# Dial Alignment Lights: Matching Twelve to a Direction

- Author: Bomb Appétit (https://bombappetit.com)
- Published: 2026-10-20
- Category: Modules and the manual
- Canonical: https://bombappetit.com/blog/dial-alignment-lights-matching-a-direction

> Dial Alignment lights come in two rows of six. How the Defuser reads them out, how the Expert finds the matching picture, and where to point the dial.
Dial Alignment lights are twelve small lamps in two rows of six that appear when this needy module wakes. The Defuser reads which lights are lit, row by row, and the Expert finds the matching picture in the manual. The picture names a direction, and the dial must point that way when the 40 second countdown reaches zero.

## What the Dial Alignment panel shows: twelve lights and a dial

The Dial Alignment panel has a two-digit countdown, a block of twelve lights in two rows of six, a dial with a pointer, and one turn button. Each press of the turn button moves the dial one quarter turn clockwise: up, right, down, left, then up again. There is no submit button.

That last point shapes the whole module. Nothing is checked when the button is pressed. The game looks at the dial only once, at the moment the countdown hits zero. If the dial points the way the manual says, the module goes back to sleep quietly. If it points anywhere else, the bomb takes a strike, and then the module sleeps.

While the module sleeps, the countdown shows two dashes and the lights are blank. The turn button does nothing until it wakes. The first wake comes 20 to 45 seconds after the bomb is armed, and every later wake follows a nap of 15 to 30 seconds.

Dial Alignment is a needy module, one of three in the game. Like the others it is never solved; it keeps waking until the bomb is defused or goes off.

## Reading Dial Alignment lights row by row

Read the top row first, left to right, then the bottom row, left to right, using one short word per light. "Lit" and "dark" work well: one syllable each, and they sound nothing alike. "On" and "off" can blur on a poor call, since both start with the same vowel.

That order is the one the [Dial Alignment section of the manual](/manual/1) asks for: have the Defuser read out both rows, left to right. Sticking to it means the Expert's eye moves across each picture the same way the Defuser's voice does.

There are two good styles of read-out, and teams should pick one before the round:

- **Every light.** "Top: lit, dark, lit, lit, dark, dark. Bottom: dark, lit, dark, dark, lit, lit." Twelve words, no counting needed, easy to check.
- **Only the lit positions.** "Top: one, three, four. Bottom: two, five, six." Shorter, but both people must count positions from the left the same way.

Say the row name before each row. Without "top" and "bottom", a pause in the middle of the read-out can make the Expert think a new row has started.

## Finding the matching Dial Alignment picture

The manual shows eight pictures of the twelve lights, each next to an arrow and a direction word. A filled circle is a lit light and a hollow circle is a dark one. The Expert compares the Defuser's read-out with each picture until one matches every light, then says the direction beside it.

Every picture has between four and eight lit lights, and no two pictures are the same. Counting the lit lights first is a quick filter. If the Defuser says six are lit, any picture with five or seven can be skipped without a closer look.

If the count leaves two or three candidates, compare their top rows with the read-out. Any picture that differs on a single top-row light is out. Then check the bottom row of the survivor before saying the direction.

Sometimes no picture matches. That always means a light was misread or misheard, because every pattern the module can show is printed in the manual. Rather than asking for all twelve lights again, the Expert can name the closest picture and the light that differs: "I have top row, light four, lit. Check it." The Defuser looks at that one light and confirms or corrects it. This takes a few seconds, where a full re-read under a falling countdown can take ten.

Each direction appears on exactly two of the eight pictures. That means there is no safe guess: up, right, down and left are all equally likely, so the dial's starting position gives no advantage. The pictures, the directions beside them and the lights that wake on the module all come from the rule seed, so learn the method, not one manual's pictures.

The [bomb manual glossary](/blog/bomb-manual-glossary-seven-terms) covers terms like "needy" that the page uses without explaining.

## How many turns does the Dial Alignment dial need?

Count clockwise steps from where the dial points now to the target direction. Each press is one quarter turn. From up, right is one press, down is two and left is three. If the dial already points the right way, the answer is zero presses, and the right move is to leave it alone.

The clockwise order never changes: up, right, down, left. A simple way to count is to say each direction as the dial reaches it. The Defuser presses once and says "right", presses again and says "down". The Expert hears the target named and says "stop".

Some counts trip people up because the dial only turns one way. From right to up is not one turn back but three turns forward: right to down, down to left, left to up. There is no counterclockwise button, so a target "just behind" the pointer is always the longest trip.

### A worked Dial Alignment example

These values are invented to show the method. The real pictures and directions depend on the seed.

| Step                      | Example                                         |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Top row, left to right    | lit, dark, lit, lit, dark, dark                 |
| Bottom row, left to right | dark, lit, dark, dark, lit, lit                 |
| Lit lights                | 6                                               |
| Matching picture          | the example picture with the same twelve lights |
| Direction beside it       | up                                              |
| Where the dial points now | right                                           |
| Clockwise turns needed    | 3 (right to down, down to left, left to up)     |

In this example, the Defuser presses three times and reads each new direction: "down, left, up". The Expert says "stop" on "up". The dial then sits there until the countdown ends, and the module sleeps without a strike.

The [40 second needy module timer](/blog/needy-module-timer-wake-and-sleep#the-40-second-needy-module-timer-on-pressure-vent-and-dial-alignment) guide explains how that window is counted and why a late glance at the panel shortens it.

## Does the Dial Alignment dial reset after it sleeps?

No. The Dial Alignment dial stays exactly where it was left when the module goes to sleep. On the next wake, it starts from that direction, not from up. The manual says so in one line: the dial stays where it was left.

That turns the end of one activation into the start of the next. If the dial was set to left last time, the Defuser should say "dial on left" when reading the new lights. The Expert then counts turns from left, not from wherever the dial pointed at the very start of the round.

At the start of the bomb, the dial points in a random direction. After that, only the team's presses move it. Nothing else on the bomb turns it.

A practical habit for the Defuser is to name the dial's direction as part of every read-out: "Dial wake. Pointer on down. Top: lit, lit, dark..." That one extra phrase saves the Expert from having to ask.

## The Dial Alignment mistake: turning one step too far

Turning too far happens when the Defuser presses one more time than needed, often by pressing in rhythm and not stopping on the target. The dial then points the wrong way. It is not a strike yet, because nothing is checked until the countdown reaches zero. The fix is three more presses.

Since the dial only turns clockwise, one step past the target is three steps short of it. Four presses always bring the dial back to where it began. So if the target was up and the dial now points right, press three more times: down, left, up.

That fix is only possible with time left. With two seconds on the countdown, three presses may not fit. The best defence is to press slowly and say each direction out loud, so the Expert can say "stop" before the extra press, not after.

There is a second version of this mistake: forgetting that the dial kept its position from last time and counting turns from up. The count comes out wrong by however far the dial had moved. Naming the starting direction at every wake prevents it.

### Who keeps an eye on the dial

Because the dial is judged only at zero, it is easy to forget once it has been set. Someone still has to watch the module wake each time. The guide on [why needy modules never stay solved](/blog/needy-modules-never-stay-solved) covers how to share that watch around the table.

Dial Alignment is one of the needy modules in Bomb Appétit, the free co-op game where one Defuser holds the bomb and one to four Experts hold the manual. To try it, open the [missions page](/missions) and pick a mission that lists a needy module.