A secret decoder ring (or secret decoder) is a device which allows one to decode a simple substitution cipher - or to encrypt a message by working in the opposite direction.
As inexpensive toys, they have been often used as promotional items by retailers, radio and television programs from the 1930s through to the current day. Decoders, whether badges or rings, are a fun way for children to tap into a common fascination with encryption, ciphers, and secret codes, and are used to send hidden messages back and forth to one another.
Read more about Secret Decoder Ring: History, Messages, Current Producer
Famous quotes containing the words secret and/or ring:
“The secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. They saw through that adage, repeated to me so often in childhood, that anything worth doing is worth doing well. The truth is, many things are worth doing only in the most slovenly, halfhearted fashion possible, and many other things are not worth doing at all.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)