ASCII Binary Code Puzzle Game

We love a good game and this ASCII Binary Code Puzzle Game was perfect for my code cracking kids. They loved how this game had them act like detectives, solving the puzzles. The final step was their favourite part! It was a great way to introduce the children to the idea of binary coding, and a wonderful exercise paying attention to details. Plus I had a trick up my sleeve to challenge the kids even more!

BINARY CODE LESSON FOR KIDS

What you will discover in this article!

Binary code is fun to learn with this ASCII Binary Code Puzzle Game. Have fun deciphering the secret words with a magic reveal that kids love.

Who doesn’t love a good puzzle? I know my kids love the challenge. It becomes a game. Something they want to master. They also love the process of working out a secret code. They get a thrill from the process. So when I decided to introduce them to Binary Code, I thought a puzzle game would be the perfect way and it was a complete hit!

What You Need To Play

The free printables available to members of the STEAM Powered Family mailing list. I’ve included the ASCII Binary Code Alphabet and the Coding Puzzle Worksheet. Don’t want to join our mailing list? You can get a fancier version for through our store.
Pen or pencil
A white crayon
Watercolour paints & a brush

About ASCII Binary Code

You’ve probably heard about how computers speak in 1’s and 0’s, which is like an on/off sequence that controls the computer processes and data storage. ACSII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII Binary Code is the backbone of how computers operate.

Now I found some very conflicting information on ASCII Binary Codes with many sites using different sequences of 0’s and 1’s. Part of this is due to capital versus lower case, plus various versions that have been developed over the years. In the end this set of codes was the one used on all the University sites I visited, so I went with that in creating my ASCII Binary Code chart. That site also has some great information and links to even more resources if you are interested in digging deeper into ASCII.

Time to Play the ASCII Binary Code Puzzle Game

Playing the game will require two people, for simplicity I’m going to call them teacher and student.

The teacher should choose a word, then find the corresponding binary codes for each letter. Write the codes in the first column titled “Code to Decipher”. For a greater challenge scramble the letters so the student will also need to unscramble them to find the answer word.

Next, in the Colour Resist Reveal box write the answer word in white crayon. The teacher is now finished and can hand the papers over to the student so they can solve the puzzle.

Using the Code, the student figures out what letter each binary string represents and writes it beside the code in the “Letter” column. Once they think they have all the write letters they write the word in the answer area. If you have scrambled the letters, they will need to unscramble them first to come up with their answer.

Then to check if they are correct, have them paint the bottom box to reveal the answer.