---
key: practice/two-windows
type: practice
id: two-windows
lang: en
title: Two dispatch windows
summary: Make cooperation necessary by distributing information and actions.
updatedAt: '2026-10-20'
status: active
url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/practice/two-windows/'
jsonUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/practice/two-windows.json'
markdownUrl: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/practice/two-windows.md'
aliases: []
tags:
  - Multiplayer
sourceIds:
  - source-3e6c21889ae768e0
  - source-6f794a271cd60b9c
sources:
  - id: source-3e6c21889ae768e0
    title: 'Challenges for Game Designers: author website'
    url: 'https://designgames.wordpress.com/'
    verifiedAt: null
  - id: source-6f794a271cd60b9c
    title: 'Challenges for Game Designers: table of contents'
    url: 'https://designgames.wordpress.com/toc/'
    verifiedAt: null
relations:
  - type: uses
    direction: outgoing
    label: Sources in the selection
    key: resource/challenges-for-game-designers
    title: Challenges for Game Designers
    url: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/en/resources/#resource-challenges-for-game-designers
    jsonUrl: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/resource/challenges-for-game-designers.json
    markdownUrl: >-
      https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/resource/challenges-for-game-designers.md
placements:
  - title: In the original collection
    url: 'https://gamemechanics.pro/en/practice/#two-windows'
supersededBy: []
attributes:
  topic: multiplayer
  level: intermediate
  minutes: 75
endsAt: null
provenance: >-
  Thematic inspiration: Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and
  Ian Schreiber. These scenarios, constraints and checks are independently
  written around broad game-design learning topics. This is not a translation or
  a sequential retelling of the book exercises.
license: CC-BY-4.0
codeLicense: MIT
attribution: gamemechanics.pro contributors
---
# Two dispatch windows

id: two-windows
type: practice
key: practice/two-windows
lang: en
status: active
url: https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/practice/two-windows/

Make cooperation necessary by distributing information and actions.

## Goal

Make cooperation necessary by distributing information and actions.

## Scenario and materials

Two dispatchers guide a repair team through a station. One sees the schedule of safe passages; the other knows the tool supply and door conditions. Design a shared goal and communication rules so that each person's decisions affect the result.

Two players and route cards

## Constraints

- Players have different information and available actions.
- One participant cannot directly perform the other's actions.
- The first version needs no network: use two paper information sets.

## Steps

1. Divide information and actions between the roles.
2. Describe permitted communication, winning and losing.
3. Play a game and swap roles. Note moments when one player made every decision while the other merely carried them out.

## Deliverable

Two card sets, shared rules and notes on each role's independent decisions.

## Check your work

- Each role makes at least one decision affecting the shared goal.
- Both players understand what they may communicate and do.
- Identify a reason to cooperate and check whether one participant dominates.

## Reflect

Which information needs to stay separate to keep both roles involved?

## Connected materials

- Sources in the selection: [Challenges for Game Designers](https://gamemechanics.pro/en/resources/#resource-challenges-for-game-designers) (key: resource/challenges-for-game-designers)

## Sources and provenance

Thematic inspiration: Challenges for Game Designers by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber. These scenarios, constraints and checks are independently written around broad game-design learning topics. This is not a translation or a sequential retelling of the book exercises.

- [Challenges for Game Designers: author website](https://designgames.wordpress.com/) (id: source-3e6c21889ae768e0)
- [Challenges for Game Designers: table of contents](https://designgames.wordpress.com/toc/) (id: source-6f794a271cd60b9c)

CC-BY-4.0 · gamemechanics.pro contributors