To host an online game room in Bomb Appétit, type your name on the Play page, press "Create a room", and share the five-letter code it shows. As host you alone choose the bomb and press "Arm the bomb". The room keeps its code for six hours, so the same friends can play round after round.
What the host of an online game room controls
The host of a Bomb Appétit room controls two things: what the room plays and when the bomb starts. Only the host can pick a mission or set up a Freeplay bomb, and only the host can arm it. Everything else, including who takes which seat, belongs to each player.
The host is simply the person who created the room. The room remembers that browser as the host, and the player list shows a small "host" label beside their name so the guests know who is running things.
Seats are not the host's to hand out. Each player chooses Defuser or Expert from their own screen. The host cannot move a guest from one seat to the other, and cannot remove a guest from the room. The host's influence over seats is the same as everyone's: say who should take the bomb, out loud, on the call.
That split keeps the job light. A host does not need to be the most experienced player, only the one who will remember to pick the bomb and wait for everyone before arming it.
The host also has no extra powers during a round. Once the bomb is armed, nobody can change the setup, the seats are locked, and the host is just a Defuser or an Expert like everyone else until the bomb ends.
Creating the online game room from Play
A room starts on the Play page, in the box headed "Play online with a room code". The host types a display name of one to twenty-four letters or numbers and presses "Create a room". The browser moves to the room page, which shows the code in large letters at the top.
No account is needed to host. The name typed here is how the room labels the host in the player list. A host who is signed in with GitHub hosts the same way.
The room page explains the next step in its own words: read the code aloud, or share the page's address, then get on a call, because the game does not carry voices. Sharing the address is the quicker route, since a guest who opens it lands straight on the join screen for that room.
A new room seats its host as the Defuser by default. If someone else should take the bomb, the host presses "Switch to Expert" so the seat is free for a guest to claim.
The steps below run from creating the room to the start of a second round. They name the button at each step and what the guests see meanwhile. The names in the example are invented.
- Host opens Play, types "Sam", presses "Create a room". Guests see nothing yet; they are on the call.
- Host reads the code from the room page or pastes the room's address into the call chat. Guests open the link or type the code, see "Join room" with the code, type their names and press "Join".
- Host presses "Switch to Expert". Guests see Sam listed as an Expert. One guest presses "I will be the Defuser", and the button on everyone else's screen changes to name them.
- Host chooses a mission in "What to play". Guests see the mission named under the Bomb heading with "The host picks", and a line telling them which manual the Experts will use.
- Host checks every voice on the call, then presses "Arm the bomb". The Defuser's screen becomes the bomb. The Experts' screens show the manual with the status strip on top.
- The bomb ends. Every screen returns to the lobby with a "Last game" card showing the result.
- Players swap seats in the lobby. The Defuser presses "Switch to Expert", and the next person presses "I will be the Defuser".
- Host picks the next bomb and presses "Arm the bomb" again. The second round starts with the same code.
Picking a mission or Freeplay as the room host
The host picks the bomb from the "What to play" list in the lobby. It holds every mission, labelled by section and order such as "1.1 First bite", plus "Freeplay (custom)" for a bomb the host builds. A new room starts on Freeplay with three modules, five minutes, three strikes and no needy modules.
For a group's first evening, a mission is easier. Missions are fixed recipes with a set time and strike limit, and they climb in difficulty through four sections. The first few, from First bite to Quick snack, are walked through in the Section 1 missions, which is the right starting shelf for a group of newcomers.
Freeplay suits a group that knows what it wants. The host sets the number of modules from 1 to 11, the minutes from 1 to 60, the strikes allowed from 1 to 5, and needy modules from none to 3. The host can also leave module types out and choose the manual's rule seed.
Whatever the host picks, the room sets the manual for the Experts to match. Missions use rule seed 1, except the final mission, which has its own. A Freeplay bomb uses the seed the host types. The lobby shows every player which manual the Experts will open.
Can the room host arm the bomb without a Defuser?
No. The "Arm the bomb" button stays disabled until someone in the room holds the Defuser seat, and the room refuses to start with the message "Someone has to be the Defuser." A bomb with no Defuser would have no screen to run on, because the bomb lives only in the Defuser's browser.
The usual reason the button is grey is the seat shuffle at the start. The host switched to Expert to free the seat, and no guest has claimed it yet. Someone needs to press "I will be the Defuser".
The other condition is softer. The room will arm with a Defuser alone and no Experts, which is how a host can test a bomb before guests arrive. With Experts, it is worth checking each one can hear the call before arming, since the countdown starts the instant the button is pressed.
Two players cannot both be the Defuser. If a guest tries to take a seat someone already holds, the room answers "Someone else is already the Defuser." How the seat passes between friends from round to round is described in who becomes the Defuser in a room.
Resetting the online game room between rounds
There is no separate reset step. When a bomb ends, the Defuser's browser sends the run to the server, and once it lands every screen goes back to the lobby on its own. The lobby shows a "Last game" card, seats open again, and the host can press "Arm the bomb" again with the same code.
The "Last game" card is worth a pause. It shows whether the bomb was defused and with how much time left, or how it went off, plus the strike count and whether the server's replay verified the run.
Between rounds is the time for every change. Players swap seats. The host picks a new mission or tweaks Freeplay. A latecomer can join with the code. A player who has to go can press "Leave room".
Most armings deal a fresh bomb. If the host keeps the same Freeplay settings or most missions, the modules, wires and edgework are newly generated for the next round, so the group cannot just repeat what worked last time. The two opening missions, First bite and Button up, are the exception: each always deals the same bomb, which makes them good for teaching and poor for replaying.
How long does an online game room last?
A Bomb Appétit room lasts six hours from the moment it is created. The clock does not reset when people play, so a room made at seven in the evening is gone by one in the morning, however busy it was. After that, its code answers "No room with that code. It may have expired."
Six hours covers almost any evening, but it can catch a group that sets up a room early and plays late. A host planning a long night can simply make a new room after dinner rather than reuse one from the afternoon.
When a room expires, nothing important is lost. Runs keep their history after their room goes, so a signed-in player's results and rankings are unaffected.
Replacing a room is quick: the host goes back to Play and presses "Create a room", then shares the new code. Guests join again with their names. The room page also offers a "Create a new room" button when a code is not found.
The host's mistake: leaving the online game room mid-round
The host's costliest mistake is leaving during a round. The bomb keeps going without them, but only the host can pick the next bomb and arm it. If the host does not come back, the room cannot start another round, and the group needs a new room and a new code.
If the host is the Defuser, the room will not let them leave an armed bomb at all, so the problem only arises when the host is an Expert. Closing the tab or the laptop mid-round leaves the round to finish without them, and the lobby that follows has nobody able to arm the next bomb.
Coming back works if the host uses the same browser. Opening the room's address again puts the host back in their seat, still recognised as host. A host who pressed "Leave room" in the lobby sees the join screen instead, and joining with a name restores them as host too. A different device is a different guest, and the room will not treat it as the host.
So hosts should stay to the end of a round, or hand over the evening by creating a fresh room from whoever will stay.
The guests' side of all this is in joining a game room with a code. For a larger call split into small groups, each with its own room, see running one bomb room per Zoom breakout. The basics of how rooms link browsers far apart are in multiplayer browser games to play with friends.