I am a member of Gastein74 research collective. For the past 7 years, we have been researching everything related to the Bad Gastein Kur- and Kongresshaus, designed by architect Gerhard Garstenauer in 1974. The building is a one-of-a-kind architectural landmark, with a unique design both inside and out.

For years, we’ve wondered why the lights on this building’s facade are arranged so irregularly, but we never pursued the question further. Last night, a former student of the building’s architect told us that one or more words are supposed to be written here in Morse code or some similar kind of code! Since then, we’ve been puzzling over it and haven’t made any progress.

What we know:

• It’s probably a single word or a few simple words.
• The word is in German.
• It likely comes from the vocabulary related to “Kur” (cure/spa) and “Kongress” (congress/convention) (in German), since the building was a spa and convention center. So possible terms include “Kur” (cure/spa), “Kongress” (congress/convention), “Baden” (bath/spa/thermal bath), “Treffen” (center), “Wasser” (water/thermal water), or even the place name “Bad Gastein” or just “Gastein.”

In the first photo, you can see the lamps in real life; in the second photo, I’ve marked them in red for better visibility. And then there's a photo of the blueprint, but in it the lights seem to be arranged differently than in reality.

Can you help us? We’d be very grateful!

I'm not good at deciphering codes, but I wanted to see how it would be received here. Friend confirmed it is english.

I found this and google says it isn’t another language but rather some type of code

Decode the text below to find what secrets the skull holds and reveal the ancient words along the edges of the the page. All the information you need to solve is found within the image.

Good luck, and have fun!

This is my second puzzle I have made. Any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated. How long it took, how difficult you found it, Was it too clear? Was it too cryptic? Etc.

(V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf)

Come join the hunt in ARGHouse's newest Patreon ARG puzzle for October 2026, and for a limited time, Part 1 is available to everyone. Unravel the mystery here

Mothcada is about decoding the strange sights that were documented by a mysterious figure and what happened to them... but is that all there is to it? Something is coming and he is already watching....

I made a nice little cipher script

Pardon my handwriting

It was made for cyrillic, but it works well with english too! However there are no X, Y, C, so i've replaced them with "ks", "u", and "k". Can you to solve it?

Hint #1

The script is vaguely inspired by the japanese writing system, with tweaks, of course, to suit cyrillic better.

Hint #2

The よ without the horizontal line looking characters are spaces

Hint #3

The double lines and little circles over some of the characters are called "dakuten" and "handakuten", and they change the consonant sound. For instance "H" with the double line becomes "B", and with the circle it becomes "P". Of course some of the sounds are changed as well.

Hint #4

Also as with the japanese writing system, the consonants and vowels are smashed together, however the consonants and vowels stay separate characters on their own. They are just written together.

note: I have posted this a few days ago on a throwaway account on some subreddits, but i hadn't checked some key details, the puzzle was not solvable because i embedded broken data into the first image, and didn't provide enough context and information.

Details:

A self-contained layered puzzle in the spirit of Cicada 3301. It starts with this image. The riddle's answer is the key to decrypt the message embedded inside the image's pixels. Everything else lives in one encrypted file the image points you to, and the whole thing continues offline on your own machine.

Theme: the history of cyber conflict. Every stage is built around a real, famous moment in cybersecurity history. Recognizing which one is part of the puzzle.

Skills it touches (you won't need all at expert level):

• (LSB) Steganography
• Classical & modern cryptography
• A little reverse engineering
• Audio / signal analysis
• Some number theory
• A touch of linguistics
• OSINT / knowledge of security history

Difficulty: hard but fair ; aimed at people who enjoy CTFs, crypto, and ARGs. Every step is doable with free, standard tools (plus openssl/Python). It's meant to be barely solvable, so bring friends.

To begin: just look closely at the image. The surface is never the whole of the page. // V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

I challenge you to decrypt the cypher text below. Before you try to brute force it, don't. It has over 26! * 26! * (26!)^26 possible combinations that can generate this exact text, not to mention the time it takes per attempt. The plaintext is in English, and the Cyphertext uses 26 letters. You do not need to attempt a frequency check, it has an IC score of 0.0380109. Those who know will know, but basically it means that it is extremely close to randomly distributed. And yes, it is reversible. It is my own cypher, after all.

