Cryptogram: Because Solving Puzzles is Better Than Debugging Production

Cryptograms are puzzles where every letter is replaced with another letter. You solve it by figuring out the substitution pattern. It’s like debugging, except there’s actually a correct answer at the end.

This game has tech quotes. Programming wisdom. Famous rants. And a Rated R category for when you need to remember that yes, other people hate JavaScript as much as you do.

The Game

Crack the code. Click letters to map them. Timer’s running. Good luck.

Features: 🎆 Particle effects • 🔊 Sound effects • 🌙 Dark mode • 💡 Hints • 🏆 Achievements • 📊 Stats • 🤬 Rated R mode

How It Works

Substitution Cipher: Every letter gets replaced with another letter. A→K, B→Q, etc. The pattern stays consistent throughout.

Letter Frequency: The frequency analysis button shows which encrypted letters appear most often. In English, E, T, A, O, N are the most common. Use this to make educated guesses.

Hints: Reveals a random letter. Limited to 3 per puzzle because where’s the fun in unlimited hints?

Auto-Fill: When you map one letter, it fills in all instances of that letter automatically. Like find-and-replace but for solving puzzles.

Why Cryptograms

Because they’re the perfect balance of logic, pattern recognition, and educated guessing. Also because crosswords are for people who own decorative throw pillows.

They teach you to think about patterns. To question your assumptions. To realize that sometimes “the” is spelled wrong and you’ve wasted 10 minutes mapping T→X.

Also, the Rated R category exists because sometimes you need to be reminded that other people hate CSS as much as you do.

The Tech Stack

• Vanilla JavaScript - No frameworks died in the making of this game
• Canvas API - Particle effects on solve
• Web Audio API - Synthesized sound effects
• localStorage - Stats persistence
• CSS Grid - Responsive layout that actually works
• Pure CSS animations - No jQuery slideToggle() bullshit

Same formula as the other games. Self-contained. No dependencies. Works on mobile. Dark mode because it’s 2025 and light mode is a war crime.

Built with Claude Code because hand-writing cipher generation algorithms is what Stack Overflow was invented for.

The Rated R quotes are real things people say about JavaScript. We’re just saying them louder.

Thanks to Daniel for the cryptogram inspiration.