Where can I purchase (physical, cheap) secret decoder rings in bulk?
How can I construct my own?

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Request for Question Clarification by soferet-ga on 11 May 2002 21:58 PDT

Dear jsmthng-ga,

Do you require that the physical, cheap secret decoder rings to
purchase in bulk be rings that actually work? Or are you looking more
for party favors that look cool but don't actually decode anything?

Thanks in advance for clarifying,
Soferet

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Clarification of Question by jsmthng-ga on 11 May 2002 22:59 PDT

I'm actually interested in looking for either, though I'm more
interested in the working types. As for constructing my own, I was
curious to know how I could create something that can be used as a
secret decoder ring, involving coloured saran-wrap (for lack of better
description) and cardboard, or something. Any ideas?

Dear jsmthng,

Thanks for your prompt clarification! Since you asked your question in
two parts, I will answer it in two parts.

First, on how to purchase physical, cheap secret decoder rings in
bulk, you can buy party-favor-like plastic rings from Amazing Recycled
Products. They list a minimum quantity of 2500 at a price of 65 cents
apiece but if you wanted to purchase fewer of them, you could e-mail
them (their contact information is at the bottom of the page) and see
if they'd sell you the quantity you're looking for. Also of note,
these decoder rings match letters to numbers rather than letters to
other letters. (See information on making your own below.) Their URL
is:

Amazing Recycled Products
http://www.amazingrecycled.com/funproducts.html

You can also purchase the "Wild Planet Spy Secret Messenger" toy,
which comes with a secret decoder ring, from Big Fun Toys. These toys
are $12 each, with no option for bulk orders. However, you also get
much more than a decoder ring. It comes with an invisible ink pen and
ink revealer, Morse Code guide, message rocket launcher and code
maker, among other things. This toy is about 2/3 down the page. You
can purchase it at:

Big Fun Toys Shopping
http://www.bigfuntoys.com/ECscripts/ECware.exe/search?id=001&keyword=CD6Y&category=&type=C1QN11&page=2&lc=EN

As of 5/12/02, this toy was out of stock at Amazon.com, but you can
check back at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000J3F6/funologycom/102-0846633-3612162

You can also read a review of this product at Funology.com:
http://www.funology.com/hotstuff/hs_t_002.cfm

If you're not set on a ring, you can purchase inexpensive replicas of
the 1941 Captain Midnight decoder badges at Klutz.com. They sell in
packages of two for $5.95, and also match letters to numbers. To see
the product and/or purchase it, you can visit them at:
http://www.klutz.com/product_details.cfm?productID=7004


Second, making your own rings is not difficult. You can look at the
products listed above (the Amazing Recycled Products bulk ring and the
Captain Midnight badge show how the decoding part of the rings look)
to get an idea of how the letters and numbers match up. There is also
a great deal of information on making substitution cypher wheels (also
known as decoder rings) in an article called "The Secret Language" by
Ron Hipschman. You can read the article at:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/secret/secret.html

About a quarter of the way down the page, he shows two of these cypher
wheels, which you could use as a template to create your own decoder
rings. Please note that these cypher wheels match letters to letters
rather than letters to numbers (as do the products listed above). The
main difference is that with letter-to-number matching, if you used
the code where A=1, B=2, C=3, etc., "Google" would come out as
"715157125", whereas letter-to-letter matching, where each letter is
matched to three letters later (e.g.: A=D, B=E, C=F, etc.), "Google"
would come out as "Jrrjoh".


For additional information on cryptography and
letter-number/letter-letter substitution, you can visit:

Private Data - Basics
http://home7.inet.tele.dk/hunter/basics.html

You might also enjoy a computer program that works as a "decoder ring"
at:
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~edelreal/prg/rot13/rot13.c

and Freeware that does the same thing at:
http://members.aol.com/DallasKJG/sdr.html


Search terms used in this search included:
"secret decoder ring":
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22secret+decoder+ring%22
"Secret Messenger": ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Secret+Messenger%22
party favors decoder:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=party+favors+decoder
decoder toy: ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=decoder+toy

as well as the same search terms using Copernic 2000


I hope this helps and you're able to buy or make what you're thinking
of!

Sincerely,
Soferet

Amazing Recycled Products, Inc.,
manufactures secret decoder rings with your own logo.

They vary in price from 0.65 to 0.43 depending on how many are
ordered,
with a minimum order of 2500 decoder rings.

You can take a look at their product webpage. The decoder ring is
located a ways down the page and the price, ordering and contact
information is located at the very bottom.

Amazing Recycled Products, Inc.
http://www.amazingrecycled.com/schoolfun.html

As to making your own, it looks rather complicated to me.

I did find a basic reference book for manufacturing small
plastic items in a home shop.
It's called Plastic Injection Molding Machine, written by Vince
Gingery.
http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/inject/

Your best bet might be to put together a list of plastic manufacturers
who specialise in small items. Many could probably manufacture an item
of this sort from your own design. I suspect the biggest upfront cost
would be creating the molds.

You could search Google using plastic manufacturers and contact these
manufacturers directly. There are many in the United States and a
number
of foreign countries. It's possible a manufacturer in Hong Kong,
Taiwan
or India might be able to give you a better price than one in the
United States but then you have the complexity of dealing with an
overseas company.

I think it all comes down to how many you want to manufacture; if the
quantity is large enough it may be worth going to that trouble.

To get started putting together such a list search Google
using the keywords plastics manufacturers
and then search using keywords plastics manufacturer


I hope this provides some assistance.