You’re supposed to play Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with other human beings. In a typical game, people get sweaty and flustered as the timer on the detonation device winds down. But, when you have a life-or-death session with an AI bot that listens and responds, the experience is anything but typical.
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a party game where one player or more reads bomb defusal hints to another player who pushes the buttons and cuts the wires. It can get gnarly. Coder Devan Hurst gave himself another sort of challenge, deciding to create a speech recognition bot to serve as his partner. It’s a different kind of thrill to watch the pair communicate their way through the challenge. The best part comes after their success when Hurst’s “Yes! Oh My God! ”Exclamation makes the bot say ‘It’s. Not. My Fa-alt’ You did good, bot.
Contact the author at evan@kotaku.com.