Homemade Cipher Tool

It seems to me that coming up with puzzles that result in words comes a lot easier than puzzles that result in numbers. The problem with this is that letter locks are 1) expensive, and 2) contain a limited amount of letters on each wheel. My girl’s Harry Potter escape room will have just one letter lock, and will have many number locks. Because I find word puzzles the easiest to create, using so many number locks means that I had to come up with creative ways to convert letters to numbers. My favorite of all is this little wooden homemade decipher tool.

When I tried to search for homemade cipher tools, the examples were mostly cipher wheels which consist of a circle with 26 letters around the edge, and a smaller circle inside with 26 symbols, numbers, etc around it’s edge. The students then get some clue to help them properly match the two circles, and then they can decipher from there. This is a fine design, but it’s one that I already have planned for the escape room. I wanted something different.

I saw another design in which a toilet paper tube functioned as the cipher tool, with bands of letters/numbers/symbols wrapped around the TP tube. The concept worked for me…but I really couldn’t help but think that a TP tube might detract from the magic. I decided I wanted to create a tubular cipher tool with…something from the hardware store. I essentially wanted a rod with some large beads around it that I could add letters and numbers to.

I wandered the aisles of the hardware store looking for something that could function as a bead to go around a rod.

I did not find large beads at the hardware store.

Luckily, my husband knows how to make stuff.

I bought a 1/8 inch rod and a 1.5 inch rod. I asked Saign to cut them to my specifications and to drill a 1/8 inch hole in the center of the 1.5 inch rod. He did that for me AND sanded it all to make it look nice.

I then got out a little wood burning tool and burned letters and numbers around the beads Saign had made for me. The students will need to twist the beads to spell a 4-letter word, and when they do, they’ll find what number corresponds with each letter. Using those numbers will open up the next lock for them.

I think it turned out pretty nicely! Definitely nicer than a toilet paper tube cipher!