# Bomb Port Types: Hex, Twin, Ribbon and Three More

- Author: Bomb Appétit (https://bombappetit.com)
- Published: 2026-10-20
- Category: Modules and the manual
- Canonical: https://bombappetit.com/blog/bomb-port-types-hex-to-trident

> The six bomb port types are Hex, Twin, Ribbon, Coax, Slot and Trident. How to recognise each shape, count port plates, and when Tangled Wires asks.
Bomb Appétit has six bomb port types: Hex, Twin, Ribbon, Coax, Slot and Trident. Each one is drawn as a simple outline on a port plate along the casing. Tangled Wires is the only module that checks them, and it asks just one thing: does the bomb carry the single port type its manual page names?

## What do the six bomb port types look like?

Each of the six port types has its own outline, drawn so it can be described without knowing what it is for. The manual's edgework appendix shows every drawing beside its name and a one-line description of the shape. Once a team knows the six names, one word per port is enough.

The table below puts the six side by side. The middle column paraphrases the shape the appendix describes; the right column is the word the Defuser says once the team has learned the set, plus the port it is most easily mixed up with.

| Port name | What the outline shows                                  | Say       | Do not mix up with |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | ------------------ |
| Hex       | A six-sided shape crossed by one bar through its center | "Hex"     | Slot               |
| Twin      | A pair of round sockets next to each other              | "Twin"    | Coax               |
| Ribbon    | A long, wide box holding a row of five little pins      | "Ribbon"  | Slot               |
| Coax      | A single big circle with a filled dot at its heart      | "Coax"    | Twin               |
| Slot      | A box with rounded corners and one fat horizontal bar   | "Slot"    | Ribbon or Hex      |
| Trident   | Three prongs standing up from a flat base               | "Trident" | Nothing close      |

The mix-ups follow the shapes. Twin and Coax are both made of circles: Twin has two, Coax has one with a dot. Ribbon and Slot are both rectangles: Ribbon has five short pins, Slot has a single thick bar. Hex also has a bar across it, but its outline has six sides, not four.

A Defuser who has not learned the names yet can describe the shape and let the Expert match it in the appendix. That is slower but safe, and after a round or two the names come naturally.

## Port plates: up to three, and some are empty

A bomb has between zero and three port plates. Each plate holds up to three ports, all of different types, or no ports at all. So one bomb can show anything from no ports to nine, and the same type may appear on two separate plates.

The edgework strip groups ports by plate. Each plate is drawn as its own small box with its port outlines inside. A plate with nothing on it still appears, marked "empty". When the bomb has no plates at all, the plate area just says "none".

The rules do not care which plate a port sits on, or how many of a type there are. They only ask whether a type is present somewhere on the bomb. A Twin on the second plate counts the same as a Twin on the first.

That makes the most useful note a short list of types, not a map of plates. For example, an Expert might write "PORTS: twin, ribbon, trident" for a bomb with two plates and one empty one. For the reasoning behind naming ports by shape alone, see [naming port types, not their purpose](/blog/bomb-instructions-game-reading-the-edgework#ports-which-types-are-there-not-what-they-do).

## Which bomb port type does Tangled Wires check?

Tangled Wires checks exactly one port type, and the manual page names it. The P letter on that page reads "cut the wire if the bomb has a" followed by one type, written in lowercase. Which type it names depends on the rule seed, so every manual can pick a different one.

Tangled Wires gives each crossing wire four yes-or-no facts, and those facts lead to a letter. C means cut and D means leave. S, P and B each pass the choice to the edgework, with P asking about the named port.

When a wire lands on P, the Expert checks the port list in the notes for the type the page names. If it is there on any plate, the Defuser cuts. If it is missing, the Defuser leaves the wire. Every wire that lands on P gets the same answer on that bomb, so it is worth writing "P: cut" or "P: leave" after the first lookup.

The other module that people expect to ask about ports is Wires, but its page never does. Its lines test wire colors, the last wire, and sometimes the serial number's last digit. The [Wires module manual guide](/blog/wires-module-manual-which-wire-to-cut) walks through how those lists read. For the wider picture of how each module poses its question, see the [five ways a module asks](/blog/bomb-module-types-five-ways-a-module-asks).

## The port type mistake: counting an empty plate as a port

The usual port mistake is reporting an empty plate as if it held something. A bare plate is still drawn on the casing, which makes it look like part of the answer. It adds no type, so it can never make the Tangled Wires P letter true.

The slip usually comes from counting plates instead of listing types. A Defuser says "two port plates", the Expert writes "2 ports", and when a P wire comes up later the note gives no type names to check. Worse, the Expert may assume one of the two plates held the named type.

A clean read-out avoids both. Name every plate in turn, say "empty" for a bare one, and finish with the list of types. An example: "Port plates: three. First, coax and slot. Second, empty. Third, hex. Types: coax, slot, hex."

The Expert writes only the types. If Tangled Wires is on the bomb, the Expert also looks up the named type straight away and writes "P: cut" or "P: leave" before the module comes up. The [standard manual](/manual/1) shows the six port drawings in its edgework appendix; open it once and the shapes are easy to recall during a round.