The Enigma machine basically consisted of three or more rotors that had contacts on both sides. The rotors are set to the encryption or decryption “key” then a button is pushed which goes through the wiring in the rotors, then lights up a lamp corresponding to the encrypted output (there’s a lamp for every letter in the alphabet). To decrypt you simply start with the same key that was used to encrypt the data and type in the cipher text. One thing significant about the Enigma machine is that the rotors rotate as each key is pressed, so the encryption key essentially changes with each character.
I was in a thrift store recently and saw a game with a screen and a keyboard and I thought, that would make a good Enigma machine (I’ve always wanted one, but I know my wife would kill me if I bought a real one $$$). In this instructable I’ll show how I gutted an kids game and used an Arduino to hook up to the keypad and speaker. The code’s not too bad (so far). This version is a simple three rotor Enigma machine. You can switch the rotors around and change the letters for the rotors. Future plans are to all for more rotors, allow changing out the reflector, allow for spinning the ring around a rotor, and a plug board implementation. This Enigma machine will be able to encode and decode messages to and from the real, old Enigma machines used during Wold War II.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
