Security Alert! The hull has been breached! Intruders have made their way on to your ship! Their goal: Total Destruction!
More than 20 bombs have been detected onboard, and the countdown has begun. Your elite Bomb Defusal Team (BDT) has been called upon to neutralize the threat.
Does your group have what it takes to work through the intricacies of the bombs and defuse them in time? You'd better get moving, because this game will self-destruct in 10 minutes...
Components
- 54 Bomb Cards
- 11 Fuse Cards
- 25 Custom Dice (5 each in red, blue, green, yellow, and black)
- 1 Cloth Bag
- Downloadable Ship's Computer App (free)
Note: If you do not have access to download the App, any 10 minute timer will work.
Setup
Separate the Bomb Cards from the Fuse Cards.
Note: There are 5 Bomb cards in the deck that are more difficult (2 double stacks and 3 large pyramids, all worth 6 points. Remove these cards from the deck unless you want a more difficult game).
Shuffle the Bomb Cards together and deal two cards to each player. If you are playing a solitaire game, then deal four cards to yourself.
Each player places their cards face-up in front of them on the table.
If the first card a player is dealt is a 3 or a 4 point card, then the second card must be a 1 or 2 point card. For a solitaire game, you must have at least 3 different value cards (1,1,2,3 or 2,3,3,4, etc).
Deal cards until this is true, and then reshuffle unused cards back into the deck.
Next, deal Bomb Cards face-down into a deck according to the number of players and the difficulty level you wish to play:
| # of players | Training | Standard | Expert | Elite | Insane |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 |
| 2 | 17 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 |
| 3 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 |
| 4 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 |
| 5 | 20 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 |
Place the remainder of the deck back in the box. From the deck you created, deal 5 of the Bomb Cards face-up in the center of the table, in a line.
Shuffle 6 random Fuse Cards into the remaining Bomb Cards. Place this deck of cards face-down next to the 5 face-up Bomb Cards.
Place all 25 dice into the bag.
One player takes the bag of dice, and you are ready to play.
Game Play
Start the timer. You and your team now have 10 minutes to defuse all of the bombs. Each Bomb Card requires a different combination of dice in order to defuse it.
The player with the bag of dice reaches in and draws out a number of dice equal to the number of players in the game, and rolls them. Each player will take at most one of these dice. Players must communicate to work out how to best distribute the dice.
Note: In a 2 player game, draw four dice, and each player will take two dice.
Note: In a solitaire game, draw three dice.
If a player draws too many dice out of the bag, he must return them all to the bag and draw again. It is not required to draw all of the needed dice at once. For example, in a 4 player game, a player could draw out 2 dice at a time.
Players take their chosen die and must place it on a matching icon on one of their Bomb Cards. Any dice not taken by a player must be rolled (see Unused Dice).
Other than on Stack and Pyramid cards (see below), dice can be placed in any order.
For example, on this card a player could start by placing a 1 in the second space. He would then need a 3 to completely defuse the bomb. The order that the spaces on the card are filled is up to the player.
Anatomy of a Bomb Card
The icons on the Bomb Card show the types of dice that must be placed in order to defuse the bombs. See the section at the end of the rules titled Icons for a breakdown of the different types of dice combinations needed.
The number in the upper right corner of the card is the number of points that your team will receive at the end of the game if you successfully defused this bomb. The higher the point value, the more difficult the bomb is to defuse.
Note: With the exception of Stacks and Pyramids, dice are placed on the spaces with matching icons. The symbols between these spaces always refer to the adjacent dice.
Example: This card shows that you can either match the number on the die OR the color of the die.
If the first die is a Yellow 5 and is placed on the leftmost space, then the next space could be a Yellow die OR a 5.
Now that a Red 5 has been placed in the second space, the third space could be either a Red die or a 5.
Stacks
Some Bomb Cards require that the dice be stacked on top of each other. Stack Cards are the cards that show a blank white space and have an arrow from left to right. These cards work the same as any other Bomb Card with the following exceptions:
Dice must be placed in order (as listed from left to right, following the arrow on the card).
Dice are stacked on the blank white space instead of on the icons.
