How to play Bombanana

The Blind Monkey: the only hands

The Blind Monkey is, in the game's own words, "the only one who can touch the bomb." They "can't see colors, can't read screens" and they use "their hands to figure out what's what." Everything they know about the bomb comes from feel, and every cut, press, and flip is theirs alone.

Since braille is read by touch, the raised-dot panels in the demo are naturally theirs to feel out, and jumbled buttons get pressed by feel rather than by sight.

Tip: never cut, press, or flip on a guess. Treat every action as final and make sure the whole team agrees on the exact target before you commit.

The Mute Monkey: the rulebook

In the store's words, "the bomb defusal manual is theirs alone. They know all the answers. But they can't say a single word." So the Mute has every rule the team needs and no voice to deliver it; the answers come out as gestures.

The manual is randomized for every bomb, so nobody can memorize it and no website can print the answer for your specific bomb. Whatever your team's routine ends up being, it runs through the Mute: they are the only player who can check an answer against the rules.

Tip: agree on clear gestures before the round starts. Since you cannot speak, a shared set of hand signals for numbers, directions, and "yes / no / wait" saves you the seconds that lose rounds.

The Deaf Monkey: the voice

The Deaf Monkey "can see everything" and can speak, but "can't hear." Per the store text, "they see the bomb, guide the blind monkey, and watch the mute monkey's frantic gestures." They are the team's eyes and voice: the colors, lights, and layout the Blind Monkey cannot see are theirs to read, and the Mute Monkey's gestures are theirs to watch.

Because they cannot hear, they depend entirely on what they can see: gestures have to be clear, and anything said out loud never reaches them at all.

Tip: confirm out loud before anyone acts. Saying the target back and getting visible agreement catches most fatal mistakes.

How a round comes together

Put the three descriptions side by side and the shape of the game appears. One of you can touch the bomb but cannot see colors or read screens. One of you has all the answers but no voice, only gestures. One of you sees everything and speaks but hears nothing. No player can solve a module alone, so every module needs the three of you to combine what only each of you can do. Exactly how your team routes that information is part of the fun to figure out; every group settles into its own rhythm.

One thing is fixed: the answers live in the in-game manual, the manual is randomized per bomb, and only the Mute Monkey holds it. However your team plays it, the round runs through that book.

Which module needs what

The demo's modules each ask the team for something different. One line on each, with a helper page for whoever is doing the looking up:

• Wires: one cut; the right wire comes from the wire count crossed with the light color in the in-game cable table. Helper: the wires solver.
• Numpad (math module): solve an expression, then follow the odd/even and greater-or-less-than-5 branch; the pad is jumbled, so the number matters, not the position. Helper: the numpad calculator.
• Braille: raised dots encode a digit, one cell at a time, in standard braille numerals. Helper: the braille decoder.
• Switch panel: set every switch to the looked-up pattern before committing; ENTER goes last. Helper: the switch panel solver.
• Direction pad: a braille value crossed with a light color picks the arrow; "left or right" means the handler's left and right. Helper: the direction pad solver.

For every module the specific answer lives in the randomized in-game manual, so the honest thing any page can do is help you find the right cell faster. The full written rules sit in the searchable manual.

Between-rounds tips

The demo rewards teams that talk before the bomb starts, not during it. Worth agreeing on between rounds:

• Pick roles by strength. Whoever reads rules fastest suits the manual; whoever stays calm suits the hands.
• Fix your left and right. The classic failure is "whose left?" Agree directions always mean the handler's left and right.
• Always confirm before acting. Say the target back, get agreement, act once. Guessing is how good teams lose.
• Agree your signals in advance. Shared gestures for numbers, directions, and "yes / no / wait" cost nothing now and save seconds later.
• Solve one module at a time. Finish and confirm one before starting the next.