# Bomb Module Types: Five Ways a Module Asks - Author: Bomb Appétit (https://bombappetit.com) - Published: 2026-10-20 - Category: Modules and the manual - Canonical: https://bombappetit.com/blog/bomb-module-types-five-ways-a-module-asks > Bomb module types sorted by what they ask: rule lists, lookup tables, memory, spelling and signals, and position. Which of the 14 modules fits each type. The 14 bomb module types in Bomb Appétit fall into five groups by what the manual asks for: rule lists tested in order, lookup tables matched against what the Defuser sees, memory carried between steps, spelling and signals, and position or timing. Each group splits the talking between the Defuser and the Experts in its own way. ## Why sort bomb module types by what the manual asks? Sorting modules by the question their page asks tells an Expert what kind of conversation is coming before the page is even open. A rule list means testing lines in order. A table means one exact match. A memory module means writing things down. Knowing which is which sets the pace and the tools for that module. The game itself does not label modules this way. The manual lists eleven regular modules and three needy ones, each on its own page, with a short lead paragraph that says what the Defuser sees and how to read the rules. The five groups in this post are our own reading of those pages, built around one question: what does the Expert need from the Defuser, and what does the Expert do with it? That question matters because a bomb rarely shows one module at a time. A mission like Mixed plate puts five modules on the case, and the later missions carry ten or more. When the Defuser names the next module, an Expert who already knows its type can say the first useful sentence straight away. For a rule list, that sentence is a count. For a table, it is a description. For a memory module, it is "hold on, let me get a pen." There is a second payoff. The rules on every page come from a rule seed, so the exact lines change between manuals, but the type of question does not. Wires always asks you to pick a list and test it. Recall always asks about earlier stages. Learning the type is learning something that survives a new seed, which is more useful than memorising one manual's answers. ## Rule-list module types: Wires, Big Button and Tangled Wires A rule-list module is answered by testing conditions in a fixed order until one is true. Wires and Big Button print numbered "If" lines ending in an "Otherwise" line. Tangled Wires asks four yes or no questions about each wire and turns the answers into a letter. In all three, the Expert reads and the Defuser confirms facts. On Wires, the Defuser counts the wires and names their colors from the top. The Expert picks the list for that wire count and tests each line against those colors, sometimes against the last digit of the serial number too. The first true line names one wire to cut. The full walk-through, with an invented example list, is in the guide to [using the Wires module manual to find the one wire to cut](/blog/wires-module-manual-which-wire-to-cut). Big Button works the same way with different facts. The lines ask about the button's color, its word, the number of batteries and whether a particular indicator is lit. The answer is tap or hold, and a hold leads to a second lookup by the color of a strip that lights while the button is down. The guide to [deciding whether to tap or hold the Big Button](/blog/big-button-tap-or-hold-strip-color) covers both steps. Tangled Wires is the long version of the same habit. Each wire gets the same four questions: does it have red, does it have blue, does it have a star, is its light on. The mix points to a letter in a diagram of four overlapping loops, and the letter says to cut, to skip, or to check something on the case. It is still a rule list, just one the Expert runs once per wire. ## Lookup module types: Glyph Keypad, Pressure Vent and Dial Alignment A lookup module is a match between something the Defuser sees and a row or column printed in the manual. There is no order of conditions to test. The Expert scans for the one entry that fits, then reads what sits next to it. The work is in the description: a sloppy one finds the wrong row. Glyph Keypad prints six columns of seven glyphs, each glyph an outer shape with a mark inside. The Defuser names four keys. Only one column holds all four, and the order inside that column is the press order. Most of the effort goes into naming shapes the same way on both sides of the conversation. Pressure Vent is a needy module, which means it can never be solved and keeps waking up during the round. When it wakes, it shows a short question with Yes and No buttons and a 40 second countdown. The Defuser reads the question aloud word for word, and the Expert finds it in a table of six questions with the answer beside each. Dial Alignment is also needy. It wakes with twelve lights in two rows of six. The Defuser reads both rows from left to right, lit or dark, and the Expert finds the matching picture in the manual, which says which way the dial must point when its countdown reaches zero. A turn button moves the dial one step clockwise. All three reward the same thing: a description precise enough that only one entry can fit. ## Memory module types: Color Echo, Recall and Wire Panels A memory module asks the team to remember something from an earlier step. The bomb shows only the present: the current flashes, the current stage, the current panel. Answers depend on what came before, so either the Defuser repeats earlier steps or an Expert writes them down. Losing that record costs time, a strike, or both. Color Echo flashes a sequence that grows by one flash after every correct answer. The Defuser must answer the whole sequence from its start each time, with each flash turned into a different pad by a table. The table changes with the strike count, so the team also has to remember how many strikes the bomb carries right now. The [guide to Color Echo's vowel tables and strike columns](/blog/color-echo-module-vowel-and-strike-tables) works through one sequence twice. Recall runs five stages. Each stage shows a digit and four buttons labelled 1 to 4 in a mixed-up order. Later stages ask for the position or the label pressed at an earlier stage, so the Expert writes both after every press. A wrong press sends the module back to stage 1 with new numbers. Wire Panels shows four panels, one at a time, each with up to three wires. The Experts keep a running count per color that carries from panel to panel. Earlier panels cannot be seen again, so the count lives only in the Expert's notes. ## Spelling and signal module types: Word Grid, Passcode and Blinker Spelling and signal modules turn on letters, words and flashes that are easy to mishear. The facts are simple, but saying them aloud is not. Word Grid uses words that sound