ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER APRIL 1992
 
       HARRISON SOFTWARE'S "CODE BREAKERS"  
            reviewed by Charles Good 
              Lima Ohio User Group 
 
Do you like solving CRYPTOGRAMS such as those published in
mewspapers or "mixed puzzle" magazines? These are phrases
encoded in a monoalphabetic substitution.  Each instance of
a single letter in the phrase is represented by a "code"
letter that is different from the real letter.  The same
real letter is always represented by the same code letter in
the encryption.  Harrison software's CODE BREAKERS gives
cryptogram fans the chance to solve such puzzles on a 99/4A
with the aid of assembly speed an an excellent screen
display. 
  
Code Breakers randomly selects a phrase from a file of
available phrases and displays the encoded phrase on screen.
Coding is based on a "keyword", also selected randomly.  The
encoded screen display is in either of two formats: 
1- NORMAL, as such puzzles are usually published in
newspapers or puzzle magaines with letters grouped into
words with all the original punctuation.  In this case two
and three letter groups are a great help in solving the
puzle, allowing the solver to decode words such as "the",
"as", "it", "it's", etc., and to use the letters in these
decoded words to partially decode other words in the encoded
phrase. 
2- PROFESSIONAL. The encoded phrase is displayed as groups
of five letters, with the last 5 letter group padded with
extra letters if needed.  The solver has no initial clues
about the length of individual words or where one word ends
and the next word begins.  This format is really hard! 
 
When solving puzzles you use the arrow keys to move the
cursor over a code letter and then press the keyboard key of
what you believe the real letter represented by the code
letter is.  The letter under the cursor AND all similar
letters in the coded phrase instantly (at assembly speed)
arechanged to your guess.  Different foreground and
background colors make it obvious to the viewer which
letters are in still diplayed in the original code and which
have been guessed (maybe correctly, maybe not) by the
solver.  When the solver thinks the code is correctly
translated, or gives up, a press of the <enter> key reveals
the correct solution and the keyword used to generate the
encrypted phrase. 
 
There are three possible sources of phases for encryption.
CODE BREAKERS comes with a large disk file of phrases that
the software will randomly select from for encryption.
Users can also create their own files of phrases, up to 124
characters in each phrase.  There is also a "two player
game" option that does not use an existing file of phrases.
One player types in an uncoded phrase while the other player
looks away.  The computer then displays an encrypted version
of this phrase on screen and the second player try to solve
the puzzle. 
 
My testing panel of two cryptogram puzzle fans (my wife and
one of my children) gives high marks to CODE BREAKERS.  The
ability to quickly try different letter substitutions and
see their effect on screen speeds the solutions of the
problems.  Lots of wear and tear on pencil erasers, and the
resulting mess, are also eliminated.  The only complaint my
testing panel had was that they were confined to a chair
sitting in front of the computer.  This is considered rather
restrictive.  Cryptograms are usually solved in leisurely
locations such as laying in bed, sitting on the couch
watching TV, or while riding home from work in a car pool or
public transit.  Wouldn't it be nice if CODE BREAKERS worked
with a CC40? Then the game would be portable, just like
newspaper and magazine cryptograms. 
.PL 1