Codebreaker badge - Completion!

 I knew I needed to do the Codebreaker badge, as I love all things codes and coding, and puzzles in general. I managed to do the requirement for the NATO Phonetic Alphabet quite easily - I needed to revise one or two words, but it was something I learned some years ago. So - clause 2 complete!

I started to use an app to learn Morse code - this is one that I need a lot more practise with, especially the earlier leant letters, as I kept forgetting them when going back to it a day or two later. Perhaps it may be easier to go through the whole of the practise sections in one go, while it is still fresh in my mind, as I know I need a lot of repetition to be able to learn the codes - it took an awful lot of practise to learn how to touch type, so I obviously need the same amount of practice for Morse code. Therefore, clause 1 will have to wait for another time.

Clause 3 - 3 different themed escape rooms. I didn’t realise there were digital escape rooms, so I was intrigued to discover them. The first one I did was the Hogwarts Digital Escape Room - and I enjoyed researching the different elements needed for working out the different clues - a bit of maths, some general knowledge. This escape room didn’t take very long to complete - less than 30 minutes - and it was a great way to spend my time while I was isolating due to Covid. The second escape room was the Spy Apprentice Digital Escape Room - this one required a bit more thought, a lot more brain teasing type puzzles in it. There was one puzzle that totally stumped me and I got the answer through trial and error, but never worked out for that one puzzle why the answer was what it was. This escape room took longer, was much more involved with a longer storyline and certainly worth a look. My only criticism of it was that there wasn’t an explanation for how the puzzles were solved - I don’t like leaving mysteries unsolved, and knowing how to do it can help with puzzle solving in future. My final escape room was the sequel to the second one, and was called Chasing Carmen. It wasn’t a different theme, but was a themed escape room, and appealed to my obsession / interest in all things spy and secret agent (yes, I will be watching the new film - Operation Mincemeat). This escape room had a good selection of different puzzles, and you did have to read instructions carefully! I found that one of the puzzles I managed to work out the answer without using all the clues available to me - I hadn’t spotted them in the picture until afterwards, and this is something I will look at more carefully next time I come across such puzzles. This was probably my favourite escape room of the three, due to the range of different puzzles in it. Clause 3 complete (did the first escape room in March 2022).

Clause 4 - research the ciphers: I wrote about these in an earlier blog post, which can be found here. Clause 4 complete!

Clause 5 - learn three practical ways to hide a message. This has been a bit of revision for me, as I found myself thinking about a challenge (or two) I signed up to last year; I signed up to Operation Bletchley - from ABF The Soldier’s Charity. This combined a physical challenge of covering a certain number of miles by walking or running, with code breaking skills. You got your codes after covering a certain number of miles, and you had to solve the codes to be able to claim the medal. Ways to hide a message - a letter to someone with extra capital letters, each capitalised letter showing the word or letter or a message; in a QR code (possibly with successive QR codes until you get the answer); in a wordsearch where the letters not used when it is completed spell out a message; in a crossword (better if a cryptic crossword) where highlighted squares spell a message; hidden in plain sight in a picture - where you have to zoom in to be able to locate the information; within the properties section of a photograph or picture. If you are a geocacher who loves puzzle caches, some of these methods will already be well known to you! Clause 5 complete!

Clause 7 - either take part in a treasure hunt, or set one for other people. Having done a few of the Adventure Lab caches by mid August last year, I decided that I was ready to set my own Adventure Lab cache. I had been given a credit for one previously when they were still quite new - and that was during lockdown, so didn’t get round to doing anything with it, and it expired. However, I applied for a new one, and got a credit (it was only by accident I found out - Facebook posts helped me find out). I went out looking round my area, finding interesting sites and places, and learning a bit more about my village in the process. I decided to host a geocaching event, and the idea was to have my Adventure Lab cache available for the event, - it was suggested that I might like to include a bonus cache for it too - and so I did! The Adventure Lab went live on Friday 22nd April, and the bonus cache was published yesterday - Saturday 23rd April. People coming to the event also had the chance to do the new caches.

A group of geocachers meeting up - and we also had a couple of new cachers join us; these new cachers had joined up that day, after I’d met them yesterday at an activity, where I told them all about it. Funnily enough, the event we were at yesterday was a mystery trail, where we had to follow the directions around Appledore, find the information to rule out suspects and implements so we would solve the murder mystery! Whilst doing this mystery trail, I was also doing the Appledore Adventure Lab (well, three locations of it) - it seemed daft to me to be walking past the different stages of the Adventure Lab and not do them. In writing this - I realise that it could be claimed that I’ve completed clause 7 three times!

It feels very good to have completed another badge - the first that I’ve completed without backdating (I’ve backdated the Community Service one as I’ve been volunteering at Junior ParkRun on a regular basis - almost every week - since returning from lockdown last year, and I continue to volunteer - I recently achieved 100 volunteer credits, and I’m currently at 104). I’ll be updating my progress for other badges soon - as the sun is now shining here, I need to get out in the garden, and get the vegetable patch ready, and possibly even get some planting patches out the front ready too!

The photo on the right shows my Adventure Lab cache, - you can see my profile name and picture at the top, and that the Adventure Lab was created by the same username.