Cracking the 2025 Scavenger Hunt Cipher

1

Create the Table Structure

"Create a (4) column table using these headers: [decimal] [letter] [code] [letter]"

Draw a table with 4 columns.

2

Fill in the [decimal] Column

"The 1-dimension [decimal] array contains [0...26]"

Just number each row starting from 0.

[decimal]	[letter]	[code]	[letter]
0	??	??	??
1	??	??	??
2	??	??	??
...	...	...	...
26	??	??	??

3

Fill in Both [letter] Columns

"The 1-dimension [letter] array contains [space, A...Z] (adjacent to the decimal array). The zero (0) represents a spacebar on a keyboard."

"The right-most 1-dimension [letter] array contains [space, A...Z] (the same as step 3)"

Map each decimal to its corresponding letter. What letter does each decimal represent?

[decimal]	[letter]	[code]	[letter]
0	(space)	??	(space)
1	A	??	A
2	B	??	B
3	C	??	C
...	...	...	...
26	Z	??	Z

4

Build the [code] Column, Part 1: HEX

"The 1-dimension [code] array contains 2 characters. Character #1 is a HEX value..."

"Complete this pattern [0,1,1,2,2,3,3...13,13]... but convert each decimal value to a hex value before entering it in the 27-row table."

First, you need to understand the pattern: [0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, ... 13, 13]

Notice that 0 appears once, then each number appears twice. There should be 27 values total.

What is HEX?

HEX (hexadecimal) is base-16 numbering. After 9, we use letters: A=10, B=11, C=12, D=13, E=14, F=15.

Normal: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

HEX: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

Now convert the pattern [0, 1, 1, 2, 2, ... 13, 13] to hex. What do you get?

5

Build the [code] Column, Part 2: Z or z

"Individually using each DECIMAL value in the decimal column... If MOD(DECIMAL,2) = 1, then upper-case 'Z' else lower-case 'z'"

What is MOD?

MOD gives the remainder after division. MOD(x, 2) tells you if a number is odd or even.

MOD(5, 2) → 5 ÷ 2 = 2 remainder 1 → odd

MOD(6, 2) → 6 ÷ 2 = 3 remainder 0 → even

Using the decimal column values (0, 1, 2, 3...), determine which rows get uppercase Z vs lowercase z.

6

Combine to Form the [code] Column

Now combine the HEX value (from step 4) with Z/z (from step 5) for each row:

decimal	letter	hex	odd/even	Z or z	code
0	(space)	0	even	z	0z
1	A	1	odd	Z	1Z
2	B	1	even	z	1z
3	C	2	odd	Z	2Z
4	D	2	even	z	2z
5	E	3	odd	Z	3Z
...	...	...	...	...	...

7

The Complete Lookup Table

Try to complete the entire table before revealing the solution. You should have 27 rows.

[decimal]	[letter]	[code]	[letter]
0	(space)	0z	(space)
1	A	1Z	A
2	B	1z	B
3	C	2Z	C
4	D	2z	D
5	E	3Z	E
6	F	3z	F
7	G	4Z	G
8	H	4z	H
9	I	5Z	I
10	J	5z	J
11	K	6Z	K
12	L	6z	L
13	M	7Z	M
14	N	7z	N
15	O	8Z	O
16	P	8z	P
17	Q	9Z	Q
18	R	9z	R
19	S	AZ	S
20	T	Az	T
21	U	BZ	U
22	V	Bz	V
23	W	CZ	W
24	X	Cz	X
25	Y	DZ	Y
26	Z	Dz	Z

8

How to Decode Messages

"Process the text string in pairs... by finding the pair of nonsensical characters in a lookup table... and returning the letter from the right-most column in the table."

"The DECODED instructions will have HALF the number of characters as the ENCODED instructions."

Take an encoded message and look up each 2-character pair in your table. Try decoding 4z3Z6z6z8Z:

9

Validate Your Table

"Validation will be obvious if your algorithm is correct by applying it to these (86) characters... If the 43-character result is not immediately recognizable, you have a mistake."

Use this test message to verify your table is correct. Decode it and see if you recognize the result:

Validation: 86 characters → 43 characters

Encoded message:

Az4z3Z0z9ZBZ5Z2Z6Z0z1z9z8ZCZ7z0z3z8ZCz0z5zBZ7Z8zAZ0z8ZBz3Z9z0zAz4z3Z0z6z1ZDzDZ0z2z8Z4Z