How to Send Secret Messages to Friends Using the Pig Pen Cipher

Why Use It for Messaging

Since the cipher is a substitution font, your encoded text looks like scrambled symbols to anyone who does not know the key. This makes it handy for hiding coordinates, base locations, or puzzle hints in plain sight on signs and in books. The mod does not change gameplay, so you can drop it into an existing world without affecting anything else.

Step-by-Step

First, agree on the key with your friend — the standard grid layout is enough, but you can also rotate or mirror the grids for a custom variant. Write your plaintext message, then convert each letter to its cell shape. Type the resulting symbols into a book and quill, a sign, or chat. Your friend reads each symbol, matches it to the grid, and recovers the letters.

Tips for Reliability

Keep messages short so mistakes are easy to spot. Double-check letters that share similar shapes, like those in the dotted versus undotted grids. If a symbol renders as an empty box, the reader likely lacks the font — confirm both players have the mod active. For longer secrets, split the text across multiple book pages so each page stays readable.