alike, Passcode narrows a word list letter by letter, and Blinker turns short and long flashes into letters. Each one needs a careful speaking habit. Word Grid shows a display word and six word buttons, with three rounds to clear. Every display word was chosen because it has a sound-alike spelled differently, so the manual tells the Experts to ask for every word to be spelled. The [guide to spelling Word Grid's sound-alike words](/blog/word-grid-module-spelling-sound-alike-words) lists them with a script for each. Passcode has five letter wheels with six letters each. Exactly one word on the manual's list can be spelled from them. The Defuser reads out all six letters on the first wheel, the Expert crosses out every word that cannot start with one of them, and the pair repeat wheel by wheel. Letters like B, D and P blur on a call, so a spelling alphabet of the team's own choosing helps. Blinker flashes one word over and over. The Defuser calls each group of flashes as short or long, the Expert turns each group into a letter with a code table, finds the word, and reads out a frequency for the Defuser to tune to. ## Position and timing module types: Labyrinth and Discharge Lever Position and timing modules are about where something is or how long a hand stays down, not about reading a label. Labyrinth is a maze the Defuser cannot see the walls of. Discharge Lever is a needy module whose meter fills unless the Defuser holds the lever. One needs the Expert constantly; the other needs no Expert at all. Labyrinth shows a six by six grid of dots with two ringed dots, a white light and a red triangle. The walls are visible only in the manual, which prints nine mazes, each named by where its two rings sit. Once the Expert has the right maze, the Defuser reports where the light and the triangle are, and the Expert guides the light one step at a time. Stepping into a wall or off the grid is a strike, and the light stays where it was. Discharge Lever is the odd one out. Its manual page says it needs no Expert help. A meter fills on its own, a full meter is a strike, and the Defuser holds the lever down to drain it and lets go once it is empty. The only shared job is reminding the Defuser to look at it. ## Which module type needs which Expert habit? Each type asks for a different habit. Rule lists need an Expert who reads lines in order and stops at the first true one. Tables need an Expert who waits for a complete description before scanning. Memory needs a pen. Spelling and signals need the Expert to repeat every letter back. Mazes need short, single-step directions. The table below sorts all 14 modules, the 11 regular ones and the 3 needy ones, into the five types. The middle columns say what the Defuser reports and what the Expert holds on the page. | Type | Module | What the Defuser reports | What the Expert holds | | -------------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | Rule list | Wires | Number of wires, colors from the top | One list per wire count, read to the first true line | | Rule list | Big Button | Button color and word, then strip color | A tap or hold list, and a strip color to digit table | | Rule list | Tangled Wires | Red, blue, star and light for each wire | The four-loop diagram and its letter table | | Lookup | Glyph Keypad | Shape and mark on each of four keys | Six columns of glyphs | | Lookup | Pressure Vent (needy) | The question, word for word | A table of six questions and their answers | | Lookup | Dial Alignment (needy) | Twelve lights, lit or dark, row by row | Light patterns and the direction for each | | Memory | Color Echo | Each flash in the growing sequence | Vowel and no-vowel tables with three strike columns | | Memory | Recall | Display digit and the four labels, per stage | Five stage tables, plus written notes of each press | | Memory | Wire Panels | Each wire's color and letter, panel by panel | The cut table, plus running counts per color | | Spelling and signals | Word Grid | The display word and the buttons, spelled out | A which-button-to-read table and a word priority table | | Spelling and signals | Passcode | The six letters on each wheel | A word list to narrow down | | Spelling and signals | Blinker | Each flash group as short or long | A code table and a word list with frequencies | | Position and timing | Labyrinth | Ring places, then the light and the goal | Nine mazes with their walls | | Position and timing | Discharge Lever (needy) | Nothing; the Defuser watches the meter | Nothing to look up | A few habits carry across types. Ask for the full picture before acting on any of it: the wire count before the colors, all four keys before scanning columns. Repeat back what you heard before you give an instruction. And when a strike lands, say so out loud, because Color Echo reads the bomb's strike count and Recall starts over. The [standard manual for seed 1](/manual/1) is a good place to see each type on its real page. For the full description of each regular module, panel by panel, the puzzle guide covers [what Wires, Big Button and Glyph Keypad each show](/blog/bomb-defusal-puzzle-game-11-modules-explained#wires-big-button-and-glyph-keypad-the-first-three-modules) and the eight that follow. The overview of all eleven, with the order the missions introduce them, is in [the bomb defusal puzzle game guide to the 11 modules](/blog/bomb-defusal-puzzle-game-11-modules-explained). ## The module type mistake: one Expert holding every type Giving one Expert every page slows the bomb down once modules of different types are on the case at the same time. The same person cannot hold Recall notes, track Color Echo's strike column and read a Word Grid list at once. Splitting pages by type lets each Expert keep one habit and one set of notes. The trouble shows up around the third section of missions, when needy modules arrive beside the memory modules. A Pressure Vent wakes mid-Recall, the lone Expert flips pages to answer it, and the stage notes get left behind. A strike follows, Recall resets, and the Color Echo column changes too. A two-Expert team can split by type instead of by page order. One Expert takes the memory and spelling modules, which need a pen and patience. The other takes the rule lists, the lookups and the needy questions, which need fast scanning and quick answers. A third Expert, when there is one, can take Labyrinth alone, since guiding a light step by step ties up a voice for a long stretch. The three-player guide has more on [splitting the manual between two Experts](/blog/games-for-3-players-one-defuser-two-experts#splitting-the-manual-between-two-experts) without both talking at once. Splitting has one rule: the Defuser still speaks to one Expert at a time. Name the module first, so the right Expert answers and the other stays quiet. Then run a few missions from the [missions page](/missions) and see whether your split holds up as the case fills.