Lit indicator labels are the three-letter tags on the bomb's casing whose small light is switched on. Bomb Appétit uses eleven possible labels, and a bomb shows up to three of them. Only the Big Button page reads them, and it only counts a label whose light is lit, never an unlit one.
What are the eleven lit indicator labels?
Every indicator label comes from one fixed list of eleven, each exactly three letters long, mostly short kitchen words such as YUM, NOM, FRY and DIP. The manual's edgework appendix prints the whole list, so an Expert can check any label the Defuser reads against it.
Several labels are ordinary words, and that is a trap on a call. Saying "jam" or "hot" is fast, but "nom" and "yum" can blur together, and BRU and MSG are not words at all. Spelling every label one letter at a time costs a second and removes the guesswork.
This table lists all eleven in the order the appendix gives them, with a letter-by-letter reading and whether the label is also an everyday word. A label that reads as a word is the one most tempting to say as a word.
| Label | Say it as | Also an everyday word? |
|---|---|---|
| YUM | Y, U, M | Yes |
| NOM | N, O, M | As slang |
| ZAP | Z, A, P | Yes |
| HOT | H, O, T | Yes |
| ICE | I, C, E | Yes |
| RAW | R, A, W | Yes |
| FRY | F, R, Y | Yes |
| DIP | D, I, P | Yes |
| JAM | J, A, M | Yes |
| BRU | B, R, U | No |
| MSG | M, S, G | No, an abbreviation |
The Expert writes the label as three capital letters. If what they wrote is not on the appendix list, a letter was misheard and the Defuser should spell it again.
How many lit indicator labels can one bomb carry?
A bomb carries zero, one, two or three indicators, and each one's light is either on or off. So the number of lit labels can be anything from none to three. A bomb with no indicators at all is common enough, and the indicators plate then shows "none".
No label appears twice on the same bomb. That means a bomb can never show FRY lit and FRY unlit at once, which keeps the Big Button check simple: a label is present with its light on, present with its light off, or absent.
On the screen, a lit indicator has a glowing pale dot and the small word "lit" after its letters. An unlit one has a dark dot and the word "off". Both words are printed, so the Defuser never has to judge brightness.
For the habit of saying the state aloud with every label, see reading lit and unlit aloud. The short version: letters first, then "lit" or "off", for every indicator.
How does the Big Button use a lit indicator label?
A Big Button line can say "if there is a lit indicator labelled" followed by one label. That line is true only when the bomb has an indicator with exactly those letters and its light is on. The same label unlit, or a different label lit, makes the line false.
The Big Button page is a list read from the top. The first true line decides whether the Defuser taps or holds. A line can also join two conditions with "and", so an indicator check may sit beside a button color or a battery count, and both halves must be true. An invented example: "If the button says HUSH and there is a lit indicator labelled ZAP, hold the button."
Which label a line names, and whether the page uses an indicator line at all, depends on the rule seed. One manual might name RAW, another JAM, another none. The Expert reads the label from the page and compares it with the notes, nothing more.
Big Button is the only module that reads indicators; no other page mentions them. For how the other modules pose their questions instead, see the guide to the five ways a module asks.
The indicator label mistake: counting an unlit label as lit
The common mistake is matching letters and forgetting the light. The Big Button line asks for a lit label, so an unlit indicator with the right letters does not satisfy it. On the casing, the light is the deciding detail; the letters only say which indicator to look at.
It happens because notes get shortened. An Expert writes "ZAP" during the read-out, drops the "off", and later sees "lit indicator labelled ZAP" on the page. The letters match, the line looks true, and the Defuser holds when the list wanted a tap. That is a strike.
Two habits prevent it. The Expert always writes the state beside the label, as in "ZAP off". And when a Big Button line names a label, the Expert reads both words of the note back before answering.
Indicators are one of four kinds of edgework. Batteries are covered in battery count rules, and ports in the six bomb port types. To see the full list of labels in place, open the edgework appendix of the standard manual.