Editing Pigpen cipher (section)

=== 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>