Puzzle/Mystery Cache Helpful links ¶
By: lopezfamily2016-sc on Jan. 15, 2018, 12:13 a.m.
START HERE: INTRO TO PUZZLE SOLVING
If you are new to puzzle solving techniques, don’t know how to “view source code”, inspect the properties of an image, look for a background image, etc, etc. START HERE. The next few links contain assorted tutorials that should help you get started.
https://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=37f3d8f3-62ba-40ac-b0ef-901807ba9c98
Takes you to ePeterso2's bookmark list of his Puzzle Solving 101 series -a whole slew of actual puzzle caches presented in lesson format.
http://parmstro.weebly.com/
Complete site dedicated to solving puzzle caches. Sections on solving puzzles, blank caches, URLs, a sample workflow, hints for all of parmstro's caches and some sample worked solutions to parmstro's caches. Also contains links to useful sites. Associated facebook page is
http://www.howtopuzzlecache.com/
This is the website associated with the book written by Cully Long (a group member). The book is not free, but details tens of puzzle solving methods, workflows, with examples and exercises. The website contains sample puzzles with solutions which could be used as learning tools as well.
CIPHERS & CODES http://www.geocachingtoolbox.com/ All geocaching tools in one box - comprehensive & inclcudes more than cipher & codes, e.g. incomplete coordinates tool. www.cryptool-online.org/ Comprehensive list of cipher & code decoders plus text analysis. http://www.dcode.fr/ Another comprehensive decoder site - in French. Enter the name of the cipher/code you need help with in the search field int he left-hand column. http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/ Another go-to site for ciphers. http://quipqiup.com/ Cryptogram solver http://omniglot.com/ Lists huge number of writing systems and languages, including fictional scripts & languages (e.g. Matoran, Klingon, Tenwar). http://ref.wikibruce.com/ Extensive list of numerous common and obscure ciphers, encryptions, puzzling tools, languages, and applications. https://www.guballa.de/substitution-solver Cryptogram solver: choose German, English, French or Spanish. https://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/codes/index.php Various cipher & code decoders https://sites.google.com/site/cryptocrackprogram/download CryptoCrack - windows-based general solver. N.B. needs download. http://luthorien.altervista.org/Tools/ More decoder links, plus other tools. (Can change background colour with drop-down menu, top left.) https://cryptii.com/text/select Shows text in different systems from ciphers to codes - (e.g. ROT13, Pig Pen, Hex). http://theblob.org/rot.cgi All ROT in one go. https://morsecode.scphillips.com/translator.html Morse Code translator. https://morsecode.scphillips.com/translator.html Caesar, Vigenere, TinEye reverse image lookup. http://web.archive.org/web/20110103215258/http://purplehell.com/riddletools/index.htm PurpleHell - comprehensive site with ciphers plus much more. Worth a browse through to see what’s available. http://www.simonsingh.net/TheBlackChamber/chamberguide.html Takes you through lots of different ciphers. http://acaencodedecode.appspot.com/ Keyed cipher decoder. http://bionsgadgets.appspot.com/ Decoder, plus cipher analysis to help identify cipher type. http://www.namesuppressed.com/kenny... Kenny Code (based on Kenny from South Park). http://www.namesuppressed.com/kenny/ Uncovers/hides text in a spam-type email/message. http://www.alltextencryption.com/ General cipher encrypt/decrypt using key http://altamatic.com/crypt A quick way of applying substitution, transposition, numeric, morse and digital decoding. https://dainfo.deerfield.edu/faculty/mdancer/outdoor/puzzlecachehelpers.htm Links to various helpful sites http://easyciphers.com/ Explains various ciphers https://geoleaks.com/MIJNCODEBOEKDEEL3.pdf PDF list of various ciphers & codes. http://home.earthlink.net/~fpcorr/AcaTools.html American Cryptogram Association site with many useful tools. http://pajhome.org.uk/crypt/vigenere.html Vignere decoder - N.B. requires download. http://people.physik.hu-berlin.de/~palloks/js/enigma/indexen.html#s6 Enigma Decoder. http://tholman.com/other/transposition/ Transposition cipher solver. http://www.ackgame.com/crypto.htm Analysis tools to identify ciphers, including index of coincidence at various periods, letter count, Normor score, etc https://www.schnatterente.net/nak-nak-nak/deutsch-ente-uebersetzer/4 Duck Code. A German site, but seems to work with many languages. Plaintext goes in left box, cipher goes in right box. It also works from Duck code to Plaintext. https://geocaching.dennistreysa.de/multisolver/ Multi-decoder for many types of ciphers. Input cipher and will decode many ways all at once. https://gc.de/gc/ More geocaching tools. In German, but may have some ciphers not seen elsewhere https://www.quinapalus.com/cgi-bin/playfair Playfair breaker https://ermarian.net/services/encryption/solitaire A Solitaire (otherwise known as ‘Pontifex’) cipher - encryption and decryption
STEGANOGRAPHY
http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi
Jeffrey Friedl’s image data viewer.
