The Master Lock 1590D isn’t an overwhelmingly common escape room lock. (That’s probably a good thing for reasons that I discuss below). That said, it is a strange and interesting device that does show up from time to time.
Since it is commercially available and does show up, I decided to run an analysis against it. In doing so, I learned some nifty things.
The results of the analysis are here. I encourage you, however, to continue reading, as this analysis turned out a bit different from previous ones (this one and this one.)
Letter Distribution
Unlike the previous letter locks that we’ve analyzed, the Master Lock 1590D does not have multiple disks with individual letter distributions. Instead, the 1590D functions like a traditional locker lock. All of its letters are available at once.
The distribution is:
A D E H J L N R S T and the numbers 0 through 10.
There is one interesting thing to note about this lock before reviewing the word permutations.
Letters may be repeated:
There was nothing in the lock’s documentation, nor did I find anything online… but when I attempted to input repeat letters into the lock, it accepted them. “AAA” was a valid combination.
This was a relief because I was pretty certain that I was going to break the lock when I tried it.
What Words Can This Distribution Generate?
We ran two separate analyses.
Analysis 1: Letters Only (Tab 1)
This analysis only used the actual letters on the lock: A D E H J L N R S T
The results generated 59 high-value words.
Analysis 2: Letters & Number Substitutions (Tab 2)
This analysis used the actual letters , plus O, I, Z, G, B (as represented by the letters 0, 1, 2, 6, 8).
The results generated 207 high value words.
Analysis Methodology
Once again, Rich Bragg (of Guinness Record, Enthusiast Choice Awards, & ClueKeeper fame) helped conduct this analysis. The mechanics of the analysis were explained in the original lock analysis post… so I’m not going to rehash them here.
There was one significant differences from the first analysis:
I asked Rich to run the analysis twice, once using only the actual letters, and a second time substituting letters that look like numbers. These tabs are running across the bottom of the spreadsheet.
5 Observations
1. The fact that the 1590D accepts repeated letters really surprised me. This greatly opened up opportunities for making words.
2. Word options at 3 letters are minimal. This isn’t really a surprise.
3. The addition of a few extra numbers as letter substitutions expanded the word pool dramatically.
4. If you look in the right two columns, you’ll find a ton of 3-letter abbreviations. Government agencies (DOJ), stock symbols (JNJ), nicknames (J Lo), and fictional organizations (JLA) seemed interesting and potentially useful. The right most column is far more useful for this lock than for some of the larger locks that we’ve previously analyzed.
5. Master Lock’s commitment to including the letter “J” in their word locks continues to bewilder me as it is not useful for making words. The only reason that I can think of is for making people’s initials, as “J” is a common first letter in names.
Caution
I have found that players are generally confused about how to operate this lock.
In my opinion, locker-style locks are a less-than-stellar option for escape rooms. I think they should be avoided most of the time. The same goes for the 1590D.
My opinions notwithstanding, I know that this lock will get used in escape rooms and in classroom games, so I offer this analysis.
