How to Read and Write Pig Pen Cipher Messages in Minecraft

Understanding the Grid Key

The Pig Pen Cipher maps each letter of the English alphabet to a shape drawn from a grid. Imagine two tic-tac-toe boards side by side, plus two X-shaped grids. The first tic-tac-toe board holds A through I, the second holds J through R, and the X grids hold S through Z. Each letter is the shape of the cell it sits in, without the outer border. So A is the top-left corner shape (a backwards L), E is the full square, and so on.

Writing and Decoding

To write a message, replace each letter with its cell shape. Letters in the second grid get a dot inside the shape, and the X grids use a dot to separate the second set. To decode, look at each symbol, find which grid cell it matches, and read off the letter. Practice with short words first — try encoding your own name, then decode it back to confirm you have the mapping right.

Using It In-Game

Because the mod adds the cipher as a font, you can type these symbols anywhere text appears: written books, signs, chat, and item names. Open the relevant text field and enter the cipher characters directly. Anyone without the font will see placeholder boxes, so share the key with friends who also have the mod loaded.