Enigma of the Longest Day
Produced by SUDIPTO
NEVER USED AN ENIGMA BEFORE?
Watch this short video to learn the basics:
▶ How the Enigma Machine worksAll credits for the video go to Jared Owen Animations
Welcome to Solstice Cipher.
You are a codebreaker in 1944. Encrypted enemy transmissions arrive at your station. Your job: configure the Enigma machine to decode each message before the daylight runs out.
This tutorial walks you through the controls. Use the Next button to advance.
1. Choose Rotors
Select three rotors from the dropdowns (I–V). Each has different internal wiring. The level tells you which ones to use — or experiment to find the right combination.
Use the ▲ and ▼ buttons to set each rotor’s starting position (A–Z). This is like the combination lock of the Enigma.
2. Wire the Plugboard
The plugboard swaps pairs of letters before and after encoding. Drag from one letter to another to connect them with a coloured wire. Click a paired letter to remove its wire.
Example: pairing E↔N means every E you type becomes N and vice‑versa inside the machine.
3. Decode the Message
The ciphertext is shown at the top. The next letter to decode is highlighted in gold and pulsing.
Press that same letter on your physical keyboard (or click the on‑screen keyboard). The Enigma steps, the lampboard lights up with the decoded letter, and it appears below.
Correct → the letter turns green and the timer pauses 30s. Wrong → the letter turns red and daylight jumps 45 minutes.
4. Watch the Daylight
The HUD shows a daylight arc from sunrise (04:52) to midnight (23:59). As time passes, the sun moves across the arc. When the sun reaches the end, the game ends.
Time advances automatically, plus wrong guesses add 45 minutes. Decoding correctly pauses the clock for 30 seconds — use that breather wisely.
5. Use Your Tools
Bombe — type a word you expect in the message (a “crib” like THE) and press Run. It searches nearby rotor positions for a match.
Frequency Analysis — shows how often each letter appears in the ciphertext versus normal English. Useful for spotting substitution patterns.
Ready, Operator.
Configure the Enigma, decode the transmissions, and survive the longest day.
⟐ Good luck ⟐