Welcome to the National Cipher Challenge

This is the home of the University of Southampton National Cipher Challenge. From here you can register for the competition, and post your own comments or queries about it. If you have any questions or remarks you don't want to post publicly you can This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The competition will start with the first Challenge on Thursday 5th October which will be published in the Black Chamber. You can read more about the format of the competition on the Standing Orders page. Messages will be released at 3.15pm and you will have at least a week to submit your answer, though you get extra points for submitting early. No need to rush as we will be dividing the week up into blocks of time worth equal points. Again you can find out more about this schedule and the scoring system on the Standing Orders Page, but if you want to schedule a maths club or other meeting with your team, after school Thursdays is a good time to consider. Meanwhile if you like our poster you can download a copy to print out, and if you would like to explore ciphers a bit before the competition you can download our Teachers' Pack.