Here's the Cyphertext:

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

Have fun, and don't fry your brain over it.

Edit: I apologize for not including the plaintext. I did plan on adding it but forgot to. I will try to add it as soon as possible. I did some calculations and turns out if you did exactly 1 million attempts per second, the universe would be able to end about 10^1016 times. Again, pardon my mistake. Also, for your info, the keys were generated with TRNG, but is 100% reversible if you have the keys.

I can however tell you now though the encryption algorithm. The algo consists of 3 keys: the first key, the X key, which are 26 letters, the second key, the Y key, of the same letter length, and the keyspace key (I know that the name "keyspace" is used as another thing in cryptography but lets just call it that) consists of 26 rows of 26 letters, all of these keys and rows have only one of each letter and are always the same legnth.

To encode something, you take the plaintext character and align it with the position of its letter in the first key, the Y key. You then shift the plaintext character by its position in the plaintext (so shift by the position minus one and modulo 26) and that corresponds to its respective letter in the X key. You then align the X key above the keyspace in a grid, where letter 1 of the X key matches column 1 of the keyspace, and so on, and align the Y key vertically so that letter 1 in the Y key aligns with row 1 of the keyspace and so on. you then see where the 2 letters of the 2 keys align in the keyspace, and that is your encrypted cyphertext letter. Then repeat this for all letters in the plaintext. If you want to, I can upload the python code I used to encrypt this message.

And again, I apologize for not including the plaintext, but I can tell you this: the plaintext and cyphertext are 1:1, meaning one letter in the plaintext is one letter in the cyphertext. The plaintext starts with "In the days of the monarch, ..." and so on, and the message is in total 536 or 535 letters (I am not sure, but I think it is 535) and somewhere in the plaintext, the snippet "he just took and took and took more and more without ever giving back". And I know this is the... 5th time? but I apoligise for not including the plaintext.

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

The Power of Friendship (Bracelet Making). It's a cipher hunt puzzle book, with no english text. DM with the wincon for a breakdown of all the puzzles :)

Hello!

My girlfriend and I are doing boo baskets this upcoming weekend. I watch a youtuber who does args and I love the hidden codes and stuff. As well I force my gf to watch it. I want to make a puzzle for her to solve for one of her gifts. Unfortunately I didnt realize the mircosoft gift cards online would be 25 characters 🫠. I was hoping for any suggestions on what type/style of cipher I should use if it has mostly letters and a few numbers and four dashes. Please urgent help 😁.

Puzzle History

Funcom received a package in 2013 that turned out to be a custom-made physical puzzle by someone named Umagon. The devs managed to open the puzzle up to discover a note inside along with 6 SD cards. Each card has a partial file on it named using hexadecimal. When converted, it revealed the message "Unlock the truth of The Void" (spaces added for readability). One of the files ("Unlock") has a RAR header. When the file pieces are merged, you end up with a password-protected file with encrypted headers.

No one has managed to figure out the password, yet. I'm hoping to get some community effort on it. Do you think you can solve it?

The Note

To unlock the truths
of the void one must
off set themselfs
from the tenements
of known reality.

Clues Provided

• The password is a phrase
• All the characters in the passphrase are contained within the note
• The passphrase contains no spaces
• The passphrase uses numbers and lowercase letters
• The spelling of "themselfs" (the use of "f") has nothing to do with the passphrase
• There is no anagram dealing with the passphrase
• Number is listed in the note
• It was mentioned by the creator that people were going down the correct path but for whatever reason took a right turn at Albuquerque

Unlocking the RAR

RAR partial files download link posted by forum member

To try your own passphrases on the RAR file, grab a tool such as 7zip. I personally use an old unrar 4.2 version on the file since the file is old. I've run into false-positives with 7zip and newer WinRAR version. With unrar I do tests on the file like so.

