Can you crack the code? Adobe's new semaphore puzzle illuminates San Jose skyline

There's a new brain-teasing activity engaging San Jose residents, and it's being showcased high above downtown on Adobe's Almaden Tower. According to a recent Adobe blog post, the tech giant has launched a semaphore puzzle contest, encouraging people to decipher the hidden message in the ever-changing patterns displayed on the wheels of the illuminated artwork on their downtown tower.

What is a semaphore exactly? A semaphore, or optical telegraph, is a system that uses visible signals or symbols to transmit information. The idea for Adobe's Semaphore was conceived back in 2001 when the company first developed plans to build the Almaden Tower. Adobe then partnered with the San Jose Public Art Program to bring the Semaphore to life, with a mission to infuse art and innovation throughout the downtown area.

The Semaphore is visible for miles, as well as online, and is made up of four wheels that assume different positions (vertical, horizontal, left-leaning diagonal, and right-leaning diagonal) to transmit a message. The wheels have 256 possible combinations, and each pattern changes every 7.2 seconds, making it a challenge for even the most skilled puzzle solver. New-media artist Ben Rubin designed the public artwork atop Adobe's Almaden Tower, and it took nearly 4.5 years to solve the company's previous Semaphore code.

Throughout the years, Rubin has had to find innovative ways to make the Semaphore both challenging and solvable. Ben Rubin mentioned that it's easy for anyone to encrypt a message so strongly that only a government agency would have the resources needed to decode it. Instead, Rubin focuses on making the puzzle just difficult enough to encourage people to come together and crack the code.

Now in its third iteration, the new Semaphore offers bragging rights and a two-year subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud for the first person, or team of up to five individuals, to submit a complete and accurate solution. You can check out the Semaphore in person at downtown San Jose (visible from 7 a.m. PST until midnight daily) or join the web simulcast which operates around the clock. More information on how to crack the code and rules for participation can be found on the Adobe blog post.

Community engagement is at the heart of the Semaphore project. In an interview with Mercury News, Eric Kline, Director of Global Workplace Experience Design at Adobe, said that while it's exciting when the code is cracked, an equally rewarding aspect is the community that forms around solving it. Adobe strives to support art in the City of San Jose and among the creative community, further exemplified by the public-facing murals designed by local artists adorning the Adobe Founders Tower.