18 ciphers · 2,600 years · all of them breakable
Every secret departs from here.
Pick a cipher off the board. On its platform you can work the machine that made it, then break a message yourself, with hints if you need them. The board remembers which ones you have cracked.
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Delayed indefinitely
Some trains never arrive.
A handful of famous ciphers have kept their secret for decades or centuries. One of them, the Zodiac killer's 340-symbol message, finally arrived in 2020, cracked by three amateurs with a computer. See what is still waiting.
How the station works
Every platform has a working machine: a disk, a staff, a square, a pad, three rotors. Make your own secret message.
2 · THE MESSAGEBreak itThen an intercepted message arrives on the board. Crack it with the method that actually broke the cipher in history.
3 · THE BOARDClear itEach cracked cipher turns green on the departures board. It is remembered in this browser only.