know how to use this one! It starts with shapes: tic-tac-toe grids and X shapes. I really like it because coded messages look like they’re written an entirely different language! Watch the video to learn how it works.
Download Student Worksheet & Exercises
Isn’t this a fun one! To make the cipher a little harder to crack, arrange the encoded message in groups of five characters. As always, remember that your intended recipient needs the Pig Pen key in order to decode your message.
Exercises
- What’s the difference between the second and the fourth pig pen?
Draw the following:
- The third pig pen
- The first pig pen
Using the following pig pen key, encode #4-7:
- GO TO SCHOOL
- COME BACK
- I WILL SLEEP LATER
- NORTHERN AMERICA
Using the pig pen key, decode the following messages:
