The Word Grid module shows a display word and six word buttons, and almost every word has a sound-alike. The Defuser spells the display word. The Expert finds it in a table that names one button to read. The Defuser spells that button's word, and the Expert reads its list to name the button to press.
What the Word Grid module shows over three rounds
The Word Grid module has a green display with one word on it and six word buttons below, in two columns and three rows. There are three rounds. Each round brings a new display word and six new button words. A stack of three small lights beside the display fills from the bottom as rounds are cleared.
The display words are all kitchen words: FLOUR, THYME, STEAK, MOUSSE and so on. The button words are different. They are words people say while talking to each other: WAIT, WHAT, RIGHT, NOW, HANG ON, UH OH, GOT IT, SAY AGAIN. That second choice is deliberate. A button word read aloud sounds like part of the conversation, so "what" might be a question or a label.
The buttons are named by place, and the manual uses the same six names: top left, top right, middle left, middle right, bottom left and bottom right. Those are the only position words the team needs.
When all three rounds are done, the display shows dashes and the buttons dim. Until then, every press is either the right answer or a strike.
Why must every Word Grid word be spelled?
Every Word Grid word must be spelled because the display words were picked for having a sound-alike with a different spelling, and the manual treats each spelling as a different word. FLOUR and FLOWER have separate rows that point to different buttons. Said aloud, they are the same sound. Spelled, they are not.
The manual's lead says it directly: many words sound alike, so ask the Defuser to spell every word. That covers the button words too. RIGHT, WRITE and RITE all sit in the button list. So do WAIT and WEIGHT, WHICH and WITCH, NOT and KNOT, NOW and KNOW, and OH and OWE.
The table below lists the display words that sound alike, from the game's own list, with a short spelling script for each group. The scripts are suggestions; any script works if both sides use it every time. WHISK is the only display word with no partner.
| Sound-alike display words | A spelling script the Defuser can use |
|---|---|
| FLOUR, FLOWER | "F-L-O-U-R, baking flour" or "F-L-O-W-E-R, garden flower" |
| THYME, TIME | "T-H-Y-M-E, starts T-H" or "T-I-M-E, four letters" |
| MEAT, MEET | "M-E-A-T, E then A" or "M-E-E-T, double E" |
| STEAK, STAKE | "S-T-E-A-K, E-A in the middle" or "S-T-A-K-E, ends in E" |
| PEAR, PAIR, PARE | "P-E-A-R", "P-A-I-R" or "P-A-R-E": always all four letters |
| BREAD, BRED | "B-R-E-A-D, five letters" or "B-R-E-D, four letters" |
| DOUGH, DOH | "D-O-U-G-H, five letters" or "D-O-H, three letters" |
| ROLL, ROLE | "R-O-L-L, double L" or "R-O-L-E, ends in E" |
| LEEK, LEAK | "L-E-E-K, double E" or "L-E-A-K, E then A" |
| MOUSSE, MOOSE | "M-O-U-S-S-E, six letters" or "M-O-O-S-E, double O" |
| CHILI, CHILLY | "C-H-I-L-I, one L, ends in I" or "C-H-I-L-L-Y, double L, ends Y" |
A letter count at the end of a spelling is a cheap check. If the Expert heard four letters and the Defuser said five, something was missed.
The communication guide has a longer list of words that fail when spoken at the bomb, beyond this one module. Word Grid is the module where those failures cost a strike straight away.
Word Grid step 1: the display word picks a button to read
In step 1, the Expert finds the spelled display word in the manual's first table, which is sorted alphabetically. Next to it is a button position, such as "middle right". That tells the Defuser which button to read aloud. It does not mean press that button. Pressing in step 1 is the module's favourite trap.
The table has two pairs of columns side by side to save space: display, position, display, position. The Expert finds the word in either half and reads only the position beside it.
The Defuser then reads and spells the word on that button: "middle right says W-H-A-T, what." That word is the key to step 2. The other five buttons do not matter yet, though the Defuser will need to read them all in a moment.
