Online lock simulator: 3 digit, 4 digit and more
The lock below is ready: enter the sample code and watch it open. Then set your own combination, word or sequence, write the question and the hint, and publish it as a real lock in one click.
1. Pick a lock format
2. Try it as a player
Sample answer: 7391. Enter it to watch the lock open, or set your own in step 3.
A date is carved into the shelf. Enter it as digits.
3. Set your own answer
Enter it once on this pad, the way a player would. It replaces the sample.
Answer set: 7391(sample)
4. What players read, and the hint
The same two fields the builder asks for. The question is the clue; the hint is what saves a player who is stuck.
Opens the builder on this exact lock: format, answer, question, hint and reveal already in place. You get a link and a QR code; players need no account.
Pages for one kind of lock:
Make your own lock to share
Hide a message, a photo or a reward behind a code, then send it by link or QR code. Ready in two minutes, free, and your players need no app.
What a good lock answer looks like
A code players can find, not one they have to guess. Four digits carved into a prop, a word that a riddle points to, a colour order that matches objects in the room. The simulator is the fastest way to feel the difference: set the answer, hand the phone to someone, and watch whether they reach for the clue or for random digits.
A good question does half of that work: it names what to look for without naming the answer, and the hint behind it is what stops a stuck player from closing the tab. Both are written right under the pad above, and the simulation obeys them: ask for the hint, or get it after three wrong answers, exactly as a player would.
Numeric locks are the fastest to enter on a phone, which matters when a group opens the same link at once. Sequences of colours or arrows are harder to brute-force and read well on a printed card. A written answer carries meaning, which is why reveals use one. Try each on the pad above and pick by feel; the lock formats page describes when each one works best.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this a real lock or a mock-up?
- It is the real pad: the same widget that runs on every published Lock Challenge lock. What you set here is what a player would have to enter, and the wrong-answer feedback is the same.
- Which formats can I simulate?
- All of them, and every one is free: numeric codes from 3 to 8 digits, a written answer, a username and password pair, colour sequences, arrow sequences with 4 or 8 directions, a touch pattern, switches (any order or a fixed order), a musical sequence, a 4 by 4 grid, sudoku and Wordle. The GPS lock needs a place rather than an answer, and the number lock needs a margin, so those two are set up in the builder.
- How do I turn the simulation into a lock people can open?
- Press "Publish this lock". The builder opens on the format, the answer, the question, the hint and the reveal you set here; add a name, and a theme if you have an Event Pass or Pro, then publish. You get a short link and a QR code. Players open it on any phone, without an account.
- Can I write the question and the hint here too?
- Yes, and the simulation uses them: the question sits above the pad exactly as players see it, the hint opens with a button, and it shows itself after three wrong answers if you leave that on. Both travel to the builder with the lock, so there is nothing left to type there.
- Is anything stored while I try it?
- No. The simulator runs entirely in your browser and never sends the answer anywhere. The draft only leaves your device when you publish from the builder, and even then the answer is stored as a hash.
- Can I use it to practise a combination lock?
- Yes. Set the combination, clear the pad and try to reproduce it. It is a quick way to check that a code is memorable before printing it on a treasure hunt card.
Free tools
Lock Code Generator
Turn a date or a word into lock codes with the question and the hint already written: day-month, A1Z26, phone keypad, reversed.
Escape Room Clue Generator
Riddles with answers that fit a lock, by theme and difficulty, question and hint included. Lock any clue in one click.
Cipher Maker
Encode a message in Caesar, Morse, A1Z26, Atbash, Reverse or ROT13, then lock the decoded answer with its key as the hint.