Code Messages

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 75, 21 December 1934, Page 23

Code Messages

A Typewriter Game

Code messages may be written and deciphered, using the. keyboard of —a standard typewriter as a basis of composition arid solution.' A couple of boys can exchange communications readily by this method and get a lot of fun from it. 1 Through a pro-arranged undemanding the message is written one key to the right or left of the r<rular placement of the letter in the actual

message, or it may be two keys, three keys, and so forth, the latter making the message more difficult to decipher. Thus, referring to the diagram of the keyboard as shown and writing one position to the right, A would be S, C would be V, F would be G, and so on. If P is to be written, there being no letter to the right, we will swing back to the beginning of the row and take the first letter there which is Q. Double letters, instead of being repeated and making it obvious that there is a repetition of the letter, are written with the first letter replaced with a numeral, using any one of the numbers from 1 to 9 to prevent the uninitiated knowing that a letter has been repeated. Thus, “ee” might be 2r or 7r, and “oo” might be 3p or 2p, the numerals having no significance other than to indicate the presence of a double letter. Periods may be indicated by one of the symbols on the keyboard, such as the asterisk or colon, being arbitrarily chosen for this purpose.