Frequently Asked Questions

Let us help answer the most common questions you might have.
What is a cryptogram?
Cryptograms are text based games. Every letter in the alphabet is substituted for another. This is not a shift encryption. It’s a random encryption. So as an example: “prbbw” may be “hello”.
Yes, for all non-competitive games, you may press "Pause". To completely end a game, press "Forfeit".
If an incorrect letter is input, you may either use the "check" button to remove any invalid letters or input the new/correct letter using the /partial command. Any existing "entries" can be replaced.
Join the Cryptogram support server, and post the bug in #bug-report channel.
No, games are locked to whatever DM or channel they were started in. You can however start new games in other servers/DMs.
A public game is single player, but other users in the channel can spectate.

A co-op game will open a thread channel where everyone in the thread can play.
How do you play?
Cryptogram is played using slash commands. By telling the bot what letter(s) you want replaced, followed by the letter(s) you want to replace them with. The goal is to completely decrypt the quote, by submitting all the correct letters.

Letter/Word Input: Letters/Words are input using /partial [input] [answer].

For example, if you think the letter ‘q’ in the cypher is actually the letter ‘a’, then the should be input: /partial cipher:q partial:a (this places an ‘a’ everywhere a ‘q’ is in the cipher)

or, for a whole word/sentence: /partial cipher:blrr partial:tree (this places ‘t’, ‘r’, ‘e’ everywhere there is a ‘b’, ‘l’, or ‘r’ respectively)

You can also use the "Hint" button to get a free letter BUT if you use the "hint" button more than once, the game will no longer count as a scored game. You get one free hint every game.
Yes, by either pressing "Forfeit" or running the /start-game command and selecting a new category. If the bot detects an existing game, it will ask if you'd like to resume or start another.
Yes, any game started in a thread is considered a co-op game. Anyone who joins the thread channel can play with you on the same puzzle. The user that starts the game is considered the "owner".
Yes! In the Cryptogram support server, you may make the suggestion in the #feature-suggestion channel. Bonus points if you get others to 👍 the suggestion. 😉
Cryptogram is written in C# using Discord.Net and our website is mainly written in PHP using Laravel.

Competitive FAQ

Curious about competitive games? Look no further!
How do I setup/start a competitive game?
You can set up competitive games by typing /config and selecting the "Competitive Channel" option. Once you select a channel, Cryptogram will send a quote to that channel for users to solve.

You can also set the "Competitive Timer" which is a cooldown between games once one has been solved. In addition to this you can also configure a role that will be pinged when a new game starts.

Note: Competitive games and casual games can not be set to the same channel.
Competitive games will run until someone solves the current quote or until an admin forces the game to generate a new quote. Admins can also configure a "cooldown" between games as well.
Competitive games will use a random quote pulled from ANY of the available categories.
You can't. Competitive games will stay on the current quote until either someone solves it or until a server admin "Forfeits" that game.
Every completed game counts as 1 point. Scores reset based on an interval determined by the server admins. This interval defaults to weekly if it has not been set by server admins.