Last checked:

How to Play Want a Bomb?

Want a Bomb? is an online co-op destruction and mining sandbox where you and your friends excavate a destructible world. You choose where to blast, place and link explosives to create chain reactions, and detonate them to reshape terrain and expose minerals. Collect and transport the minerals, then sell them for cash. That cash funds stronger explosives and better hauling equipment, letting you attempt bigger excavations. The cycle repeats: blast, collect, sell, upgrade, and blast again—together.

Open Steam

The Core Excavation Loop

Your goal is to keep expanding what you can excavate. The main loop connects a target area, a prepared blast, the minerals you uncover, and the equipment those minerals pay for.

Planning and Detonation

Start by selecting an area of the landscape. Place dynamite and link the fuses together to create a chain reaction. When you detonate, the explosion reshapes the terrain and uncovers minerals. Choosing where to place explosives is therefore also choosing where you will excavate and look for your next haul.

Collecting and Hauling

After blasting, collect the exposed minerals and move the haul. Collectors and pipes provide ways to transport that material. Blasting reveals the resources, but collecting and selling them is what turns the excavation into money for more equipment.

Selling and Upgrading

Sell the minerals you collect. The proceeds let you buy stronger explosives and better hauling equipment. These purchases improve the two connected parts of excavation: what you can blast and how you can move the material afterward.

With improved tools, return to the landscape and attempt larger excavation plans. Each haul can fund the equipment for the next blast, rather than destruction being a disconnected activity.

Working Together in Co-op

When playing with friends, you can divide the work: one player focuses on explosives while another handles mineral transport. Both tasks contribute to the same cycle. More blasting creates more material to collect; moving and selling that material funds the next equipment purchases.

Treat those as tasks to coordinate, not fixed character classes. Discuss the area you want to excavate and who will handle the haul, so the group's plan connects the explosion with what happens afterward.

Tools and Tactical Choices

Different tools change how you position explosives, examine terrain or move material. They fit into the same excavation loop rather than forming a separate checklist you must follow in order.

  • Cargo drones carry your chosen explosives into position. They give you another way to arrange a blast instead of only placing charges by hand.
  • Collectors and pipes move mined material. Consider the hauling side of a plan as well as how to expose the minerals.
  • A magnet gun gathers bombs, giving you a tool for bringing explosives together.
  • Explosive baseballs and a bat let you launch explosives rather than place them directly.
  • A six-barrel launcher fires missiles or players, adding another option for experimenting with the sandbox.
  • A scouting drone lets you survey the area before choosing where to focus a blast.

The choice depends on what you want to do in that excavation: inspect an area, position explosives or move the resulting haul. Stronger explosives and transport purchases both feed back into the next plan.

Getting Started

Use the core loop as your initial plan:

  1. 1

    Choose an area. Decide which part of the landscape you want to excavate.

  2. 2

    Place and link explosives. Arrange dynamite and connect fuses to create a chain reaction in that area.

  3. 3

    Detonate. Blast the terrain to expose minerals.

  4. 4

    Collect and haul. Gather the exposed material and use available transport tools, such as collectors or pipes, to move it.

  5. 5

    Sell. Turn the collected minerals into money for equipment.

  6. 6

    Improve your tools. Buy stronger explosives or better hauling equipment for your next excavation plan.

  7. 7

    Repeat together. Choose the next area with that expanded capacity, coordinating who handles blasting and who moves the haul.

Current Access

Want a Bomb? is not yet released. You can add it to your Steam wishlist now. The Want a Bomb? release date page explains the announced schedule and current access options; wishlisting does not start a playable session.