Editing Pigpen cipher (section)

==Variants==
The core elements of this system are the grid and dots.  Some systems use the X's, but even these can be rearranged.  One commonly used method orders the symbols as shown in the above image: grid, grid, X, X.  Another commonly used system orders the symbols as grid, X, grid, X.  Another is grid, grid, grid, with each cell having a letter of the alphabet, and the last one having an "&" character. Letters from the first grid have no dot, letters from the second each have one dot, and letters from the third each have two dots.  Another variation of this last one is called the Newark Cipher, which instead of dots uses one to three short lines which may be projecting in any length or orientation. This gives the illusion of a larger number of different characters than actually exist.<ref>''Glossary of Cryptography''</ref>

Another system, used by the [[Rosicrucians]] in the 17th century, used a single grid of nine cells, and 1 to 3 dots in each cell or "pen". So ABC would be in the top left pen, followed by DEF and GHI on the first line, then groups of JKL MNO PQR on the second, and STU VWX YZ on the third.<ref name=barker/><ref name=pratt/> When enciphered, the location of the dot in each symbol (left, center, or right), would indicate which letter in that pen was represented.<ref name=wrixon-182/><ref name=pratt/>  More difficult systems use a non-standard form of the alphabet, such as writing it backwards in the grid, up and down in the columns,<ref name="Gardner"/> or a completely randomized set of letters.

The Templar cipher is a method claimed to have been used by the [[Knights Templar]] and uses a variant of a [[Maltese Cross]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/templars_cipher.html|title=Purported Templars cipher|last=McKeown|first=Trevor W.|website=freemasonry.bcy.ca|access-date=2016-11-07}}</ref> This is likely a cipher used by the Neo-Templars ([[Freemasonry|Freemasons]]) of the 18th century, and not that of the religious order of the Knights Templar from the 12th-14th centuries during the [[Crusades]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Guénon, René|translator-last1=Fohr|translator-first1=Henry D.|translator-last2=Bethell|translator-first2=Cecil|translator-last3=Allen|translator-first3=Michael|authorlink=René Guénon|title=Studies in Freemasonry and the Compagnonnage|publisher=Sophia Perennis|isbn=978-0900588518|year=2004|page=237}}</ref> Some websites showing the Knights Templar cipher deviate from the original order of letters.  Based on the Freemasons Document,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/templars_cipher.html|title=Purported Templars cipher|last=McKeown|first=Trevor W.|website=freemasonry.bcy.ca|access-date=2016-11-07}}</ref> the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th crosses assign the letters in clock-wise order starting at the top, the 2nd cross assigns the letters in a left, right, top, bottom order while the final cross assigns the letters in a bottom, top, right left order.

[[File:Knights-templar-letters-horizontal.svg|732px|Knights Templar Alphabet based on Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon Freemasons description]]

=== Club Penguin Code ===
The Club Penguin Code,<ref name=":0">Despite being called a code in official materials, the Club Penguin Code is actually a cipher.</ref> also known as the Tic-Tac-Toe code,<ref name=":0" /> the PSA cipher, and the EPF cipher, is a cipher created by online composer and artist Chris Hendricks (known online as Screenhog) for the online game [[Club Penguin]]. Designed for use by the in-universe group Elite Penguin Force, (EPF, formerly known as Penguin Secret Agency, or PSA) the cipher leans more heavily into the style of Tic-Tac-Toe. It is represented with three grids, which each represent nine letters of the alphabet arranged left to right, top to bottom; one blank, for letters A-I, one with the letter X in each space, for letters J-R, and one with the letter O in each space, for letters S-Z, plus an additional character. This last character is used as a signature for the in-universe leader of the EPF, known as the Director.

[[File:ClubPenguinSecretCode.svg|frameless|732x732px]]

The need for a unique code came from Hendricks wishing to distance Club Penguin related materials from anything regarding Freemason or [[New World Order conspiracy theory|New World Order]] conspiracy theories. He said in a video uploaded to his [[YouTube]] channel:<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=dK4EuTO4yS5qLE5n&t=452&v=GhU-OgJLgGA&feature=youtu.be |title=Secrets of the Club Penguin PSA Code |date=2019-09-11 |last=Chris Hendricks |access-date=2024-12-04 |via=YouTube}}</ref><blockquote>I just didn't want Club Penguin being associated in videos like "''So, Club Penguin, right? 'Fun and safe virtual world for kids?' I guess they forgot to put mind control in their advertisements! I have hard-hitting exclusive proof that Club Penguin is using the exact same code that the Illuminati use!''" [...] Now, I grant you, the odds of a video like that actually gaining any traction is pretty slim, but would you take that chance? I didn't. I instead looked at the code and said "This looks a lot like Tic-Tac-Toe! What if we just copied it three times, kept the first one blank, the second one with X's, and the third one with O's? That's twenty-seven spaces. It'll cover the whole alphabet and give us something unique that's not conspiracy theory friendly." So that's what we did, and that was that.</blockquote>