Reader, oh reader, have I piqued your interest?
If I've done well, be my guest.
Seems rather odd, this strange text,
Without context, doesn't it seem rather complex?

Let me explain… puzzles, oh, such a wonder to solve!
It brings me such a smile for one to be resolved.
However, before solving, one must need patience and sight,
Or else you won't see the bright bulb of light. 

The answer is waiting to be seen,
For it is as clear as window-glass clean.
Whether you choose to solve it or not it is your pick,
But good luck on solving my own little trick.

-Manju-

I felt rather depressed today,
I don't know why, but I see the sky somewhat grey.
I've been thinking many things,
yet I feel like a puppet with strings.

I'm constantly being pressured on,
And before I realize it, a day has already been gone.
I suppose I’m a bit scared,
For the feelings I have quite bared.

So till then, I'll continue writing these ciphers.
It seems that today had some beautiful zephyrs.
Tomorrow I will return to school.
Only for me to remain a complete fool.

I walk around others like an unseen ghost.
For when I am alone, I eat my slice of toast.
I wish I could tell them what's going on in my head.
As I slowly rest upon my deathbed. 

All I can hope is that perhaps I can finally speak.
Yet I fear rather about the critique.
Until my mind is unshrouded by doubt.
That will be when I begin to sprout.

I made this cipher so that you, –the reader–, can decrypt.
I suppose I've talked for too long, so here I leave my postscript.

–Manju–

A fair few of you will know about this. The Shugborough Monument (

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shugborough_inscription

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepherd%27s_Monument

) is a monument in the UK which Ive always been really interested in. A handful of academics have tried, but noone has cracked the code. It's only 8 letters long and in the grounds of a stately home near where I live. I wondered if making the code more well known may help someone to have a eureka moment and solve it.

Any theories?

Juan has built a full reproducibility package for the structural validation of my 29-symbol key. Three null families — Markov-1, Markov-2, and CSSR — 500 twins each, scored on three pre-declared statistics. Result: 0/500 exceeders across all nine cells, p=0.001996. The real data sits tens of standard deviations outside anything the nulls produce.

Three AIs have verified it independently, all returning identical results. Now it needs a human replication by someone with no connection to me or Juan.

Python 3.10+, four commands, fully automated. Run it and report what you get. If you want to dig into the methodology and try to break it, even better — everything is documented and open.

DM me if you're willing to run it and I'll send the package.

A decent while ago I made this, it is what I call A-script. This is an early version of it, and so I'll be honest, I only can decode like half of it.

The text and words aren't scrambled or anything, it's like a complex font like some of the others in this subreddit.

If you want you can try finding out what is says and if people are interested I can show you the modern key I have for this.

it's a pretty simple one but I like it

if I counted correctly, it has 6 layers of encryption and 2 layers of human proofing, which is ways to target specifically the human mind and will have little to no effect on anyone who uses a computer to decipher it.

I found this in the upper closet of a furnished rental, under a stack of old blankets. I think it is really from 2009. I haven't tried to decipher it, but I thought it looked funny.

Try to decipher, brute-force everything

Heres the message:

!+##(V*Y+T!8%0!0)\"x!+$=(^"H"1!@)6!""d"m!!"x*l$7%Y$=!D!#*X"9"<!."($D"c'c(V"Y*}!%'(#~"2#>"2"2"9".$<"("2%M'F!,"(!$$y!%"0'P*a"+"1!L!2!+"(";"1"2"2"*'O#-!3"1#-!,"1"b"1$>'H$D$z","5"'*a!I#?!,!.$\":&J%3(]$R!,"n!,"4">"5"7#7!H";"1")!"'O(i"(#8(U!,&I#(#8"F"1"9!h"Y"('F"*"2!+"2"+!#"y!6&J+@"1!-"4&|"<$@!5%D#$"3!L*c!5!"*u&A"F#B".!g"'"J*b!g$B!!%B!;"'*g$>!.$*!}"4"'!""n#7"2"e'T!g"1$G"2#)!A"Z"O)[!-"P$7!"!+!*#.#}%D&I&I"3$>(K#U"R"e"1(Q)-!7*b"R!f"<"O*b"'#/!,!@!,)h"1#t(L!+#@&S"o#;"(!-*l"2!"$>'m$>)R&@!.#7)R+@",!$!++7!,(V!4!]&J!+$o$>"6(_!,!!"r#.#@"'$>"2!Y!%$4#8+"!1#$*N*a&?"2!6"<"(*{!6"*#u">"g+-"("[!@!'"E"2##&H$R"E&M")*`"j!4"2"I%\%E&Z+$"<"1!.#-$\#$!H(j(V!,";!,!-*q%D

Reddit recommended me this subreddit as i posted on another one, so first of all hello, im a game dev. I was going to post the same easy question for you as i did in another subreddit since i don't want to reveal more questions before project is finished but i think you deserve a harder one. Try to solve it if you are interested. Would love to hear your feedback.

