BOMBANANA! Roles

Every bomb in BOMBANANA! is worked by three players, and each one is assigned one of three roles: Blind Monkey, Deaf Monkey, or Mute Monkey. This isn't a cosmetic choice — it's the entire design of the game. Each role senses a different slice of the situation and is missing a different one, so no single player ever holds enough information to solve a module alone. The whole point is to force real coordination: information has to physically travel from the role that can see the bomb, or read the manual, to the role that can actually act on it, and it has to survive the trip intact.

Role comparison

Role	Can See?	Can Hear?	Can Speak?	Can Touch Bomb?	Has Manual?
🙈 Blind Monkey	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
🙉 Deaf Monkey	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
🙊 Mute Monkey	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes

Why asymmetric information works

Games that hand every player the same information tend to funnel decision-making toward whoever's loudest or most confident. BOMBANANA! sidesteps that by making sure nobody can be right alone — the Blind Monkey's hands are useless without the Deaf Monkey's eyes and the Mute Monkey's manual, and vice versa. It also means the game can't really be "carried" by one strong player the way some co-op titles can; a team is only as good as its weakest communication link, which is what makes the callout guide worth reading regardless of which role you usually play.

The three roles

Each role has its own guide covering the specific job, common mistakes, and tips for that seat. If this is your first time picking a role, start with whichever sounds most comfortable — most groups end up rotating through all three anyway, and playing each one makes you better at the other two.

🙈 Blind Monkey

Can't see the bomb, but is the only one who can physically touch it.

🙉 Deaf Monkey

Sees the bomb and sees teammates gesturing, but can't hear a single word.

🙊 Mute Monkey

Holds the only copy of the disposal manual, but cannot speak a word of it.

New to the game entirely? The how to play guide covers role assignment and the basic loop before you dive into role-specific strategy.

Do roles stay fixed for a whole session?

Nothing in the game locks you into one role permanently — most groups reassign roles between bombs so everyone gets a turn at each seat over the course of a session. There's a real strategic case for rotating even beyond fairness: a player who has spent time as Deaf Monkey tends to give clearer instructions when they later play Blind Monkey, because they've felt firsthand how little context a vague callout actually carries. See our tips and tricks page for more on why rotation pays off over a long session.

If you're deciding who plays what for the first time, don't overthink it — any assignment works, since the game is balanced around the three roles depending on each other rather than any one being harder or more important. Pick based on comfort (some players prefer being hands-on as Blind Monkey, others prefer reading the manual as Mute Monkey) and swap next round.