If a stack or pyramid falls over for any reason, all dice from the card are returned to the bag. Defusing bombs is delicate work!
In the example above, a Yellow die must be placed first, followed by a Red die stacked on top of it, and then a Blue die, and a Green die.
Pyramids
Pyramids work like Stacks in that you must place the dice in a certain order, but there is a bit more leeway. A die can be placed as long as there is something supporting it.
That could be either the card itself (it is one of the lowest level dice), or there are 2 dice under it. In the following example, the Green or the 3 could be placed first, and the Black die must be placed last.
The same as with the Stack Cards, dice are placed on the blank white spaces instead of on the icons themselves.
Note: Dice that have been placed on Bomb Cards cannot be moved or removed (unless removed by a Fuse Card or Unused Dice (see below)).
Unused Dice
Any dice not taken by the players must be rolled again. After rolling, each player must take one die (if possible) from their Bomb Cards and place it back in the bag. The chosen die must match the color of the die, or the number rolled.
A die that is below any other dice in a stack or pyramid is considered safe.
Example: It is a 3 player game. 2 players have taken a die, but the 3rd die cannot be used. The die that was not taken is rolled, and comes up as a 5. Since it is a red die, each player must return one red die OR one 5 die from one of their Bomb Cards, if possible.
Carter returns his Blue 5 to the bag. Kallen returns his red 2 to the bag. Carrie does not have any 5s, and her only red die is safe because it is not the top die in her stack.
Note: If there is more than one die to be rolled, you must roll and resolve them one at a time, in any order.
Defusing A Bomb
When all required dice have been placed on a Bomb Card, the bomb has been defused. Follow these steps:
Remove the dice from the card, and place them back in the bag.
Place the completed Bomb Card off to the side, face-down.
Choose one of the face-up Bomb cards from the middle of the table to replace your defused Bomb Card.
Replace the Bomb Card you chose with a new card from the deck.
If you draw a Fuse Card, activate it (see below) and draw a new card.
Tip: If you have a Level 3 or 4 Bomb Card already, do not take another Level 3 or 4 card when you choose your new card (unless you don't have a choice), as this can make it more difficult for you to be able to take dice.
Fuse Cards
Fuse Cards will show either a die number or a die color on them. In either case, all players must return one die of the matching number or color from their Bomb Cards to the bag (if possible).
Example: Jenny just defused a Bomb Card. She chooses a new Bomb Card from the line of face-up cards and draws a new card to replace it. The drawn card is a Fuse Card. The card shows a blue die on it. She announces this, and all players must return one Blue die from their Bomb Cards to the bag, if possible. After resolving the Fuse Card, she draws a new card to replace it.
Note: Dice are NOT lost off of completed Bomb Cards, even if the dice match a Fuse Card or an unused die that was rolled. As soon as the final needed die is added to a Bomb Card, it is considered complete.
Once all dice have been allocated and Fuse Cards activated, pass the bag to the next player in clockwise order. He will draw dice as described above, and this process continues for the remainder of the game.
Note: If at any time it is found that a player has an incorrect die placement on a Bomb Card, the entire Bomb Card must be cleared and all of those dice placed back in the bag.
End of the Game
The game ends in a player victory if your team successfully defuses the required number of bombs (determined by the difficulty level chosen) before the timer runs out. Once the last Bomb Card is taken from the middle of the table, stop the timer, and the game ends in victory.
(You do not need to clear the two cards in front of you, only clear all of the cards from the middle of the table. Luckily, the cards in front of you turned out to be duds).
Note: The Insane level of the game requires players to clear all cards from the middle of the table, and in addition, defuse all of the cards face-up in front of them. Also note that it is most likely impossible to win on the Insane level.
The game ends in a player loss if the timer runs out before your team defuses all of the bombs, or if you ever need to draw dice from the bag and it is empty.
Scoring
At the end of the game, players will total their score and record it on the BDT Log. Score points as follows:
10 points if you won the game (successfully defused the required number of bombs)
1 point per full 10 seconds left on the clock (if you won).
The total points shown on the successfully defused Bomb Cards
2 points for each Fuse Card activated.
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