What do I mean when I say I 'cracked the code'. Here is a Kalanga version of the ancient coding system from an article where a South African anthropologist said the dice/tablets utilize permutations and combinations and talked about them having an open or closed quality:
I realized that the four tablet coding system had more interesting mathematical properties in addition to the properties the anthropologist explored.In the table below I modified the table above to show that you can use numbers to describe the four tablet coding system. I point out that the system uses a four bit code that combines binary code qualities with quartenary code qualities to give a binary/quinary code. No one, to my knowledge, had highlighted these qualities before. U.S ethnomath experts verified my math. In the future any discussion of binary coding in different cultures will be incomplete if they fail to mention this Southern African code.
I used these qualities to design a 'scrabble in binary code'.Instead of giving the permutations names like Southern African doctors did e.g ntakwala,chilume e.t.c I assigned 26 of the permutations to the letters of the alphabet. Now lining up permutations in a column can spell words. You can now write words in binary code hence its like 'scrabble in a four bit binary code'. Here is the board game spelling the word CODE. You can write any word up to ten letters. People take turns coding and decoding competing for the Master Coder top hat and Master decoder top hat. You might get both hats if you are good at both. For the romantic out there you can even code MARRY ME and watch your partner decode it.
Each letter is encoded by four bits based on the key and the coding/decoding chart. C = 0003, O= 1230, D = 0004, E=0010. A key is set randomly for each word. (The key uses a strictly quaternary code with 4! permutations possible).
The whole board game:
Buy your own : https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/temalo-code-and-decode
