# Bomb Instructions Game: Reading the Edgework - Author: Bomb Appétit (https://bombappetit.com) - Published: 2026-10-20 - Category: Modules and the manual - Canonical: https://bombappetit.com/blog/bomb-instructions-game-reading-the-edgework > In a bomb instructions game the manual keeps asking about edgework: the serial number, batteries, indicators and ports on the case. How to read each one out. In a bomb instructions game like Bomb Appétit, edgework is the set of labels on the bomb's casing: a serial number, batteries, indicators and ports. The Experts' manual refers to them in several modules, so the Defuser should read every item out once at the start, slowly, and the Experts should write it down. ## What edgework is and why the manual keeps asking Edgework is the information printed on the outside of the bomb rather than on any module. It has four parts: a six-character serial number, battery holders, indicator labels with lights, and port plates. None of it can be pressed or solved. It exists so that the rules for some modules depend on the bomb as a whole. Four regular modules can read edgework, and each uses it in a different way. - **Wires.** A line in a wire list can depend on whether the serial number's last digit is odd or even. - **Big Button.** A line can depend on how many batteries the bomb has, or on whether there is a lit indicator with a particular label. - **Color Echo.** The whole table is picked by whether the serial number contains a vowel. - **Tangled Wires.** Some of the letters mean cut only if the serial number's last digit is even, only if the bomb has a particular port type, or only if it has two or more batteries. Which of those conditions appear on a given page depends on the rule seed, so a manual may lean on edgework heavily or hardly at all. The safe assumption is that it will be needed. The manual's first page asks for edgework in its "Before you start" list, ahead of everything else. Its appendix repeats the advice: ask for all of it once, at the start, and write it down. For how the appendix itself is laid out, and the glossary that follows it, see [the edgework appendix and the glossary](/blog/the-bomb-game-manual-how-pages-are-organized#the-edgework-appendix-and-the-glossary) in the guide to [how every page of the manual is organized](/blog/the-bomb-game-manual-how-pages-are-organized). Where the Defuser finds edgework depends on the view. In the 2D view, a strip of four plates sits above the front and back of the case, labelled Serial number, Batteries, Indicators and Port plates. In the 3D view, the labels are printed on the narrow sides of the case: the serial number on top, the ports underneath, the batteries on the left and the indicators on the right. The same four-plate strip also appears below the 3D bomb, so nobody has to spin the case to read it. ## Reading the serial number out without ambiguity Read the serial number one character at a time, saying whether each one is a letter or a digit. It has six characters, and the last is always a digit. The letters I and O never appear, so a round character is always zero and a straight one is always one. That removes two common mix-ups. Spoken letters are the next risk. B, D, E, P and T sound close on a bad call, and so do M and N. Saying "letter" or "number" before each character helps, and a simple word for each letter helps more. Use any words the team agrees on, as long as everyone uses the same ones all evening. The Expert writes the serial down as it is read, then reads it back in full. Only then does the Defuser move on. A serial number read wrong at the start poisons every rule that uses it, and nobody will notice until a strike arrives. Two facts about the serial number answer most of what the rules ask. - **The last digit.** Rules care whether it is odd or even. Write the digit and the word "odd" or "even" next to it. - **Vowels.** The only vowels that can appear are A, E and U, because I and O are excluded. Write "vowel: yes" or "vowel: no" so the Expert on Color Echo does not have to scan the serial again. Pre-computing those two answers takes seconds and saves a pause every time a rule mentions them. ## How many batteries are on the case, counting every side? Count batteries, not holders. A bomb has zero to four battery holders, and each holder carries either one battery or a pack of two. So a bomb can have anywhere from zero to eight batteries. The manual's rules count batteries unless a rule says holders, so the Defuser should report both numbers. On the screen, each holder is drawn as a dark box with one or two yellow cells inside. A holder with two cells is a pack and counts as two. In the 3D view, the battery holders sit on the left side of the case, which is why the game's how-to-play page tells the Defuser to check every side before answering. When there are no batteries at all, the plate says "none". A clear battery read-out names the holders first, then the total. > "Three holders. One has two batteries, two have one each. Five batteries in total." That sentence lets the