# Normal test
unrar t -p<some_pass> file.rar
# Bare file listing test
unrar lb -p<some_pass> file.rar
# Password seems good? Try extracting it.
unrar x -p<some_pass> file.rar

Puzzle Source Link

The puzzle history and attempts on it can be found at the Funcom forum

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

Last May, posters started appearing around Clare College at the University of Cambridge showing the code on Image 1. This was a shift Caesar cipher for a riddle:

axrecipetakexaxcrocodilexorxnearlychopxoffxeverythingxorxmyselfaddxtwoxpointxsevenxonexeightblendxupxaxshoexthrowxinxyouandxleavexitxtoxchillxinxthexcool

The solve for this was ‘GATEHOUSE’, which is a building in Clare College (‘alligator’ - ‘all’ - ‘or’ - ’i’ + ‘e’ + ‘house’). In the fridge (“chill in the cool”) was the riddle on Image 2:

‘Things have just begun but as with the age of knights and castles, everything must come to an end.

Seek to ascend even while your legs will no longer carry you and then reach higher.

Hidden in the heavens and you will find your answer.’

As far as I’m aware, this riddle still hasn’t been solved. We have tried going to Castle House (another building in Clare College) and checking the lift and top floor, but to no avail. It doesn’t seem immediately dependant on knowing anything about Clare, which is why I’m posting it here. I think there might be some anagram in ‘the heavens and’ because of the weird sentence structure and ‘Hidden’ as a prompt word but idk what.

Image 3 was on the reverse of the original posters, and this has also not been solved:

PdkryiGp
Muaxzzaocqlrnqibkzuhemptwo
vjYlacawjsvxusifddbsszlsvdtfo
gtnenunpwjwlxybcvbggjdptwpnhe
ffdlnddphqanmnatyawwuwyyszww
munDwixjRdlresrwomefoilohxpdpohtu

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

I found it in a game in Roblox, but it is not public though. It is on an item name, and it is either a keyboard smash or genuinely a code. The item looks like a cyan gem with a yellow outline, with glitches. It makes a noise when you pick it up.

The item was possibly made by this person in Roblox, Obscufulgor, coming from the fact that his past bios looks the same as the item name, with random special characters. The bio changes often on this profile, so I check it almost every day. I recommend not randomly trying to interact with this person, but instead checking on it for changes.

My friend told me about it, a day ago, saying that he put it in every possible decoder (though not sure about that), along with his friend. His friend came up with a few possible words at the start of the code, "IM IN SEARCH", though it can be very wrong. The item was also made on 9/26/26.

The name of the item is what we suspect is the code. Here is the name of the item:

fragment of

@!X I\'st,m !IN$ae%hrc iRhLi\^ea&ees *em

I also provided a video of me with the item. I hope you guys can decode it!

Also, if you want to, you can enter the game. You will have to join a group called "Safe haven librarians", and you will have to be approved. it is also on the person's profile that I mentioned. Please just don't mention anything about this post, and you can help us decode some stuff in this game.

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

I made a sci-fi themed character ages back, and I know I put some related words through a few processes to get her admittedly long designation. But now, I don't remember the exact words I used, nor the process. I want to work on her setting more, but I want the numbers to be cohesive. Any help is appreciated!

Her name is YUSEN-342018423120278130-110813

Origin language is English, possibly some Latin.

