CIPHER WARS

THE PREMISE

Two sides of a secret war that never ended

Every major conflict in recorded history has had a hidden layer: the battle over encrypted information. This game puts you inside turning points in that history, from the Spartan scytale in 400 BC to post-quantum cryptography in the 2020s. Every decision is historically grounded. Every outcome reflects what actually happened, or what was lost when the wrong call was made.

PICK AN ERA, THEN A SIDE

Four campaigns, two perspectives each

First choose a campaign era: Ancient and Classical, the World Wars, the Cold War, or the Digital Age. Then choose whether you play as the people building the ciphers or the people breaking them.

CODEMAKER

You design the ciphers, build the machines, and protect the secrets. Your decisions shape what your enemies can and cannot read.

CODEBREAKER

You find the flaw, exploit the pattern, and pull the veil back. Your job is to make your enemy's silence speak.

The campaigns mirror each other. A design decision the Codemaker makes in one era becomes the exact flaw the Codebreaker exploits in the next.

EACH SCENARIO

Read the briefing, then decide

A classified briefing card sets the scene: the era, the historical figures involved, and the decision in front of you. An intelligence note gives real-world context. Then you pick from three options. After your choice, an outcome card explains what followed, and a declassified record shows whether history bore out your decision. Some choices have no clean answer, and the game reflects that.

SCORING

Intel points accumulate to a final rank

Each decision awards between 0 and 30 intel points based on historical outcome quality. Consecutive favorable outcomes build a streak. At the end of a campaign you receive a rank and a full breakdown of every decision.

SIGNALS GRANDMASTER	80% or above, your judgment rivals Turing, Friedman, and Ellis
SENIOR ANALYST	60 to 79%, solid instincts, a few costly calls
FIELD OPERATOR	40 to 59%, in the arena, uneven results
COMPROMISED	Below 40%, you left trails

REFERENCE

Codex and Figures

The Codex button explains every cipher system, project codename, and technical term the game uses. The Figures button profiles the real people behind these decisions. Both are available at any time, including mid scenario.

BRIEFING DOCUMENT

Welcome to the Cryptographic Battlefield

From a leather strap wound around a Spartan staff to the orbital signals of Soviet surveillance satellites. From the ink-stained depths of Japanese submarine traffic to the birth of public-key cryptography in a GCHQ basement. This is the secret history of those who locked information away, and those who tore it open.

Twenty-four decisions across four eras. Two sides. The outcomes are history. The choices are yours.

SELECT CAMPAIGN ERA