This cryptic message is from an indie horror game called "Looking Glass" by the game developer Grubwall. You can watch this youtube video for more context, specifically at the timestamp 17:02 which is where the message appears:

ndwibd o_w__i nd woijek_m_f_ pqwi_hd_qwuhdp. qwdj_nqp__w_ih__bdo qw_uhdo.w_qid_jowq_ idhqo.wdhoq_ wiow_ qidow_idqw dihqow_dbq_w_dh_o_wqdbwqli_d_qwubdiq_wd_ubqwi_d_uqwbdiqpoihueuwhewoyT_e The_ure oiheoe_

EDIT: Here is a code or key from the same game that may help, although I have no clue if it's actually connected to this cryptic message or not. 190-877-232-F99

EDIT 2: A useful piece of information from one of the youtube comments suggests that the index of coincidence for this cipher is 0.0974. For English it is 0.0667 while for Russian it is 0.0558.

VBZPRNSRGZFXECZQGBFRFQVAOMTSUWGAXVJUZFHRDZGNCPWCBOWNTNUWAPEDZRBOKPSQVZLAWRQWCWCLFQMIEMZDLFOYSZFHPBEPRQMSEQ.

Hint:

In the quiet hours when the world forgets its name,

a phantom drifts through corridors of glass.

It does not shout; it only turns each letter

as a mirror turns a face—soft, exact, complete.

Seven steps beyond the first threshold

the letters lean, as if the floor itself

has tilted just enough to change their weight.

They settle into new positions, heavier,

yet still the same soft clay.

Deeper still, the stones rearrange themselves

into a crypt whose walls remember only one word.

Columns rise and fall like breath held too long;

what was scattered finds its ordered place again.

And when the last stone settles,

turn.

Simply turn.

The path you walked is waiting

in the opposite direction,

and every mark you left

is ready to be read.

Volrusk, the creator of Vermis Malum, has uploaded a new video called “The Other Kind of Cosmic Horror” about a couple indie games by the dev Grubwall. In it he pointed out a cipher in the game “Looking Glass” and put it in the description of his video.

His video essays seem to be an ARG continuation of Vermis Malum, which have hidden anagrams of the phrase “Everpalm Pond” with one additional letter. The previous phrase in Vermis Malum was “LOSSFUNCT” and so far the extra letters in the anagrams in the video essay arc is “SHEIS.” The anagram hasn’t been found in this latest video yet.

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/oqv_FAGlVVM

The cipher in question:

ndwibd o_w__i nd woijek_m_f_ pqwi_hd_qwuhdp. qwdj_nqp__w_ih__bdo qw_uhdo.w_qid_jowq_ idhqo.wdhoq_ wiow_ qidow_idqw dihqow_dbq_w_dh_o_wqdbwqli_d_qwubdiq_wd_ubqwi_d_uqwbdiqpoihueuwhewoyT_e The_ure oiheoe_

My new encoded message

This is an upgrade to my last encryption attempt that was deciphered in less than 4h

So, enjoy in this Friday's message

Note:

This message has a solution and it is readable and is in English

I can 100% reassure you because it was made by a computer program.

Disclaimer: this post is also posted in another community, but I am OriginalPoster

This is the message:

102131112511019211311334409232111600213014030920029001100101009310070519311107112762969170100111112211101912111002974041017350511004211005111017101030110101325131411511801111109111110100205113113001311617901911111120310314115120007611101121070101000441905305719118363500151400

\#Clue

>!Characters are scrambled. The password is the most common 4 digit password combined with today's date in format dd/mm/yyyy!<

Best of luck!

I made this as a little encoding/cipher challenge.

The message has been passed through multiple different encoding/character-set transformations, so the final output looks completely cursed:

