How to Play BOMBANANA!

BOMBANANA! is publicly presented as a three-player online co-op bomb defusal game. The Steam store page describes three monkeys — one blind, one deaf, one mute — sharing a minivan turned mobile bomb workshop, defusing each bomb under limited time and limited communication.

Here is the one idea that organizes everything else on this page: a first session is rarely lost on the puzzle. It is lost on the handoff. The player who can see the bomb is not the player whose hands are on it, and the player holding the answer cannot always say it out loud. Getting one player's observation across to the player who acts — before the timer runs out — is the actual game.

This page is the starting point, not the whole manual. It gives you the shape of a first session, the smallest setup that lets you start, and an ordered path into the deeper guides. It does not reproduce those guides — each detailed step links to the page that owns it.

Quick answer

• You need exactly three players. The roles are built so no one player can finish a bomb alone.
• Use the official Steam pages for access. Do not chase APKs, mirrors, repacks, or "free full version" links.
• Before the timer starts, name who is Blind, Mute, and Deaf Monkey, and agree on a few signals everyone reads the same way.
• During a bomb, move one observation, one confirmation, one action at a time instead of stacking instructions.
• Treat what you learn in the demo as a starting read, not a final rulebook — module behavior may change before or after full release.

Before you start: the 3-minute setup

If your group is about to press start, keep the first setup short. This is the whole minimum — you do not need the deeper guides to play one round.

Minute	Team action	Good enough for round one
0–1	Confirm official access; assign the three roles.	Everyone knows who is Blind, Mute, and Deaf Monkey.
1–2	Agree on five signals: wait, repeat, confirm, done, unclear.	Each word has exactly one meaning the whole team accepts.
2–3	Set the action rule.	One target, one action, one shared result before moving on.

That is enough to start. Everything below explains why this works and where to go deeper once your first round shows you where your team actually breaks down.

The three roles at a glance

You only need a one-line picture of each role to start; the full breakdown lives on the roles pages.

• Blind Monkey has hands on the bomb but depends on teammates for what is actually there.
• Mute Monkey can work from manual-style information but must send it through signals or ordered choices, not normal speech.
• Deaf Monkey can speak what they observe but cannot rely on hearing voice replies.

The point is not to memorize these — it is to notice that each role is one broken link in a chain, which is why the handoff, not the puzzle, decides the round. For the responsibilities, failure modes, and per-role signals, read the roles overview and the individual Blind, Mute, and Deaf Monkey pages.

The shape of a first session

A first round has a predictable shape. Each stage below is one moment in the round, what the team should be doing, and the guide that owns the detail so this page stays an overview.

Stage	What the team does	Where the depth lives
1. Get in safely	Use official Steam access; get three players in.	Steam demo setup
2. Set up before the timer	Assign roles; agree on the signal set.	Team communication, roles
3. Read one module at a time	Give each callout the same shape so the team can tell fact from question from action.	Demo callouts, manual flow
4. Act once, then confirm	One observation, one confirmation, one action — then share the result.	Team communication
5. After a fail, review the chain	Ask where the handoff broke before blaming the module.	First-session checklist

The routing column never asks you to leave to understand this page — the stage itself is the takeaway. The links are there for when you want to go deeper on one stage.

What to read next, and in what order

If you are going to open one more page, open them in this order — each one assumes you have done the one before it.

1. Steam demo setup — first, because you cannot practice anything until the team has safe official access.
2. First-session checklist — next, as the shortest executable plan for the actual first game.
3. Team communication — when your first round shows the handoff breaking down and you want callout order, signal vocabulary, and confirmation loops in depth.
4. Demo callouts — for a copyable, module-first callout template.
5. Manual flow — for the Mute Monkey's clue, rule, and confirmation path.
6. Roles — to go deep on the role you were assigned.

For current access status use the demo guide; to understand what is and is not confirmed, see the Puzzle Modules index.

What the demo shows and what it does not

This site's guides are built from public information and site-owned analysis, with much of the current detail drawn directly from the demo. That gives you a grounded, current read of how the game actually plays, and it tells you exactly where each rule comes from.

• What is well supported: the three-role premise, the limited-communication design, the Steam demo context, and Puzzle Modules as a feature.
• What is not yet confirmed: every final module rule, the best strategy for the full release, and whether demo behavior carries over unchanged.

In short: use demo observations as a working read, and expect some module details to firm up at full release.

Beginner FAQ

Is this a full BOMBANANA! manual?

No. It is a beginner orientation built from public information and site-owned analysis, meant to point you to the right deeper guide. It should not be treated as an official manual.

Should I read the roles pages first?

Read this page first for the overall first-session shape. Go to the roles pages first only if your team already knows the premise but is unclear on what Blind, Mute, or Deaf Monkey actually do.

Does this include Puzzle Module solutions?

No. Module solutions need stronger evidence than public sources currently provide. The Puzzle Modules index explains that boundary.

Can I use this before playing the demo?

Yes. The setup and reading order are meant for first-session preparation. Use the demo guide for current Steam access.