Bomb Busters · Reference sheet

Bomb Busters reference sheet

Overview

Cooperative bomb-defusal game for 2–5 players, ~30 minutes [p.2 — Aim of the Game]
All players are bomb disposal experts working as one team [p.2 — Aim of the Game]
Win by emptying all tile stands (all wires cut) [p.7 — End of the Game]
Lose if a red wire is cut OR the detonator dial reaches the skull [p.2 — Aim of the Game]
Core loop: on your turn, guess a teammate's wire value and cut matching pairs [p.5 — The Game]
Communication about wire values is strictly forbidden [p.7 — Clarifications]

Choose a Mission card; Captain reads it aloud, then flips it facedown to the board [p.2 — Setup]
Assign Captain (random first game, then pass left); everyone takes a Character card [p.2 — Setup]
Distribute tile stands by player count [p.2 — Setup]

Prepare Wire tiles: all 48 blue + red/yellow as shown on Mission card; mark red/yellow values on board (blank side up) [p.3 — Setup]
Shuffle all wires facedown; deal as equally as possible to tile stands [p.3 — Setup]
Players sort their wires left-to-right in ascending order, values facing themselves [p.3 — Setup]
Place Equipment cards (one per player) faceup over the checkmark — not yet usable [p.4 — Setup]
Set detonator dial to the space matching player count [p.4 — Setup]
Starting with Captain clockwise, each player places 1 Info token pointing to a blue wire in their hand (no yellow tokens during setup) [p.4 — Setup]

Active bomb disposal expert does exactly 1 of these actions each turn [p.5 — The Game]:

Dual Cut — State a value, point to a teammate's wire; if correct both cut it, if wrong dial advances and teammate places an Info token [p.5 — Dual Cut Action]
Solo Cut — If all remaining copies of a value are in your hand, reveal and cut 2 or 4 at once [p.6 — Solo Cut Action]
Reveal Your Red Wires — Only if ALL your remaining wires are red; reveal them all [p.6 — Reveal Your Red Wires Action]

After all 4 copies of a value are cut, place a Validation token on the board [p.6 — Validation Tokens]
Skip players with empty stands [p.7 — Clarifications]

Action	Requirement	Success	Failure
Dual Cut	Have a matching wire in your own hand	Both wires revealed & placed faceup	Red wire → bomb explodes; Blue/Yellow → dial advances 1, teammate places Info token
Solo Cut	All remaining copies of that value are in your hand	Reveal 2 or 4 wires faceup	N/A
Reveal Red Wires	ALL your remaining wires are red	Reveal all faceup	N/A

Yellow wires: state 'This wire is yellow' — all yellows share the same value 'YELLOW' [p.6 — The Yellow Wires]
Equipment: usable once, by anyone, when 2 wires of the card's corner value have been cut [p.6 — The Equipment Cards]
Character card personal equipment: usable once per mission [p.7 — The Character Cards]

Win: All tile stands are empty (every wire cut) [p.7 — End of the Game]
Loss: A red wire is cut OR the detonator dial reaches the skull [p.7 — End of the Game]
On failure: change Captain, restart the same mission [p.7 — End of the Game]
After completing Mission 8: open the first 'Surprise' box (Missions 9–19) [p.7 — End of the Game]

Captain: Designated leader; reads Mission card aloud; role passes left each mission [p.2 — Setup]
Tile Stand: Rack holding a player's wire tiles (their 'hand') [p.3 — Setup]
Info Token: Token placed pointing at a wire to show its true value [p.4 — Setup]
Validation Token: Placed on the board when all 4 copies of a wire value are cut [p.6 — Validation Tokens]
Detonator Dial: Tracks failures; reaching the skull = bomb explodes [p.2 — Aim of the Game]
Dual Cut: Action where active player guesses a teammate's wire and cuts a matching pair [p.5 — Dual Cut Action]
Solo Cut: Action cutting 2 or 4 remaining copies of a value all held in one hand [p.6 — Solo Cut Action]
Double Detector: Character ability; point to 2 teammate wires instead of 1 during Dual Cut [p.7 — The Character Cards]
Red Wire: Cutting one incorrectly ends the mission immediately [p.5 — Dual Cut Action]
Yellow Wire: Treated as a single shared value 'YELLOW' regardless of printed number [p.6 — The Yellow Wires]