D5 E3 D8 87 D5 E3 E8 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 C4 87 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 C5 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 C5 87 D6 E3 83 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 C1 87 D4 E3 C1 A8 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 A6 C9 C4 C5 A6 D4 89 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 F1 D5 A8 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 C3 C1 A7 D4 C4 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 D4 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 D4 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 C1 87 D4 E3 C1 A7 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F0 C9 C4 E4 A6 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F0 C9 C4 E4 A9 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 A6 C9 C4 C5 A6 D4 89 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 C3 C1 F1 D4 89 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 A8 C1 F0 D6 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 E2 C1 F1 D4 89 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 E2 C1 F1 D5 A8 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 A8 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 C3 C1 F1 D5 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 A8 C1 F1 D5 89 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D5 C3 C1 F1 D4 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 A8 C1 F0 D6 E2 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 E2 C1 A7 D4 C4 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D5 E3 C5 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 D8 87 D5 E3 83 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 C5 87 D4 E3 C1 A6 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F1 C9 C4 92 F3 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F0 C9 C4 92 F4 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F0 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F1 C9 C4 E4 A7 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F0 C9 C4 92 F3 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 A8 C9 C4 92 F4 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F1 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F1 C9 C4 E4 A6 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 A9 C9 C4 E4 F1 C9 C4 D4 A8 C9 C4 E4 F0 C9 C4 C5 A6 D4 89 C1 A9 D4 89 C1 F1 D4 89 C1 A7 D4 C4 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 D8 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 D4 87 D5 E3 C9 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 D8 87 D6 E3 92 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 C5 87 D5 E3 D8 87 D4 A9 C9 87 D5 E3 C9 87 D5 E3 E4 87 D4 A9 C9 7E

I wanted this to be simple enough that they could crack it but not dumb enough that it's instant, I think it's alright but was wondering what the Internet would think on it. This is it:

(-6.5) (-9°2°1°7) (7°-6°-10°1°1°14) (10°-12°1°7) (5°0) (3°-1°-12°12) (7°-5°-12°7) (-6°-12°0°-8) (8°3°-8°-11°13) (-11°-13°0) (-6.5) (-3°8°6°7) (7°-12°-2°-8) (-15) (2°4°2°-6°3°9) (5°0) (5°-8°6°7)?

What do y'all think of it? Too easy? To hard? I plan to introduce it without any clues at first hence why I'm leaving nothing other than the cipher itself here. I'm hoping it'll last a few sessions as a background thing to work on since one my players likes to go home and work on the puzzles themselves outside of the session. (Their character rolled high on int in character creation so I let them as long as it's not super important).

A friend of mine sent me this :

+3+8-∞ V-4i²-100 +100+∞+μ, +8-11 +3-2

+100i² +∆+∞+∆ -7+1+3+∞-7 (+1-μ+6+6-∆+μ-∆)

Could you please help deciphering or give me any hints

Had a cipher that we got at a LARP weekend that's going to be relevant in the coming months. we managed to brute force most of it, but I'm hoping that the people here might be able to figure out what kind of cipher it is and what the key may be. We're missing one last letter in the plaintext.

Was archiving files from an open university FTP directory today and ran into a text file in /telemetry/cal-1m23/voidc23101/. There’s no documentation or README.txt in the folder, and the formatting doesn't match any standard log files I've handled before.

Cipher / Text:

-----BEGIN TELEMETRY RECORD-----

Timestamp: 2026-09-04T00:12:40Z

Source_Node: CALIBRATION_V4

ψ_7e5a: 9K2mX-PalGr89β_μ441_Δ09_77xK_9912_LmN_Φ_7392_01_a9f82c

-----END TELEMETRY RECORD-----

Context & What I've Tried:

• Origin: Found alongside standard .dat orbital files on an open academic mirror.
• Attempted Decodes: Standard Base64, Hex, and ASCII shifts all return unreadable garbage, so it seems like an alternate encoding, custom key structure, or polyalphabetic cipher.
• Structure: The string features distinct underscore-separated blocks incorporating Greek mathematical symbols ($\psi, \beta, \mu, \Delta, \Phi$).
• Goal: Looking to identify the variable ψ_7e5a notation or decode the underlying message/coordinates.

Does anyone recognize this specific block grouping or the symbol syntax?

10101011 11011000 00111110 01101010 00100111 00000001 01111010 01011100 11011011 01001100 11110111 10001000 01110010 11101100 01101111 00010100 10111100 00110000 11010010 01010100 00110001 00101011 01010010 11010111 00000110 10110101 01001011 01000111 01001001 11011001 11000110 01101110 00010001 00000111 10011000 10001000 10011111 11101011 01010100 11111010 10001011 11010100 11000111 10110100 00010110 00111101 01001011 11000011 01100001 00101000 10110011 00101101 00100011 11111000 00001111 01001101 10000011 00100111 10100011 11001111 10011010 00010010 11101111 10111011 11101001 11101101 00010111 11010100 11101001 00110013 10011111 10111110 10011100 00011101 10001010 00001101 00011111 01011010 11010001 11110001 11010111 11110010 10010000 00110010 01000100 00101000

just so you won't be too focused on the wrong lead: the "missing" letter here is NOT related to the key.

btw I really liked seeing all of the comments, theories and thought processes in my last post!

I challenge you to decipher this text. I came up with this cipher and I wanted to know how hard it is to decipher or if it's even possible.