How is this page different from the experience itself?

This localized page is for search and orientation. The interactive 3D experience opens at the language-neutral URL.

Which languages are officially reviewed?

Japanese and English are treated as the officially reviewed text for each exploration.

How are other languages handled?

Other languages are shown as machine translations from the English source with a link back to the original.

How the Enigma Cipher Machine Works

Trace how a key press passes through the plugboard, rotors, reflector, and lampboard to become another letter.

Cipher path · 1/8

Why the same letter stops looking like the same letter

Enigma is not a box that swaps a letter just once. The keyboard, plugboard, rotating rotors, reflector, and lampboard are all connected, and every keypress shifts the internal state a little.

Reference for the real machine’s structure: Crypto Museum: Enigma. This experience arranges it into a 3D view that is easy to explore.

First look at the whole 3D layout, from keyboard to lamp. No encrypt button yet here — we are just setting the stage the signal will travel across.

Order to lookkeyboard → lamp

Key inputThe signal travels in this order.
PlugboardThe signal travels in this order.
Right / center / left rotorsThe signal travels in this order.
ReflectorThe signal travels in this order.
LampboardThe signal travels in this order.

Discovery check

What is the main thing this experience follows?