http://exifdata.com/
Another excellent image data viewer
https://tineye.com/
Reverse image search
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/capture-reverse-image-search/?src=search
Crop and reverse image search for Firefox. It uses tineye.com, but you can crop and reverse image search on Google from the tineye picture.
http://magiceye.ecksdee.co.uk/
“Magic Eye” stereogram solver
http://www.hidden-3d.com/index.php?id=reveal
Helps “see” Magic Eye” stereograms.
https://www.geocachingtoolbox.com/index.php?page=steganography
Steganography page of the go-to toolbox.
https://ezgif.com/split
Splits Gif files into separate frames.
https://webqr.com/
Scan QR Codes online without a phone
https://www.newocr.com/
Online Optical Character Recognition - find text in images.
http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php
(N.B. needs download.) Colour picker.
http://www.onlinebarcodereader.com/
What it says in the title, handy for various barcode types.
https://online-barcode-reader.inliteresearch.com/
Another barcode reader - allows you to choose barcode type.
http://zxing.org/w/decode.jspx
And another barcode reader
http://www.rags-int-inc.com/PhotoTechStuff/AcrCalibration/RGB2HSB.html
Convert RGB to HSV (HSB) colours.
https://www.mobilefish.com/services/steganography/steganography.php
Find hidden messages in cover files ie. pictures (only works on .png files). The site also contains many other cryptography tools
https://futureboy.us/stegano/decinput.html
Useful for keyed steganography (also returns hidden messages in files without the key/password)... works on files other than .png. Can be used on pictures as well as sound/audio files.
https://huddle.github.io/Resemble.js/
Compares two images to show any differences between them. Play around with the settings as it can make a difference to the outcome (especially the ‘ignore nothing’ setting).
MATHEMATICS & ICT http://intermath.coe.uga.edu/ Maths dictionary, definitions and ‘constructionary’ (whatever that is) http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/calnumba.htm Show numbers in various bases from Base 2 to Base 20 http://www.convertworld.com/en/ Converts just about anything - area, mass, speed, etc on the top page but note links to others below. https://hashkiller.co.uk/md5-decrypter.aspx Allows you to input an MD5 hash and search for its decrypted state in their database, basically, it's a MD5 cracker / decryption tool. http://reednightingale.com/projects/pointlessScripts/binaryTrans.php Convert between text/binary/hex/base64/ASCII. https://conv.darkbyte.ru/ Binary/Hex/decimal/Base 64 decoder https://www.opinionatedgeek.com/codecs/base64decoder BASE 64 decoder http://www.w3schools.com/ Web page-building tutorials, and lists of coding for characters and colors used in HTML http://www.math.ubc.ca/~israel/applet/metic/metic.html For Alphametics http://math2.org/math/general/numnotation.htm "Negative base" calculator http://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-decimal-hexadecimal-converter.html Binary to Decimal to Hexadecimal convertor https://md5.gromweb.com/ MD5 conversion and MD5 Reverse lookup. http://www.zompist.com/numbers.shtml Numbers in over 5000 languages. [http://www.angio.net/pi/bigpi.cgi]](http://) PI search. Find string of digits or digits starting at specific positions in the infinite string of digits of PI https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/view-source-codes-in-ipad-iphone/ N.B. requires download. View Source Code in an iPhone or iPad. http://xslab.com/2013/08/how-to-view-web-page-source-code-in-android/ Explains how to View Source in an Android phone or tablet. https://www.digwebinterface.com/ Deep DIGing of DNS records https://primes.utm.edu/nthprime/index.php Prime search engine
