What is the Foursquare Cipher?
In the foursquare cipher, four 5x5 Polybius squares are arranged to form a 25x25 grid. The top left and bottom right Polybius squares are unkeyed. The other two are keyed, each using a unique key, and can use alternate routes.
The plaintext is written in groups of two. The first in a pair is found in the top left Polybius square, and the second in the pair is found in the bottom right Polybius square. The plaintext letters are used as coordinates for finding the first letter of the ciphertext pair in the top-right square and the second letter of the ciphertext pair in the bottom-left square.
Example
Keyword 1: KAATSKILL
Keyword 2: MOUNTAINS
ABCDE KLFOV FGHIK ABGPW LMNOP TCHQX QRSTU SDMRY VWXYZ IENUZ MADKV ABCDE OIELW FGHIK USFPX LMNOP NBGQY QRSTU TCHRZ VWXYZ
Plaintext: RIP VAN WINKLE
Encipher step:
RI PV AN WI NK LE
RI TZ FU UI XE XM
Ciphertext: RITZF UUIXE XM