Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Mod FF: Serial Wires

On the Subject of Serial Wires

Serial No.? Serial Yes.!

Note: If stars are on the cardboard instead of letters and/or numbers, you are looking at the wrong manual.

A “Serial Wires” module has up to six wires that may be a solid color or striped. Wires connect written letters/numbers to each LED light. However, this isn’t always the case.

Use the serial number, written character, and the wire’s color to determine whether to set each LED light yellow, blue, or black (off).

Group the first serial number character with the leftmost LED and the leftmost character written on the cardboard. Group the other characters in the serial number with the other five LEDs and characters from left to right. Perform all the steps below for each of the groups and set the LED accordingly.

Step 1: Minimum Distance Between Both Characters

Through only orthogonal movement (up, down, left, or right) find the minimum distance between both characters in the pair.

Know that this grid wraps around in both directions, implied by the connections along the border.

  • If a minimum of 1 or 2 spaces is needed to reach both characters in the pair, write down “yellow”.
  • If a minimum of 4 or 5 spaces is needed to reach both characters in the pair, write down “blue”.
  • Otherwise, write down “black”.

On this diagram and on the module, the zero is written with a slash (Ø).

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Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Mod FF: Serial Wires

Step 2: The Wire Color and Pattern

Next, look at the wire that connects the written character with the LED light. Wires come in three colors: red, white, and blue. Wires may be a solid color or they may be striped with two colors.

Find the column in the image below that contains the same pattern as the wire. Write the name of the color that’s in the center of the column:

Yellow Blue Black

The colors at the top of the image are red, white, and blue in that order.

Note: If there’s no wire connecting the written character to the LED, ignore Steps 2 and 3 and set the LED to the color written down in Step 1.

Step 3: Combining the Written Colors

Look at both of the colors you’ve written down. If they are the same, set the LED to that color. However, if they are different, set the LED to the color that’s absent. Remember that all LEDs have three states: yellow, blue, and “black” (the off state).

Pressing an LED cycles it between these three settings. When all six of the LEDs are set to the correct color for more than 3 seconds, the module will solve.

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