Chief Steele has a new case for you. Turn your sound on.

Before you open this case

The clues in this case are written in five secret codes. You must have finished all five code lessons first. If you skipped one, go back and learn it now.

Check the box next to each lesson you have finished.

    Check all five lessons to open the case.

    How this case works

    1. Read about the crime and meet the five suspects.
    2. Crack all five exhibits in the Evidence tab. Each one is written in a different code, and nobody will tell you which code is which.
    3. Write your arrest report. The judge will not sign it without proof.

    This case is big. Work with your team and share the exhibits.

    My badges

    Your work saves on this computer.

    Teacher note

    Answers are inside. Enter the teacher password.

    What happened

    On Sunday morning, Mr. Finch opened his shop, The Puzzle Vault, at Copper Canyon Mall. The glass case in the middle of the shop was empty. The Golden Cube was gone.

    The Golden Cube is a puzzle cube made of real gold. It is worth $50,000. People came from all over the city just to look at it.

    What the police found

    The front doorLocked. Not broken. Not even scratched.
    The glass caseOpen. Not broken. Whoever took the Cube had a key, or knew how to pick a lock.
    The alarmSomebody turned it off at 8:58 on Saturday night by typing in the secret alarm code.
    The cameraIt stopped working on Friday. Mr. Finch says he was going to fix it on Monday.
    A crowbarLeft on the floor by the back door. Odd. Nothing in the shop was pried open.

    Chief Steele says: "No broken locks? That sounds like a locksmith to me. And I know a locksmith who used to rob stores."

    The timeline

    • Friday. The shop camera stops working.
    • Saturday, 6:00 PM. Mr. Finch locks up the shop. June goes home.
    • Saturday, 8:58 PM. The alarm is turned off.
    • Saturday, about 9:15 PM. Gus the janitor sees someone leave by the shop's back door, carrying something heavy.
    • Sunday, 8:00 AM. Mr. Finch opens the shop and finds the case empty.
    • Sunday, 8:05 AM. Mr. Finch calls his insurance company.
    • Sunday, 8:20 AM. Mr. Finch calls the police.
    A word to know: insurance. Mr. Finch pays an insurance company a little money every month. If the Cube is ever stolen, the company must pay him what it was worth. That is $50,000.

    Five people are in this case file

    Read what each person says. An alibi is proof that you were somewhere else when the crime happened. Look at who has one.

    Chief Steele says: "Just look at that mug shot. A record, a grudge, and no alibi. My money is on Crowbar."

    The evidence room

    Police collected five exhibits. Every one has a secret message. First work out which code it is. Then crack it. The keys are in the Code toolkit tab.

    Codes cracked: 0 of 5

    Caesar Wheel Review the lesson

    Every letter slides the same number of steps down the alphabet. Find the secret number, then slide the strip. Look up each code letter on the top row. The real letter is right under it.


    Pigpen Cipher Review the lesson

    Each letter is drawn as the shape of the pen around it. Shapes from the second grid and the second X have a dot. Use this key for this case.

    Polybius Square Review the lesson

    Every letter is two numbers. The first number is the row. The second number is the column. I and J share a box.

    Spartan Scytale Review the lesson

    The letters are not changed. They are only mixed up. The message was written on a strip of paper wrapped around a rod. Wrap the strip around a rod of the same size and the words line up again.


    Read across each row, starting at the top. If the rod is the wrong size, you get nonsense.

    Rail Fence Cipher Review the lesson

    The letters are not changed. They are written in a zigzag on the rails of a fence, then read one rail at a time. Here is HELLO WORLD on two rails.

    H . L . O . O . L . . E . L . W . R . D

    Read the top rail, then the bottom rail, and you get the code: HLOOL ELWRD. To crack one, count the letters and split them into a top rail and a bottom rail. If the count is odd, the top rail gets the extra letter. Then zigzag: top, bottom, top, bottom.