> HOW CIPHERS WORK

Three ways to hide a message. Pick the right one for your bestie.

> CAESAR CIPHER

EASY

Pick a number — that's your "shift." Then move every letter forward in the alphabet by that many spots. If you shift A by 3, you get D. Shift B by 3, you get E. If you go past Z, you wrap around to A.

BESTIE KNOWS, shift +3:

B → E    K → N
E → H    N → Q
S → V    O → R
T → W    W → Z
I → L    S → V
E → H

Result: EHVWLH NQRZV

> HOW TO CRACK

Only 25 possible shifts (1-25). Try each one — one of them will turn gibberish into real words. Look for short common words like THE, AND, or your friend's name to spot the right shift.

> ATBASH CIPHER

MEDIUM

Imagine the alphabet folded in half like a sandwich. A and Z meet in the middle. Every letter swaps with the one at the opposite end. A becomes Z. B becomes Y. C becomes X. M and N are partners right in the center.

BESTIE KNOWS:

B → Y    K → P
E → V    N → M
S → H    O → L
T → G    W → D
I → R    S → H
E → V

Result: YVHGRV PMLDH

> HOW TO CRACK

Just flip every letter to its mirror. There's only ONE way Atbash works, so once you spot it, you can decode anything. Look for E and V swapped — that's a giveaway.

> SUBSTITUTION CIPHER

HARD

The wildest one. Every letter gets swapped for a different letter — but the swaps are random. A might become Q, B might become F, C might become Z. There's no pattern. The only way to read the message is if you know the secret key (the swap chart).

BESTIE KNOWS could become: FQWURX KZJDW

(Different every time — depends on the key)

> HOW TO CRACK

This one's hard. Without the key, you'd have to be a real codebreaker. Long messages help — count which letters appear most often. In English, E shows up most, then T, A, O, I. Match those up to the most common letters in the coded message to start guessing the key.

> WHICH ONE SHOULD I USE?

EASY (Caesar) — Friends can crack it for fun
MEDIUM (Atbash) — Quick puzzle, one trick to learn
HARD (Substitution) — Real challenge, only your bestie has the key

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