Manual rule lists are the numbered if-lines on the Wires and Big Button pages of the Bomb Appétit manual. You read them from line one downward, test each condition against the bomb, and act on the first line that is true. Every list ends in an Otherwise line, which applies only when no line above it was true.
Which modules use manual rule lists?
Two pages in the manual answer through a rule list: Wires and Big Button. Each line starts with "If", names one or two facts about the bomb, and ends with an action. Both pages say the same thing in their opening paragraph: read from the top and stop at the first line that is true.
The Wires page holds four separate lists, one for each wire count from three to six. A Wires panel always has exactly one wire that must be cut, so each line ends with which wire to cut: a numbered wire counted from the top, the last wire, or the first or last wire of a named color. Each list has three or four if-lines before its Otherwise line, and the list you use depends only on how many wires the Defuser counts. The post on the Wires lists by wire count walks through choosing the right one before reading any line.
The Big Button page has a single list of four or five if-lines plus Otherwise. Every line ends with one of two moves: tap the button or hold it. Below the list sits a small table for releasing a held button, which is a lookup and works differently. Both pages are in the standard manual, seed 1 if you want to follow along.
Two other pages show numbered lines that look like rule lists and are not. Blinker opens with five numbered steps, and Wire Panels opens with six. Those are a procedure: you do every step, in order, every time. Nothing on those pages tells you to stop early. Treating a procedure as a rule list, or a rule list as a procedure, is the first way an Expert goes wrong, so check which kind of page you are on before reading aloud. For what each of the eleven puzzles asks, see the guide to all 11 regular modules.
Rule list lines joined by and
A rule list line joined by "and" counts only when both of its parts are true. If one part is false, the whole line is false and you move to the next line. Most lines have a single condition, but some pair two, and those are the lines that catch Experts who read too quickly.
On the Wires page a condition can be about color counts (there are no red wires, there is exactly one blue wire, there is more than one yellow wire), about the last wire's color, or about whether the last digit of the serial number is odd or even. On the Big Button page a condition can be the button's color, the word printed on it, the number of batteries, or a lit indicator with a given label.
An invented example of a two-part Big Button line looks like this: "If the button is blue and the bomb has more than 2 batteries, hold the button." A blue button on a bomb with two batteries fails it. A red button on a bomb with four batteries fails it too. Only a blue button on a bomb with three or more batteries passes.
The safe habit is to say both halves out loud and get a yes for each. "Blue? Yes. More than two batteries? We have two. No." That is slower by a second than glancing at the line, and it removes an easy way to read a two-part line as true when it is not: seeing the first half match and letting relief do the rest.
Watch the exact wording of counts as well. "More than one" means two or more. "Exactly one" fails with two. "There are no red wires" is true on a panel with zero red wires and false on any panel with at least one. These read alike when spoken fast, so read the count word slowly.
Why does a rule list stop at the first true line?
A rule list stops at the first true line because that is how the rules are written: each line only applies to bombs that failed every line above it. Lower lines can also be true for your bomb. They still do not count. The first true line is the answer, even if a later line seems to fit better.
Think of the list as a series of gates. A bomb that passes line one is handled by line one and never reaches line two. Line two was written for bombs that failed line one, line three for bombs that failed lines one and two, and so on. So a lower line that happens to be true for your bomb is describing a situation that, for your bomb, never arises.
This is why reading lines after the first true one out loud does harm. The Defuser hears two instructions and has to guess which one you meant. Stop reading at the first true line, say the action, and have the Defuser repeat it before acting.
The rules are generated from the manual's rule seed, so the lines, their order and their actions differ from one seed to the next. What does not change is the method on these two pages. Here is a fully invented example of a four-wire list, worked against an invented bomb. Your manual's list will say something different.
Example list for four wires (invented):
- If there are no red wires, cut the second wire.
- If the last wire is white and the last digit of the serial number is odd, cut the last wire.
- If there is more than one blue wire, cut the last blue wire.
- If the last wire is white and there is exactly one red wire, cut the first red wire.
- Otherwise, cut the first wire.
Example bomb (invented): four wires, top to bottom red, blue, blue, white. The serial number ends in 4.
| Line | Test against the example bomb | Result | What the Expert does |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Any red wires? Yes, the first wire is red | False | Move on |
| 2 | Last wire white? Yes. Serial ends odd? No, it is 4 | False | Move on |
| 3 | More than one blue wire? Two blue wires | True | Stop here |
| 4 | Not tested | Skip | Never read aloud |
| 5 | Not tested | Skip | Never read aloud |
Action in this example: cut the last blue wire, which is the third wire from the top. The Expert says "cut the third wire, the second of the two blues", the Defuser repeats it, and cuts.
The Otherwise line at the bottom of every rule list
The Otherwise line applies when every line above it was false, and only then. It has no condition of its own. Every Wires list and the Big Button list end with one, so a bomb can never fall off the bottom of a list without an answer.
Because Otherwise has no test, it is tempting to treat it as the default answer and check it first. That is backwards. You reach Otherwise only after confirming, one by one, that each line above it fails. Skipping that work and reading Otherwise is the same as guessing.
On the Wires page, Otherwise usually names a wire by position, such as the first or the last. On the Big Button page it says tap or hold. In the invented example above, Otherwise would have said "cut the first wire", which was the red wire, and cutting it would have been a strike because line 3 was true.
A useful check when you land on Otherwise: say "none of the lines matched" before giving the action. If the Defuser has a doubt about a fact you used, such as the count of a color, that sentence gives them the moment to raise it.
Rule list conditions that need the edgework
Some rule list conditions ask about the bomb's casing, which the manual calls edgework. Wires lines can ask whether the serial number ends in an odd or even digit. Big Button lines can ask about the battery count or a lit indicator with a given label. Have those facts written down before the list is read.
The manual's opening page and its edgework appendix both say to collect the edgework once, at the start of the round. If you skip that, a Big Button list with a battery line forces you to stop mid-list, ask the Defuser to turn the bomb, count holders, and come back. That interrupts the first-true-line reading at exactly the point where losing your place is costly.
Two edgework details matter most for rule lists:
- Batteries are counted as batteries, not holders. A holder carries one battery or a pack of two, so two holders can mean four batteries. A line that says "more than 2 batteries" is about the battery count unless it says holders.
- An indicator line asks for a lit indicator with that label. An unlit indicator with the same label does not satisfy it.
A note sheet with one line of edgework at the top makes these tests instant. The guide to what to write in Bomb Expert notes lays out that line and the rest of the sheet.
The rule list mistake: choosing the line that fits best
A frequent rule list mistake is reading the whole list, then picking the line that matches the most facts about the bomb. A two-part line where both halves are true feels more certain than a one-part line. It does not matter. Order decides, not fit. The first true line wins even if a later line matches better.
Look at line 4 in the invented example. Both its parts are true for the example bomb: the last wire is white, and there is exactly one red wire. It describes the bomb more completely than line 3 does. An Expert who scans the whole list will find line 4 satisfying and say "cut the first red wire". That is a strike, because line 3 was already true and the list stopped there.
The fix is a reading habit, not more care. Read one line, test it, and say true or false out loud before your eyes move down. Do not look ahead. If you catch yourself reading a line further down while still unsure about the current one, go back to the current one.
A second version of the mistake happens after a strike. The Expert, rattled, rereads the list from the line that was wrong instead of from the top. Always restart at line one. The facts have not changed, but your reading of them might have.
Some pages read in a different way entirely. When the page is a grid instead of a list, use the method in reading manual lookup tables row first, then column. For a list, one line at a time from the top is the whole method, and it holds for every rule seed.