Escape Game History: 3 Ciphers Once Considered “Unbreakable”

The Enigma Machine at the National Museum of Scotland (Photo: Nachosan CC-BY 3.0)

If there’s one thing you’ll find in every escape room you play, it’s some sort of code that you’ll have to break. We’re definitely cryptography nerds here at Krakit Vancouver Escape Game, and that’s why we’re so fascinated with the ciphers that no one has been able to solve (see here, here, and here for some of our faves).

However, eventually, every code will get cracked—it may just take several hundred years, that’s all.

Below are three ciphers that were once considered unsolvable, but no more. Cryptanalysis wins!

Enigma, created: 1918

The German electrical engineer Arthur Scherbius patented his Enigma Machine, a mechanical cipher machine, in 1918, and it was soon adopted by German military forces. What made it so famously unbreakable is that the Enigma Machine uses electrical signals to concoct a new code every time a key is pressed, so it never uses the same code twice.

You can see why it was considered uncrackable.

Nevertheless, Enigma was broken by the WWII codebreakers of Bletchley Park, headed up by Alan Turing. Though it certainly it wasn’t an easy task, that’s for sure.

Vigenère Autokey, created: 1586

While the Enigma remained unbreakable for over 30 years, it’s nothing compared to the Vigenère Autokey’s 300 years. It was so safe a code, it was even nicknamed le chiffre indéchiffrable, or “the indecipherable cipher” to us English speakers.

The Vigenère uses polyalphabetic substitution (that means it really mixes the alphabet up), which makes it easy to use but really hard to break. This is in fact the same principle Enigma would use many years later.

However, in 1855, the inventor Charles Babbage came along and solved the Vigenère cipher for the English during the Crimean War. Because Babbage didn’t publish his work, the cipher continued to be used until 1863(!), when Friedrich Kasiski published his attack, rendering the Vigenère useless.

The Alberti Cipher, created: 1467

An even older once “unbreakable” code is the Alberti Cipher. This code was created by Leon Battista Alberti, and is the oldest known polyalphabetic cipher. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) Like the Enigma and the Vigenère, the Alberti Cipher uses metal discs that rotate to create a new code with every spin.

Alberti was dead certain his cipher was unbreakable, and although it took several centuries to prove him wrong, we now know that polyalphabetic ciphers can—and will eventually—be broken.

Try your own hand at codebreaking in one of our four escape games: http://bookeo.com/krakit.

Escape Game Forefathers: 4 Not-Famous but Very Famous Codebreakers and Codemakers

Lewis Carroll's Alphabet Cipher

In the long history of codebreaking, there are few highly famous codebreakers. Probably has something to do with the secrecy that surrounds cryptography … but we try not to focus on that here at Krakit Escape Game!

One of the best-known codebreakers of all time is definitely Alan Turing, who led the team at Bletchley Park (which was home to several other famous codebreakers) to break the Enigma Cipher. And though he may be fictional, Sherlock Holmes is another person that comes to mind when thinking of secret codes.

But along with these few famous cipher sleuths, there a whole host of non-famous cryptographers, who are, paradoxically, also quite famous.

1. Johnny Cash

That’s right—the Johnny Cash was no stranger to codes and ciphers. During his time in the United States Air Force, the future music icon was a Morse Code Intercept Operator for the Soviet Army. Basically, Johnny Cash eavesdropped on Russian spies. Now we know one of the reasons he was such a badass. We're also pretty sure he would've been a major horror escape game fan.

2. Lewis Carroll

The man who wrote Alice in Wonderland was a fan of riddles and tricks of logic, and he also developed his own cipher. The code he made was called the Alphabet Cipher, a simple polyalphabetic substitution that is nevertheless quite clever.

3. Charles Babbage

You may not be very familiar with his name, but you’re certainly very familiar with his work. Charles Babbage built the first successful automatic calculator and made scientific contributions that led directly to the computer. He also was a highly successful codebreaker—although this wasn’t known until a century after his death, due to the military keeping it hush-hush. Now Babbage is fully recognized for solving the Vigenère Cipher during the Crimean War.

4. Galileo Galilei

The man who confirmed that the earth went around the sun was also rather fond of making his own codes. Perhaps not surprising from a scientific mind such as his. He was also onto the fact that other people were aware of his brilliant brain—and probably wanted to steal his ideas. So, he simply coded his correspondence with other science geniuses, including Johannes Kepler. Problem solved.

Try your own hand at solving codes and other riddles at one of our four Vancouver escape games. Book here: http://bookeo.com/krakit.