A worked example
The display word, the position, the buttons and the list below are invented for this post. The real tables change with the rule seed.
Example display: S-T-A-K-E, stake.
Example step 1 row: STAKE, read the button at middle right.
Example buttons: top left HUH, top right KNOW, middle left GO ON, middle right WHAT, bottom left STOP, bottom right WAIT.
Example step 2 row: WHAT: NOW, RITE, WAIT, HMM, KNOW, STOP, WHAT, AGAIN, WITCH, OH.
Reading it: NOW is not on a button (KNOW is, but that is a different word). RITE is not on a button. WAIT is, at bottom right. Press bottom right.
Word Grid step 2: the first listed word on any button
In step 2, the Expert finds the word from step 1 in the manual's second table and reads its list from left to right. The answer is the first word in that list that appears on any of the six buttons. Every list holds ten words, and the word itself is always somewhere in its own list.
To check the list, the Expert needs all six button words. The quickest way is for the Defuser to spell all six once, in order, right after step 1: "top left H-U-H, top right K-N-O-W," and so on. The Expert writes them down and works through the list alone, without asking about each word in turn.
The list is read strictly left to right. A word near the end of the list may be on a button, but if an earlier word is also on a button, the earlier one wins. In the example above, STOP and WHAT are both on buttons and both in the list, yet WAIT comes first.
Because the step 1 word is always in its own list, there is always an answer. Sometimes it is the button the Defuser read in step 1. That is fine, as long as the list really reached it.
Word Grid is a two-step lookup, where the first table points into the second. Blinker works as a similar chain of tables. The guide to two-step lookup tables in Word Grid and Blinker compares them, and the Blinker code table guide walks through the flashes.
How does a Word Grid strike change the round?
A wrong press on the Word Grid module is a strike, and the round stays the same. The display word and the six buttons do not change. The team keeps its spellings, rechecks the lookup and presses again. Nothing resets to round one, unlike Recall, which starts over after a strike.
That makes a Word Grid strike cheap to recover from, if the team works out what went wrong. There are three usual causes. The display word was misspelled, so step 1 pointed at the wrong button. The button word was misspelled, so step 2 used the wrong list. Or the list was read out of order. Check them in that order.
The strike still costs time. It speeds up the countdown, and it changes the strike column on any Color Echo still waiting on the bomb. Say "strike" out loud, so the Expert holding Color Echo hears it.
The Word Grid mistake: hearing PEAR and looking up PAIR
The defining Word Grid mistake is an Expert hearing a word and looking up the spelling they expected. The Defuser says "pear". The Expert, thinking of fruit or of shoes, finds PAIR. The row gives a position, and the Defuser reads the wrong button. Every step after that is correct and still ends in a strike.
It is hard to catch because nothing feels wrong. The word exists in the table, the position is real, the button has a word, and the list for that word gives a clear answer. The team has followed every rule on the page from a bad start.
The only defence is spelling before looking. The Defuser spells, the Expert spells it back, and only then does the Expert open the table. It takes a few seconds per word, and a round has seven words to spell: one display word and six button words.
The same trap works in reverse on the buttons. A Defuser who reads KNOW aloud as "no" sends the Expert hunting for a word that is not on the list as spelled, or worse, matching it to NOW. Since NOW and KNOW are both button words, either one can sit in the same list, and only the spelling says which one the button carries.
Some teams also say the spelling in a fixed shape: letters, then a hint, then the word. "P-A-I-R, ends in I-R, pair." The hint gives a second chance to catch a misheard letter.
The step 1 position can be misheard too. "Middle left" and "middle right" differ in one short word. Repeat the position back before the Defuser reads the button.
Word Grid first appears in the mission Word salad, in the second section on the missions page. The memory module that follows it, Recall, has its own guide to keeping notes through Recall's five stages. For where the Word Grid page sits among the others, see how the bomb game manual is organized.