Getting started with BOMBANANA

BOMBANANA is out on Steam. Lefto Studio shipped the full game on 2 September 2026, TARK publishes it, and the listing is app 4656000. The old demo (app 4747510) taught millions of people the joke. This page is the first-night plan for the released build: buy it, install it on three machines, sit three people in one lobby, and finish a bomb without treating the timer as a dare.

You need exactly three players. The game will not start with one or two. There is no bot, no offline puzzle book, and no spectator who can touch a module for you. If your group is four, someone sits out. If your group is two, you wait. Read Playing Co-op when the social logistics are the hard part. Stay here when you still need the order of operations.

Buy, install, and launch once solo

The list price is $7.99. An introductory price of $4.95 runs through 9 September 2026. Each friend needs their own Steam copy on Windows 10/11 64-bit or macOS 11 or later. Minimum Windows hardware is an Intel Core i3-6100 or Ryzen 3 1200, 8 GB RAM, Intel HD 520 or Vega 3, 300 MB of disk, and broadband. macOS minimum is 4 GB RAM and 600 MB of disk. If anyone is on a thin laptop, check system requirements before you schedule the night.

Install, then launch once alone. Reach the main menu, open Options, and confirm the game actually runs. Do this before the voice call. First-hour failures are usually a friend still downloading, a mic that Windows assigned to a headset they are not wearing, or a Steam overlay that never sent the invite.

Steam lists full controller support, Xbox controllers, PlayStation controllers, and Steam Input. Steam Deck compatibility is Unknown. Bindings live in Options and in Steam Input; do not memorize a streamer’s layout as law. The controls guide covers movement, the emote wheel, and why Blind’s left and right are the only directions that matter.

THREE MONKEYS DIFFUSING A BOMB | BOMBANANA gameplay

Build the lobby before anyone picks a banana

Open a room with the server browser, a room code, or a Steam friends invite. You do not have to be Steam friends if you share a code or find the lobby in the browser. Wait until the lobby shows three ready monkeys. Use the random role button only if the group actually wants a surprise. New teams should assign jobs on purpose.

• Blind Monkey is the only player who touches the bomb. They cannot see colors or screens. They read braille by touch. They can hear spoken instructions.
• Mute Monkey is the only player with the defusal manual. They cannot speak. They answer with gestures and the emote wheel.
• Deaf Monkey sees the bomb and the other monkeys, can speak, and cannot hear.

Information usually travels Mute to Deaf to Blind. Mute looks up the rule. Deaf sees the gesture and talks. Blind repeats the action and presses once. Deep role pages live on the players hub, plus Blind Monkey, Mute Monkey, and Deaf Monkey. If you skip those, at least agree that Deaf is the bridge and Blind never guesses a color.

Two colorblind modes sit in Options. Turn them on before Campaign if anyone on the sighted side struggles with wire hues. In-game voice is restricted by role, so a working microphone does not mean Deaf will hear you. Test that limit in the lobby, not on a live LED.

Agree four things, then start a simple bomb

Before Start, lock four rules out loud:

1. Left and right mean Blind Monkey’s left and right, even when Deaf is looking from the other side of the casing.
2. Wire colors are always read left to right, and the count is spoken before any color.
3. Three emotes mean wait, yes, and wrong. Mute needs those more than anyone else, but the full game gives every role an emote wheel.
4. A stop phrase means hands off. Nobody cuts, types, or hits Enter until Deaf says the phrase is lifted.

Print or pin the callout sheet. The sentence shape is always the same: module name, position on the bomb, the details that family needs, Mute’s answer, Blind’s repeat-back, Deaf’s confirm, then one input. Teams that skip the module name send Mute to the wrong manual page. Teams that skip the repeat-back cut the first wire that sounded confident.

For the first bomb, stay on an early Campaign stage or a Custom setup with a generous timer, few modules, and a mistake limit above zero. Do not queue Endless to impress anyone. Endless is procedural waves that get harder. Campaign is thirty handcrafted levels. The demo’s roughly seven tiers and Free Mode are not that map. When you are ready to climb, use Campaign Levels.

What the first modules will ask you to say

You will meet wires early. Deaf counts the cables, reads colors left to right, and names the LED. Mute matches that package to the manual and signals which cable to cut. Blind says the color and the position, waits for yes, and cuts once. Cutting is permanent.

Direction modules need the LED, a center value or braille that Blind can feel, and a press on Blind’s left, right, up, or down. The keypad is a trap if anyone treats it like a phone pad: the glyphs are jumbled, so Blind must press the number they were told, not the slot where that number sits on a telephone. Switches want the full light order and the numbers before anyone touches Enter. The modules guide is the longer version. Do not download a fake answer key. The in-game manual is the authority, and later bombs add eleven new standard modules plus three CHAOS modules that exist to keep Blind’s hands moving.

If the room goes dark, something blocks the casing, or noise drowns Deaf’s voice, treat it as a hazard, not as a personal insult. Power outages, obstructions, and loud interruptions are part of the released game. Clear the hazard, then resume the same module from a fresh state call. Do not reuse a number you heard before the lights died.

After the first boom or the first clear

Talk for two minutes, not twenty. Name the broken step. If Mute gestured 3 and Deaf said 8, that is a dictionary problem. If Deaf spoke and Blind cut a different wire, that is a repeat-back problem. If everyone shouted at once, that is a communication problem. Swap roles on the next bomb so nobody decides they are bad at the game after one night as Mute.

When the trio can clear a simple casing without a fight, open Campaign properly, then Endless, then Custom. Rank the modes later on the mode tier list. Check launch notes if a friend is still talking as if the game were unreleased. It is not. The demo was the trailer you could play. The product you just installed is the thirty-level campaign, the airplane, the extra modules, and the lobby tools.

An honest buy/skip writeup lives in the BOMBANANA review. The rest of this guides hub is linked from there. Official community chat is the BOMBANANA Discord. The store listing to send a friend is the Steam page.