MAPPING https://www.freemaptools.com/ Lots of tools fo maps, measure distances, draw circles, projections, etc, but also a postcode to lat/long converter http://www.fizzymagic.net/Geocaching/FizzyCalc/ Excellent tool to convert between co-ordinate systems, plus co-ordinate & distance projections. N.B. needs download. http://www.synnatschke.de/geo-tools/coordinate-converter.php Online co-ordinate converter. http://www.geocachingtoolbox.com/ All geocaching tools in one box - e.g. incomplete coordinates tool. http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators Great for drawing lines at bearings or perimeter distance around or between co-ordinates. http://geo.javawa.nl/coordcalc/index_en.html Calculating with coordinates (intersections, projections, circles, centers, etc - just choose from the drop-down menu.)
PUZZLES
http://anagram-solver.net/
Anagram solver
http://wordsmith.org/anagram/
Another anagram solver
http://www.tkcs-collins.com/truman/alphamet/alphasolve.shtml
Alphametic puzzle solver
http://boulter.com/anagram/
Anagram solver.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/
Useful when searching to extend a crib. Just enter word1 word 2 then a * to find out the 10 most likely words to follow those first two words. The * can go any where in the sequence of up to 5 words total. (e.g. enter "one * in ten").
http://www.sudoku-solutions.com/
Sudoku Solver
http://sudokuspoiler.azurewebsites.net/
Irregular sudoku solver
http://www.sudokuwiki.org/sudoku.htm
Another Sudoku solver.
http://www.mlsite.net/neknek/
Killer Sudoku solver
http://niallsudoku.com/pages/solver.html
KenKen puzzle solver.
http://boulter.com/cribbage/
Cribbage scorer
http://delphiforfun.org/Programs/logicproblemsolver.htm
Solves logic problems commonly found in puzzle magazines and books.
http://www.jsingler.de/apps/index.php?language=en
Another logic problem solver, and some others
https://www.kakuro-online.com/slitherlink/
Slitherlink solver - connect horizontally and vertically adjacent dots so that the lines form a simple loop
http://www.iread.it/cryptarithms.php
Alphametic puzzle solver.
http://www.anagrammy.com/resources/anagramartist.html
N.B. requires download. Has a link to download a great anagramming tool, Anagram Artist (Windows only).
http://www.litscape.com/
Lots of word-finder tools and literature help.
http://www3.oneacross.com/
Crossword and acrostics help.
http://a.teall.info/nonogram/
Nonogram (“Japanese crossword”) solver
ASSORTED https://www.babelfish.com/ Online translation between various languages https://calendarhome.com/calculate/convert-a-date/ https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tc.cgi#top Convert a date to various alternative calandar formats (Julian, Hebrew, Mayan, etc.) http://www.iata.org/about/members/Pages/airline-list.aspx?All=true IATA Airline codes http://luthorien.altervista.org/Tools/ Lots of links, including wedding anniversary traditional gifts, guitar chords, date & time difference, chess notation… https://goodlogo.com/ Various logos http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html Physics with calculators: Mechanics, Electricity, Magnetism, Light, Vision, Heat, Thermodynamics, Sound, Hearing, Relativity, etc. http://web.archive.org/web/20110103215258/http://purplehell.com/riddletools/index.htm Comprehensive site with ciphers, alphabet & languages, literature data, conversion tools, image manipulators, maths, etc, etc, - worth a browse through. http://usscouts.org/advancementTOC.asp#rank Lots of info about US scouting ranks and merit badges.