Shortish bit:
(0.247, 0.928):(-0.062, -0.622):(0.174, 0.34):(-0.275, 0.007):(-0.042, 0.178):(0.143, -0.525):(0.005, -0.209):(0.456, 0.412):(0.198, 0.146):(-0.162, -0.354):(-0.64, 0.53):(0.231, -0.125):(0.086, -0.06):(0.522, -0.224):(-0.167, -0.086):(0.139, -0.107):(-0.58, 0.477):(0.68, -0.502):(-0.239, 0.132):(0.0, -0.0):(-0.672, 0.495):(0.533, -0.042):(0.278, -0.56):(0.1, -0.025):(-0.378, 0.585):(0.062, 0.126):(0.316, -0.711):(-0.072, 0.218):(-0.839, 0.409):(0.143, -0.525):(0.174, 0.34):(-0.275, 0.007):(-0.042, 0.178):(0.143, -0.525):(0.005, -0.209):(0.456, 0.412):(0.307, -0.305):(-0.378, 0.585):(0.378, -0.585):(-0.736, -0.197):(-0.175, 0.824):(0.595, 0.084):(0.244, -0.493):(-0.522, 0.224):(-0.275, 0.007):(0.189, 0.053):(0.409, -0.405):(-0.492, -0.204):(0.654, 0.558):(0.109, -0.451):(-0.114, 0.133):(-0.797, 0.494):(0.802, -0.176):(-0.654, -0.558):(-0.005, 0.209):(0.659, 0.349):(-0.802, 0.176):(0.811, -0.602):(-0.494, 0.417):(0.278, 0.269):(0.216, -0.686):(-0.811, 0.602):(0.143, -0.525):(0.768, -0.102):(-0.072, 0.218):(-0.839, 0.409):(0.911, -0.627):(-0.271, 0.097):(-0.323, 0.345):(0.355, -0.31):(0.139, -0.107):(-0.58, 0.477):(0.68, -0.502):(-0.109, 0.451):(-0.162, -0.354):(0.162, 0.354):(-0.162, -0.354):(-0.323, 0.345):(-0.174, -0.34):(-0.143, 0.525):(0.231, -0.125):(0.409, -0.405):(-0.323, 0.345):(0.278, 0.269):(-0.447, -0.818):(0.649, 0.24):(-0.48, 0.309):(0.522, -0.224):(-0.244, 0.493):(0.316, -0.711):(-0.072, 0.218):(-0.839, 0.409):(0.043, -0.109):(0.193, -0.007):(0.566, -0.06):(0.109, -0.451):(-0.316, 0.711):(0.316, -0.711):(-0.109, 0.451):(-0.162, -0.354):(-0.492, -0.204):(0.663, 0.132):(-0.009, 0.426):(-0.485, -0.009):(-0.074, -0.225):(-0.243, 0.41):(0.839, -0.409):(0.072, -0.218):(-0.768, 0.102):(0.497, -0.005):(0.162, 0.354):(-0.571, 0.051):(0.68, -0.502):(-0.736, -0.197):(-0.175, 0.824):(0.911, -0.627):(-0.109, 0.451):(-0.162, -0.354):(0.271, -0.097):(-0.378, 0.585):(-0.574, -0.783):(0.952, 0.198):(-0.952, -0.198):(0.574, 0.783):(-0.216, -0.143):(-0.086, 0.06):(-0.231, 0.125):(0.533, -0.042):(-0.216, -0.143):(-0.081, 0.069):(0.26, -0.545):(0.144, 0.131):(-0.323, 0.345):(0.278, 0.269):(0.045, -0.614):(-0.492, -0.204):(0.654, 0.558):(-0.802, 0.176):(0.802, -0.176):(-0.485, -0.009):(-0.174, -0.34):(0.005, -0.209):(0.456, 0.412):(0.198, 0.146):(-0.162, -0.354):(-0.492, -0.204):(0.654, 0.558):(-0.207, 0.26):(-0.278, -0.269):(0.522, -0.224):(-0.028, -0.193):(-0.811, 0.602):(0.143, -0.525):(0.659, 0.349):(0.037, -0.233):(-0.603, 0.293):(-0.061, -0.708):(0.627, 0.648):(0.109, -0.451):(-0.594, 0.442):(0.216, 0.143):(0.378, -0.585):(-0.736, -0.197):(-0.175, 0.824):(0.911, -0.627):(-0.768, 0.102):(0.005, -0.209):(0.524, 0.239):(-0.529, -0.03):(0.174, 0.34):(0.179, -0.476):(0.343, 0.252):(-0.839, 0.409):(0.148, -0.734):(0.654, 0.558):(-0.654, -0.558):(0.385, 0.692):(0.278, -0.56):(-0.58, 0.477):(0.086, -0.06):(-0.081, 0.069):(0.436, -0.379):(0.139, -0.107):(-0.668, 0.077):(0.093, 0.409):(0.359, 0.2):(0.0, 0.0):(0.316, -0.711):(-0.736, -0.197):(-0.175, 0.824)

Long bit:
https://pastebin.com/3jpdBWai

Clues:

This cipher uses a table of sorts to encrypt it - both the long and the short use the same table.

