Bomb Expert notes should hold whatever the manual asks for more than once. In Bomb Appétit that means four things: the edgework, written as one line at the top; a running strike tally; a five-row grid for Recall; and a three-color tally for Wire Panels. Everything else can be looked up and said aloud without being written.
Why do Expert notes beat memory under a timer?
Expert notes beat memory because several manual pages ask for the same facts, often minutes apart, while the Expert is busy with something else. Asking the Defuser again costs time on both sides. A fact on paper costs a glance. The test for what to write is simple: will a later page need it again?
Four regular modules read the bomb's casing. Wires can ask whether the serial number's last digit is odd or even. Big Button can ask about the battery count and about lit indicators. Color Echo needs to know whether the serial contains a vowel. Tangled Wires can ask about an even last digit, a particular port, or two or more batteries. On a bomb with several of these, the same serial number gets used three or four times.
Two modules build up information as they go. Recall asks, at later stages, for the position or label pressed at an earlier stage. Wire Panels keeps a count for each wire color across four panels that cannot be revisited. Neither can be done reliably from memory once a needy module interrupts.
And one fact changes during the round: the number of strikes. Color Echo picks its answer column by it, and everybody needs to know how close the bomb is to its limit.
Here is the whole template, with invented example entries. The serial, battery and indicator values are made up and do not come from any real bomb.
EDGEWORK Serial 4K7EB2 vowel: yes (E) last digit: 2, even
Batteries 3 (holders 2) Ind: ZAP lit, NOM unlit
Ports: hex, coax / (empty plate)
STRIKES I
RECALL stage display pos label
1 3 2 4
2 1 2 1
3 4 4 3
4 _ _ _
5 _ _ _
WIRE PANELS red III blue I black II
panel 2 of 4
The edgework line at the top of the Expert notes
The edgework line sits at the top of the notes and is written once, in the first minute, before any module is touched. It holds the serial number, the battery count with the holder count beside it, every indicator with lit or unlit, and the ports. Pre-computing two answers on that line saves time later.
Write the serial number exactly as the Defuser reads it, six characters, then add the two facts the manual asks about most: whether it contains a vowel, and whether its last digit is odd or even. The manual's appendix says the only vowels that can appear are A, E and U, and that the last character is always a digit, so both answers take a second to settle. The guide to serial number rules for vowels and odd or even digits covers those checks in depth.
For batteries, write the battery count and the holder count separately. A holder carries one battery or a pack of two, and rules count batteries unless they say holders. Writing "3 (holders 2)" settles both questions before they are asked. The difference is explained fully in battery count rules: batteries versus holders.
For indicators, write each three-letter label with lit or unlit after it. Big Button rules ask for a lit indicator with a given label, so an unlit one with the same label does not count, and the note must say which.
For ports, list each port by its manual name. Separate the port plates with a slash if there is more than one, and note an empty plate rather than leaving it out, so the Defuser knows it was counted. For the order in which a Defuser should read all of this aloud, see a read-out script for edgework.
Tracking strikes in Expert notes for Color Echo
The strike count belongs in the notes because Color Echo reads it directly. Its tables have columns for no strikes, one strike, and two or more. A strike anywhere on the bomb, even on a needy module, moves Color Echo to the next column, so its Expert must know the count at every press.
Keep the tally as simple marks next to the word STRIKES. Add a mark the moment a strike lands, whoever caused it. The strike sound and the bomb's strike lights tell you when one happens. In an online room the Experts' status bar shows the strike count too, but a mark on paper sits right beside the Color Echo table you are already reading.
Color Echo's page also says what to do after a strike: start the current sequence again, using the new column. With the tally in front of you, that restart is mechanical. Look at the marks, pick the column, and answer each flash from the start of the sequence.
The tally does two more jobs. It tells the group how many strikes are left before the bomb goes off, which most missions set at three, and it reminds the Experts that the countdown is now running faster. Neither should come as a surprise halfway through a long module.
Recall and Wire Panels: the notes that grow
Recall and Wire Panels are the two modules whose notes grow as the module goes on. Recall needs a five-row grid of stage, display digit, position pressed and label pressed. Wire Panels needs one running tally per wire color: red, blue and black. Draw both before the module starts, so filling them in is the only work left.
Recall. The module shows one digit and four buttons labelled 1 to 4 in a mixed-up order. Its five stage tables can tell you to press a button by position, by label, or by matching what you pressed at an earlier stage. That last kind is why the grid exists. Write the position and the label after every press, not just the one the instruction mentioned. A stage that said "press the button labeled 3" may be followed by a stage asking for the position you pressed back then. What each column of the grid must capture is set out in what Recall notes must hold.
Wire Panels. Four panels appear one at a time, each with up to three wires, and earlier panels cannot be seen again. The page tells you to keep a separate count for each color, to carry the counts from panel to panel, and to count every wire whether or not it gets cut. The count picks the row of the table. Keep three tallies side by side, add a mark for each wire as the Defuser names it, then read the row for the new count. A small "panel 2 of 4" note stops anyone losing track of how many panels are left.
Both grids reward a strict order. For Recall: hear the display, look up the stage, give the instruction, then write the position and label once the Defuser has pressed. For Wire Panels: hear the wire, add the mark, read the row, say cut or leave. Writing before speaking keeps the count in step with the answers.
Which Expert notes can be crossed out mid-round?
Notes for one module can be crossed out once that module is solved, and Recall notes must be crossed out after a wrong Recall press. The edgework line and the strike tally are never crossed out, because they serve the whole bomb until the round ends. Everything else is temporary.
When Recall is solved, strike through its grid. When Wire Panels is solved, after the Defuser presses the button on the fourth panel, strike through its tallies. Letters decoded on Blinker can go once the frequency is sent and the module goes green. Crossing out finished work keeps the page readable when a long round fills it.
A wrong press on Recall is a special case. The page says the module goes back to stage one with new numbers, and that you should throw your notes away. Strike through the whole grid and start a fresh one below it. Keeping the old rows visible invites someone to read from them by mistake.
Wire Panels behaves differently after a strike. A wrong cut is a strike, but the module does not restart, and the wire still counts toward its color. Keep the tallies exactly as they are.
The notes mistake: crossing out a fact that is still needed
The notes mistake is tidying away a fact that another module, or a later stage, still needs. The usual victims are the edgework line after the first module that used it, the Wire Panels tallies after a strike, and the Recall grid after a strike that happened somewhere else on the bomb.
The edgework line outlives every module. An Expert who solves Wires and crosses out the serial number will need it again for Color Echo or Tangled Wires, and then has to ask the Defuser to turn the bomb and read it out a second time.
The Recall grid only resets on a wrong Recall press. A strike on a different module, or on a needy module, leaves Recall exactly where it was, at the same stage with the same presses behind it. Clearing the grid after an unrelated strike throws away the answers the next stage needs.
The Wire Panels tallies do not reset at all. An Expert who restarts the counts after a strike, or at the start of a new panel, reads the wrong row from then on.
A simple habit prevents all three: cross out notes only when a module turns green, or when its own page says to. Before striking anything through, say aloud which module the note belongs to and why it is done. If you cannot name the reason, leave it. You can try the template on a short round from the missions page, where the early missions use few modules and leave time to practise writing.