Cafe Code
CNCER02 - No. 62
“Cafe Code,” a favorite of the First and Second Cafes, is a Transposition Cipher. In its standard form, Cafe Code can be recognized as a series of gibberish letters interspersed with commas and periods. However, the rules of Cafe Code can be applied to keys other than “CAFE” which would change the resulting appearance of the cipher text.
The Key: Cafe Code uses a Key to determine the grid size and order of transpositions. The default key is CAFE which corresponds to 2143 with a grid of four rows.
The Grid: The grid size is based on the length of the Key. As such, a 2-letter word would have a 2 x 13 grid. A 3-letter word would have a 3 x 9 grid. A 4-letter word would have the standard 4 x 7 grid. The padding characters after Z traditionally would be: [. , ! ?]
Method: Once a key and grid are determined, the plain text is converted into cipher text letter by letter going up or down in the grid’s columns. For example, “Coffee” would be shifted by 214321. So C would be shifted down two letters in its column, which would be the [C J Q X] column. Down two letters C becomes Q. And so on. Until you get: “QVF.SL”
Quirks: The cipher text can then be stylized to follow a natural capitalization pattern, if desired. This would turn “QVF.SL” into “Qvf. Sl”
Additionally, longer phrases like “Hpvzzlcvtlemzldb,lr” can be stylized to match their plain text. This would look like “Hpvz zl Cvtl em zl Db,lr” if maintaining capitalization is important. If a capital letter would fall on a punction mark, those would typically get emphasized with bold or italics. Typically, though, Cafe Code follows a natural capitalization pattern to better obscure the plain text.
Direction doesn’t matter so long as it is consistently used (or clearly indicated that is switches) Going up, “Coffee” would become: “Qhfmsz”
Some examples of Cafe Code:
Standard Down: Hpvzzlcvtlemzldb, lr | Vive le Cafe et le Diner
Standard Up: Hbvlzzchtze. Zzdp, zr | Vive le Cafe et le Diner
Key “Coffee” Up: Qibjbt, apjyegenndtm | Vive le Cafe et le Diner