Gameplay is a very enjoyable mix of detective games, cryptography, and trivia. You start each mission with 3 "contact sheets", which contain information about where each agent is located. Their addresses are not spelled out directly, but are clues to the correct location. You must match the contact sheets to the correct district to contact the agents who will transmit a piece of the CYPHERGRAM into your Microscan watch. If you choose incorrectly, you may run into evil agents from L.U.R.K., who will scare away your contacts or even steal information from you. Each contact agent will also give you a clue to the animal (or U.S. president in the sequel) that you must identify. You must identify several animals/presidents correctly to obtain the entire CYPHERGRAM to decode. This last segment of the game is standard cryptography in which you must deduce the correct letters to decode the message.

C.Y.P.H.E.R. comes with many fun tools to help you along in your missions. The FunCyclopedia contains a wealth of information about animals/U.S. presidents, but you must not use it too often as each use drains your watch energy (i.e. time limit you have to finish a mission). There are also many extras that make the games even better. You can send personal CYPHERGRAMs to other agents (perhaps your sibling, or a friend who shares the same computer), and they'll get it in undecoded format when they log on. If decoding CYPHERGRAM in standard English isn't challenging enough, you can choose to decode it in American sign language, Morse code, braille, or even semaphore. There are four difficulty levels, including Expert which will provide a solid challenge for adults. Overall, both the C.Y.P.H.E.R. games are highly recommended to kids and adults alike. You'll learn a lot of fun facts about wildlife and U.S. Presidents, while sharpening your cryptography and related skills. Too bad Tanager never made more games in the series. True classics!