› Hi, Bot Games
Specialist Desks Route each question to two expert desks — and learn why lighting every desk is wasteful.
Eight specialist desks sit around a table. Each question is sent to exactly two of them. A desk that gets piled on drops the extras. Score points when a kept question lands on its matching specialist. Always routing to the same two desks collapses; balanced routing keeps more lights working. It's mixture of experts — total capacity of 8 desks, active work of two per token — with pencils.
1–4 players · ~10–15 + parents · ~25 min · screen-free
What this teaches
Print tonight
Plain paper, one side, Actual Size / 100%. Print the Desk Mat (landscape), one per table. Cut the Token cards from the rules page or write the eight questions from a round on scrap paper. You need pencils and a way to tally loads on each desk.
How to play
Eight specialist desks sit around a table. Each question (token) is sent to exactly 2 desks. A desk can only finish 2 tokens per round — extras drop. Score points when a kept token lands on its matching specialist. A giant model can keep many desks in the building while only a few lights turn on per answer.
Quick start — read this, start playing
- Print the Desk Mat. Put a pencil on each of the 8 desks.
- Play "Lunch Rush" first. Read each token aloud and route it to 2 desks — write the desk numbers on the token.
- After all 8 tokens are routed, count load per desk. Only the first 2 arrivals at a desk keep their seat. A token that loses either seat is dropped (score 0).
- Kept tokens: +1 per routed desk that matches the token's topic. Compare a "always Sports + Animals" table to a table that picks the matching desk plus the quietest other desk.
- That's the whole game. Details below when a question comes up.
Setup
- Print one Desk Mat. The 8 desks are: Sports, Animals, Recipes, Space, Music, History, Weather, Jokes.
- Play the three rounds in order: Lunch Rush, Science Fair, Mixed Bag.
- Solo or teams: one Router decides the two desks for each token. Everyone can suggest.
Routing
- For each token, choose exactly 2 different desks and write them on the token.
- Variant A (Always First): every token goes to Sports and Animals.
- Variant B (Balanced): send the matching specialty desk, then the desk with the smallest load so far (ties → lower desk number).
Capacity and drops
- After routing, tally how many tokens named each desk. A desk only has 2 seats.
- Walk tokens in order. A token keeps a seat at a desk only if that desk still has a free seat. If either of its desks is full, the whole token drops.
- Dropped tokens score 0.
Scoring
- Kept token: +1 for each of its two desks that matches the token's topic (so 0, 1, or 2 points).
- Sum points for the round. Highest total after three rounds wins, or just compare Always First vs Balanced at one table.
What the desks teach
- Active vs total: 8 desks exist, but only 2 work on each token — that is the mixture-of-experts idea.
- Always First on "Lunch Rush" drops 6 of 8 tokens and scores 0. Everyone piled onto two desks.
- Across all three frozen rounds, Always First totals 1 points with 18 drops; Balanced totals 21 with 3 drops.
- Balanced beats Always First on every round in the printed set.
For grown-ups: mixture of experts
- Grown-up name: mixture of experts (MoE). Total parameters can be huge while active parameters per token stay smaller.
- Real routers learn which experts to pick; load balancing and token dropping are real training/serving concerns. This game freezes three rounds so paper scores stay honest.
- Look these up at hibot.space/learn/concepts: mixture of experts, active parameters, parameters.
Answer key
- Lunch Rush: Always First 0 pts (6 dropped) · Balanced 7 pts (1 dropped).
- Science Fair: Always First 0 pts (6 dropped) · Balanced 7 pts (1 dropped).
- Mixed Bag: Always First 1 pts (6 dropped) · Balanced 7 pts (1 dropped).
Variants
- Raise capacity to 3 and replay Lunch Rush — do Always First drops fall?
- Invent eight new tokens for one topic pile-up and predict which strategy survives.
- Forbid the matching desk on purpose — how often can a near-miss still score?
Downloads
Instruction sheet
Plain paper · 1 page · 8.5 × 11
One 8.5 × 11 page for the table — quick start, setup, turns, and scoring.
Full rules
Plain paper · duplex · 2 pages
Same game, longer type — plus what the cards teach and the variants.
Desk Mat
Plain paper · 1 page · landscape
8 specialist desks with load-tally space. One landscape page per table.
Rules preview
Same rules as above, laid out for the table. Keep a printed copy face-up while you score.
On a phone, open the PDF in a new tab — in-page previews are unreliable in mobile Safari.
Played Specialist Desks?
Playtest notes — round length, rule confusion, print quality, teach-back moments — help us tune the game.
Send playtest feedback →Want more than card games?
Want facilitator-ready printables the day they drop, plus the full Activities library for grades 6–12? Activities Pass — 14 days free, then $5/month or $39/year. Browser games like this one stay free either way.
Start 14-day free trial →Homeschooling? Print tips & FAQ · Want the screen-free activity library? Free printables · Start 14-day free trial