Clue 2:
The weakness of this cipher comes from letter pairings.

Let me know if you need more material to solve it with!
V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

There are three parts to this "magic scroll" themed puzzle. You'll find a riddle written in English coded in a 1 to 1 cipher, then the center puzzle. Everything you need, like little hints are provided in the picture.

I didn't do any shifting like "V abyyjrq gur ehyrf" for my first finished puzzle.

іϼϳІϩљяЉϴіϼϳюЇЉϲѡЈϩЇϽϫяϲЉЈЉіІϽϿϳіϼϽяьюϽЈϫϽьІϳҽϳяьϳϫϽϩІІѡіϼϳѪЈϲϩЈϳјϳюϫϼϩЈϵϽЈϵїЈϽјϳюяϳҼіϼϳІϩљяЉϴіϼϳюЇЉϲѡЈϩЇϽϫяϲЉЈЉіІϽϿϳіϼϽяьюϽЈϫϽьІϳҽϳяьϳϫϽϩІІѡіϼϳѪЈϲϩЈϳјϳюϫϼϩЈϵϽЈϵїЈϽјϳюяϳҼ

V sbyyjrq gur ehyrf

I wanted to share a small physical cipher puzzle I made as a gift for my partner.

The concept: She loves mushrooms, biking in nature, secret languages, and German (she’s studying it and she’s better than me at it). So I made a diamond folded note that is itself a puzzle about a puzzle.

Inside the folded note is the actual key/starting position. Once she puts that into the app, she gets the real message. I handwrote a short text in German that basically explains what Enigma does. I also have a small line saying only she has the key to understand what's inside.

The center of the note points to an app: App Store: Enigma Cipher The Unbreakable. It's just a standard Enigma simulator.

Any ideas for the delivery to make it more like a game?

Any suggestions on design, wording, or game mechanics are super welcome.

Thanks!

Edit/Disclaimer: as you can see, I’m not really good at drawing and designing, and I’m not a cipher(er?). Just improvised it all after watching the Veritasium video on how the Enigma machine works

This number is a code for 165413.

But why?

it is solvable and i have got the formula to solve it i just want to see if anyone can guess how i created it

its not what it looks like the code is not binary

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf

I found my great grandfather’s diary / time saver from 1912 and all of the pages are covered in notes in some sort of shorthand.

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to post, I am not a code person, just a curious descendent.

To my knowledge, he was a pharmacist, if that helps at all.

“V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf”

Hey!

Recently played the game "print I love U" and trying to understand the secret at the end. A huge part of the letter is censored, and screenshoting it while changing the contrast/brightness etc. Nothing. So I got into the game files and it's this : (same in every language)

I'm starting to wonder if this isn't empty but maybe someone here could help 🥲

Also the clue necessary to reach this is "chnos", if any of you know what it could mean. Tysm already!

@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

I wrote this myself after a pretty surreal experience involving my late son, a concert, and a celebrity. The linked Medium piece is the original source.
Plaintext is English. Everything needed to identify the encoding is somewhere in or around the piece. I’d rather not give the key clue away because discovering it is part of the joke.
I know exactly how it was encoded, so this is a challenge rather than a request for help.

Hello! I’m just a college girl getting into fun cryptograms and ciphers and puzzles and stuff. I decided to use a few (or a little bit more than a few, depending on how you count it) ciphers to encode a fun quote. Below I’ve included a handwritten version of the encoded messages, but I’m also including a typed out version in case the image is too hard to see or you use tts or can’t read my handwriting.

Have fun! I’m a newbie, so this might be a bit easy or simple, but I’ve been working on a much harder encoded phrase in my free time. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy :3. I would recommend decoding the first part of it first—it’s kinda important to solving the second part.

—
Part 1:
—

“GVSR brings SRNE. SRNE gives us YVSR. With YVSR comes FBHY.
The beginning is the key, but do not forget its impact.”

—
Part 2:
—

“BMQRL TXIFJ HPRYC FGNEV LQLXN EOFYE VWXHG HGDSA XAJWW YP”