Expert check the arithmetic and gives them both numbers to write down. A Defuser who only says "three" leaves the Expert guessing whether that means holders or batteries, and a rule like "more than three batteries" turns on exactly that difference. ## Is the indicator lit or unlit, and does it matter? Yes, it matters. An indicator is a three-letter label beside a small light, and the light is either lit or unlit. A rule can name a lit indicator with a particular label, and an unlit one with the same label does not count. Read every indicator as its letters followed by its state, every time. A bomb carries zero to three indicators. Each label comes from a fixed list of eleven, all three letters long: YUM, NOM, ZAP, HOT, ICE, RAW, FRY, DIP, JAM, BRU and MSG. On the screen, a lit indicator has a glowing white dot and the word "lit" beside its label, and an unlit one has a dark dot and the word "off". Several labels are real words, which tempts the Defuser to say them as words. That works for HOT or ICE but not for BRU or MSG, and on a noisy call NOM and YUM can blur. Spelling each label letter by letter is slower by a second and removes the doubt. > "Two indicators. F, R, Y, lit. I, C, E, off." The Expert writes them in a short form, such as "FRY lit, ICE off", and checks the labels against the list in the manual's appendix. If a label the Defuser reads is not on the list, something has been misheard. ## Ports: which types are there, not what they do Ports are sockets on plates along the case, and rules only care which types are present. A bomb has zero to three port plates, and each plate holds up to three different port types or none at all. There are six types, each with a distinct outline that can be described aloud without knowing what it plugs into. The manual's appendix has a table of all six with their drawings. In short: | Port | How it looks | | ------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Hex | A six-sided outline with one bar across the middle | | Twin | Two round sockets side by side | | Ribbon | A wide rectangle with five short pins | | Coax | One large ring with a solid dot in the centre | | Slot | A rounded box with one thick horizontal slot | | Trident | Three upright prongs on a base line | The Defuser can describe the shape and let the Expert name it, or name it directly once the team has learned the six. Either way, the Expert should end up with a list of type names, not shapes. Empty plates are the one trap. A plate with no ports still shows on the case, marked "empty". It adds nothing to the list of types, and the Defuser should say so plainly so the Expert does not wait for a port that is not there. In the 3D view, the port plates are on the bottom of the case. ## The edgework mistake: reading it once and never again Reading edgework once is the right plan. The mistake is reading it once and not writing it down, or writing it on the first bomb and keeping that note for the next one. Every bomb has its own edgework, so the note has to be rebuilt at the start of every round. A team that skips the note pays twice. First when a rule asks about batteries in the middle of a Big Button and the Defuser has to stop and look. Then when someone answers from memory and the memory is from the previous bomb. Asking for the edgework first is also one of the quickest ways to save time, a point the time attack guide makes in [why reading edgework first saves the most seconds](/blog/time-attack-games-faster-without-strikes#why-reading-edgework-first-saves-the-most-seconds). Here is a full read-out script for the Defuser, using example values. Your bomb's edgework will be different. 1. "Serial number. Letter R, number 2, number 7, letter H, letter E, number 5. Last digit five." 2. "Batteries. Two holders. One has two, one has one. Three batteries." 3. "Indicators. Two. F, R, Y, lit. I, C, E, off." 4. "Port plates. Two plates. First has a coax. Second has a ribbon." 5. "That's all the edgework." And here is the note an Expert might write while listening, again with example values. ``` SERIAL R27HE5 last 5 = odd vowel: yes (E) BATT 3 batteries, 2 holders IND FRY lit ICE off PORTS coax, ribbon ``` The Expert reads the note back once, the Defuser confirms, and nobody asks about edgework again until the next bomb. Put the note where every Expert can see it. In a same-room game that might be a sheet in the middle of the table. On a call, one Expert can paste it into the chat. The script also helps the Defuser in a time attack. Edgework sits outside any module, so reading it costs no strikes and no needy module can wake in the first twenty seconds. Once the note exists, every edgework question becomes a glance, and the time attack guide covers [getting faster without more strikes](/blog/time-attack-games-faster-without-strikes) in more depth. For the modules that use the note, the guide to [the 11 regular modules](/blog/bomb-defusal-puzzle-game-11-modules-explained) shows where each one asks. Practise the read-out once on the [standard manual](/manual/1) before your next game.