Retroworks Secret Cipher Decoder Wheel - Jefferson Wheel

Product Description

Fully functional wooden cypher wheel. Natural finish. Twelve wooden disks, with engraved characters in a random order, rotate around a wooden spindle. The sequence of the disks is fixed. Turning theses disks allows words to be scrambled and unscrambled; thus, secret message can be coded and decoded. Detailed instructions: Starting from the left, spell out the message you want to create by rotating each disk to line up the letters of your message. For example - HAPPYBDAYJOE Slowly turning the entire spindle will show row after row of random scrambled letters. For example - KEMSNFPQNZPE This is your encrypted message. You may now scramble up the entire cylinder. The person to decode the message realigns the scrambled message "KEMSNFPQNZPE" As they slowly rotate the cylinder, scanning each row, the message "HAPPYBDAYJOE" will be readily apparent. FUN!!!!

Features

• Solid Wood Craftmanship
• Educational
• Easy to use (but hard to decode!) Comes with detailed instructions

Top Reviews

Concept is great and fun
by Connie Wyman (2 out of 5 stars)
April 17, 2017

Ordered and received 3 wheels in January as Easter gifts for grandkids. Upon opening and trying to use on 4/16 found that the character spacing on two of the three wheels is so inaccurate that it is extremely challenging to decode message (character strings don't align in rows as you move around the circumference of the wheels). Concept is great and fun. Quality is terrible. If you order, check immediately upon receipt to make sure character rows properly align around wheel circumference. If they don't, return ASAP. The two attached photos demonstrate the problem. In one photo see row "ABCDEF. . L" aligned in a row on one side of the wheel and in the second photo see very misaligned characters (not close to being aligned in rows) on the other side of the wheel.
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Excellent Tool For Creating Coded Messages Which Are Impossible To Crack
by LT (4 out of 5 stars)
November 6, 2017

This device comes with 12 wheels. I took away one star because they are very difficult to turn independently. Maybe over time they will move more easily, I don't know.

Each wheel has all 26 letters of the alphabet, and a single number. The first wheel has a 0, the second wheel has a 1, and so on up to the tenth wheel which has a 9. The eleventh wheel has a Delta symbol (triangle). The twelfth wheel has an Omega symbol (ohm).

The letters are randomly mixed on each wheel, with no two wheels having the same order of letters. But again, each wheel has the entire alphabet.

The ends of this device can be unscrewed to mix up the wheels. You can put Wheel 0 in the third position, and Wheel 6 in the second position, and so forth. Then reassemble the device. The receiver of the coded message will have to put their wheels in the same numerical order.

Your message can only be 12 characters, not counting spaces. There are no spaces on the wheels. The decoder will have to place the spaces in the message based on context.

Turn the wheels to spell out your message, then send the letters on the line above or below the clear text. The receiver will turn their wheels to the coded text, and then read the clear text on the line below or above the coded text.

Simple, but very hard to crack without a comparable device.
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Neat bit of history, but not much fun
by GinOya (3 out of 5 stars)
January 23, 2016

Bought this for our 7 year old son who is a huge history lover and adores anything about past Presidents.

He is also into spies, so this seemed a perfect fit. Sadly, it doesn't come with any instructions, and is a little difficult to figure out. Once he did, it was almost too simple and he quickly lost interest. A neat bit of history, but not much fun.
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Super impressed with the quality of this cryptex-like device
by Michael L Robertson (5 out of 5 stars)
September 27, 2015

Super impressed with the quality of this cryptex-like device. I'm using it for a treasure hunt for several teams of adults and I like this thing so much I'm going to order several more so each team can have their own. I tried to make a similar items several years ago and was frustrated by the difficulty of getting it all to line up and move smoothly. This is so well-crafted, and not too expensive; it's a much wiser use of my time to just order one.
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My husband is super into codebreaking and ciphers
by Lila (5 out of 5 stars)
December 14, 2015

My husband is super into codebreaking and ciphers, so I got him this as a goofy stocking stuffer. It's so neat that I'm probably gonna steal it back from him. It's just a nifty little way to encrypt notes and things, but it's fun and entertaining. Serves no functional, serious purpose, but it's a really fun way to pass the time and to write silly secret notes. We don't have kids, but it seems like this would be great for kids. Especially kids who like museums and educational stuff.
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a nice novelty but functionality is a bit stiff
by DAG (4 out of 5 stars)
January 8, 2017

Bought for 14 year old grandson, mostly because he's into Thomas Jefferson and expected it to be a display item along with his quill pen. He seemed unimpressed but will see after he becomes acquainted with it. Some of the wheels are slightly warped, making them hard to turn. Other reviewers have made the same observation, so that was no surprise. As the decorative item we intended for it, it should serve nicely. The delivery was very fast, especially considering that it was free. And the price was almost half off the price we saw in a mailorder catalog.
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What fun!
by Roland Machold (5 out of 5 stars)
November 27, 2018

The cypher wheel is an ingenious invention of Thomas Jefferson, but it also has been a secret and fun way for me to correspond to my 12 year old grandson in Alaska
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Gifted to another person.
by KY Mel (5 out of 5 stars)
June 16, 2019

Engineer grandfather loves it. "It's perfect for making up passwords for my electronic ... stuff."
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Excitement
by Miss Turtle's Mom (4 out of 5 stars)
January 5, 2019

I bought one for me and one for my mom, and we're having fun sending each other coded messages.
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Particpants tell me they enjoy the cipher
by Tim (5 out of 5 stars)
November 7, 2015

I bought this and created a geocache around this cipher. Two coordinate digits were missing and geocachers had to use the code to have the cipher spell out the last two numbers. Particpants tell me they enjoy the cipher. Dials are perfect for turning. They are not too tight nor are they loose and wiggly. Well worth the price. Sturdy construction! I am a very happy customer and would order this again.

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