This cache is NOT at the posted coordinates,
solve the puzzle below to find the corrected coordinates.
See Cryptogram University Series 101 CUS 101: Cryptogram Basics for more information on cryptography and this cache series.
CUS 104: Symbol Alphabets will teach you about other types of substitution ciphers that are used in puzzle caches. As you may remember from CUS 101, a substitution cipher replaces characters in a message with other letters, numbers, or symbols. Symbol alphabets were originally designed as ways for people to communicate across obstacles, whether physical obstacles like oceans and long distances or biological obstacles such as deafness or blindness. Symbol alphabets is a fairly broad category of substitution ciphers and can cover anything from Morse “Code” to sign language to different fonts (e.g. Wingdings, etc.). In this course you’ll learn about a few of the more common symbol alphabet substitution ciphers (Morse Code, Braille, Fonts, Foreign Numerals, and Pictographic Alphabets), but keep in mind that there are dozens of different fonts, alphabets, and other symbols that can be used in addition to these.
Morse “Code”
As previously stated in CUS 101, Morse Code is not actually a code, but a substitution cipher that substitutes a series of dots and dashes to represent letters and numbers (Figure 1). American inventor Samuel Morse (the namesake of Morse Code), helped develop the Morse Code system in 1837 for use with the newly invented telegraph to more efficiently communicate by sending electrical signals over long distances through wires.
Figure 1: Current International Morse “Code”
Morse Code can be used in puzzle caches in a number of different ways besides just depicting dots and dashes. It is essentially a binary system, so any two symbols can be used to depict morse code, it does not have to be dots and dashes. It could be any two letters, numbers, or symbols.
Braille
Braille is a system of writing designed to be read by the visually impaired. It is named after Louis Braille, a Frenchman who lost his sight as a result of a childhood accident and developed this system to allow blind people to read. In 1837, he published the system and it became the first binary form of writing developed in the modern era.
Braille characters are formed using a combination of six raised dots arranged in a 3 × 2 matrix, called the braille cell. The number and arrangement of these dots distinguishes one letter/number from another (Figure 2).
Figure 2: The Braille Alphabet
Braille can also be used in puzzle caches in a number of different ways besides just depicting dots in the customary 3 × 2 matrix braille cell. As many of you know, FTF Magazine has a puzzle in every issue. One of the past FTF Magazine puzzles was in Braille, but rather than use a typical braille cell, the puzzle used 6-packs of beer bottles where the bottle served as the raised dot and an empty space in the 6-pack carton served as a blank to make up the Braille message. The point is that puzzles using common codes and ciphers are frequently hidden in creative ways, so any time there is something that is organized in 3 × 2 groups, you are likely looking at Braille.
Fonts
Using different fonts is one of the simpler ways of using symbol alphabets. It is also one of the easiest to solve using any computer word processing software, like Microsoft Word, where you can highlight text and just select different fonts to change it to. An example of this would be encrypting using the Wingdings font. The word GEOCACHE written in Wingdings font is 
, but there are many other fonts that are both included in your word processing software and others that can be downloaded off the internet.
Besides fonts in word processing software, there are also other foreign language alphabets that can be used to encrypt messages. Most real languages, however, don’t translate letter-to-letter with other languages’ alphabets. Fictional languages, on the other hand, are frequently developed to translate letter-to-letter with English. A few examples of the word GEOCACHE in some of those fictional languages are:
There are dozens of various English-based alphabetic fictional languages, so searching the internet for ‘fictional languages’ is always a good start when trying to solve puzzles with unusual fonts or symbols.
Foreign Numeral Systems
Most of the world uses one of several numeral systems (Figure 3). The western world (Europe, Americas, and sub-Saharan Africa uses Latin Numerals (also known as Arabic Numerals…yes, confusing, since modern Arabic uses different numerals). Modern Arabic numerals (also known as Arabic-Indic numerals) are used throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Chinese numerals are used in East Asia and Devanagari numerals are used in South Asia. Roman numerals are also commonly used in the western world and in puzzle caches even though they are from ancient times. Of note, the Romans did not have a symbol that represented ‘zero,’ which created all kinds of mathematical challenges for them. There are also dozens of other less common numeral systems used around the world that are not included here, but can be found on the internet.
Figure 3: Most Common Numeral Systems
Pictographic Alphabets
Pictographic alphabets are systems that use pictures to represent letters and/or numbers. Nautical flags, or as they are officially called “International Maritime Signal Flags,” are one of the most common pictographic alphabets. Nautical flags were a system designed to communicate with or between ships. The flags can be used together to spell out words/numbers (Figure 4) or they can be used individually to have specific meanings. The meanings of individual flags are less relevant for geocaching, but can be found online for those interested in further information about nautical flags.
Figure 4: Nautical Signal Flags
Nautical flags are just one example of pictographic alphabets, but there are many more similar systems that use pictures to represent letters and/or numbers. Again, the internet is your friend in solving most pictographic alphabet puzzles.
The CUS 104 Exam:
Decode this symbol alphabet substitution cipher to obtain the final coordinates.
