Type to see your message in pigpen. To decode, tap the symbols below in order.
Draw two tic-tac-toe grids and two big X's. Put A to I in the first grid, J to R in the second with a dot in each cell, S to V in the first X and W to Z in the second X, again with dots. Each letter is then written as the shape of its cell: the lines around it, plus the dot if it has one.
That's all there is to it. There's no shift and no keyword. Once you know the layout you can read pigpen as fast as you can look the shapes up. The keyboard above uses the same symbols as our daily cipher, so anything you decode here matches what you'll see there.
Pigpen is also called the Freemason's cipher; 18th-century lodges used it for their records. It turns up on gravestones, including one in Trinity Church in New York, and in a lot of escape rooms and treasure hunts, because it looks mysterious and anyone can learn it in five minutes. Be aware that some puzzles fill the grids in a different order. If a decode is nonsense, check the puzzle for its own key.
Letters go into two tic-tac-toe grids and two X shapes; the second grid and X carry a dot. Each letter is drawn as the shape of the cell around it, plus the dot if it has one.
Pigpen has more than one layout. The most common puts A–I in the first grid, J–R in the dotted grid, S–V in the plain X and W–Z in the dotted X. That's the version used here and in our daily cipher. Some puzzles fill the grids in a different order, so check the key if a decode comes out as nonsense.
Freemasons used it in the 18th century to keep their records private, which is how it got the name. You'll also see it on gravestones and in treasure hunts.