Bombanana Braille: How the Blind Monkey Reads the Dots

The short version

Several modules carry a small cluster of raised dots: the Direction pad, the Switch panel (one number under each switch), the Calculation keypad, the piano keys and the sound buttons. Only the Blind Monkey can read them, and reading them means hovering a finger over the cluster — the game then shows the number. From xQc’s July stream: “When I hover over the dots in the middle, it says blue button on the top right… it says six.”

Why you should not translate it yourself

Rez3rekt’s trio spent a level trying to decode the dots with a Braille alphabet chart. The Deaf Monkey (who can see the dots but cannot hover them) sent translations, the Blind Monkey pressed the matching arrow, and the bomb said no. Their own diagnosis on stream: “maybe their braille is different than the braille you sent me.” The game’s clusters are stylised, not standard Braille, and the only reliable reading is the in-game hover.

Why the game does it this way

The Deaf Monkey sees the dots but cannot read them; the Blind Monkey can read them but cannot see the light colour next to them. Every Braille module therefore needs two people to describe it before the Mute Monkey can find the manual row:

1. Deaf Monkey: “Direction pad, light is red.”
2. Blind Monkey: “Dots say seven.”
3. Mute Monkey: finds red + 7 on the Direction page and signals the arrow.

The 10-tips guide makes the Blind Monkey’s touch the fifth tip: keep feeling the bomb, not just at the start, because module outlines and dot clusters are the only information that role can generate on its own.

Common failures

• Blind Monkey reads the wrong cluster. On the Switch panel there are four numbers; call them left to right under their light colours.
• Number said before the light colour. Agree that the Deaf Monkey always speaks first, so the Mute Monkey hears colour, then number.
• A number changes. Some modules re-roll between stages; re-hover before every input.

Related: all modules, roles.