diff --git a/server/src/rooms.test.ts b/server/src/rooms.test.ts
index c69ed7c..15636e5 100644
--- a/server/src/rooms.test.ts
+++ b/server/src/rooms.test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ afterEach(() => {
 const GOLD_OPENS: Input = { from: square('2c2'), to: square('2c3') };
 const SCARLET_ANSWERS: Input = { from: square('2c7'), to: square('2c6') };
 
+/** The bots move once the request that made their move due has been answered: after this tick. */
+const settled = () => new Promise<void>((r) => setImmediate(r));
+
 /** A table of two: Ann, who opened it and plays Gold, and Bo, the game begun. */
 function table(spec: GameSpec<State, Input> = game) {
 	const rooms = new Rooms(spec, new Store(dir));
@@ -124,18 +127,19 @@ describe('rooms', () => {
 		expect(() => rooms.say(room, bo, 'Anyone?', ['Q'])).toThrow(/Nobody at this table/);
 	});
 
-	it('seats the host on the side they chose, and a drake across from them', () => {
+	it('seats the host on the side they chose, and a drake across from them, which moves once the host has been answered', async () => {
 		const rooms = new Rooms(game, new Store(dir));
 		const host = rooms.create('Ann', 2, { side: 'scarlet', setup: 'shifted' });
 		const bot = rooms.addBot(host.room, host.token);
 		expect(game.botNames).toContain(bot.name);
 		rooms.begin(host.room, host.token);
-		const s = host.room.state!;
-		expect(s.players.A.side).toBe('scarlet');
-		expect(s.players.B.side).toBe('gold');
-		expect(s.setup).toBe('shifted');
-		// Gold moves first, and Gold is the drake: it has already moved.
-		expect(s.moves).toHaveLength(1);
+		expect(host.room.state!.players.A.side).toBe('scarlet');
+		expect(host.room.state!.players.B.side).toBe('gold');
+		expect(host.room.state!.setup).toBe('shifted');
+		// Gold moves first, and Gold is the drake: it moves once the host's request has been answered, not inside it.
+		expect(host.room.state!.moves).toHaveLength(0);
+		await settled();
+		expect(host.room.state!.moves).toHaveLength(1);
 		expect(rooms.waitingOn(host.room)).toEqual(['A']);
 	});
 
@@ -181,6 +185,7 @@ describe('rooms', () => {
 			rooms.addBot(host.room, host.token);
 			rooms.begin(host.room, host.token);
 			const room = host.room;
+			vi.runOnlyPendingTimers();
 			expect(room.state!.n).toBe(4);
 			expect(rooms.view(room, 'A').playingOn).toBe(true);
 			vi.advanceTimersByTime(2000);
@@ -195,16 +200,18 @@ describe('rooms', () => {
 });
 
 describe('the host and the other seats', () => {
-	it("gives a person's seat to a drake, which plays it at once, and the person's token opens nothing", () => {
+	it("gives a person's seat to a drake, which plays it at once, and the person's token opens nothing", async () => {
 		const { rooms, room, ann, bo } = table();
 		rooms.submit(room, ann, GOLD_OPENS, 0);
 		rooms.standIn(room, ann, 'B');
-		// The move was Bo's; the drake made it.
+		// The move was Bo's; the drake makes it as soon as the host has been answered.
+		await settled();
 		expect(room.resolved).toBe(2);
 		expect(rooms.waitingOn(room)).toEqual(['A']);
 		expect(() => rooms.seatOf(room, bo)).toThrow(/gave your seat to a drake/);
 		expect(rooms.view(room, 'A').seats[1]).toEqual({ id: 'B', name: 'Bo', bot: true, standIn: true });
 		rooms.submit(room, ann, { from: square('2d2'), to: square('2d3') }, 2);
+		await settled();
 		expect(room.resolved).toBe(4);
 	});
 
diff --git a/server/src/rooms.ts b/server/src/rooms.ts
index 49697e9..7d4da53 100644
--- a/server/src/rooms.ts
+++ b/server/src/rooms.ts
@@ -351,8 +351,23 @@ export class Rooms<State, Input> {
 		if (room.seats.length < this.game.minSeats) throw new RoomError(`The game needs at least ${this.game.minSeats} players.`, 409);
 		this.commit(room, { t: 'start', seed: newSeed(), rules: this.game.currentRules, ...(Object.keys(room.rankings).length ? { rankings: { ...room.rankings } } : {}) });
 		// A game whose first move belongs to a bot must not wait for a human who is not owed a move.
-		this.driveBots(room);
-		this.botsSpeak(room, 'phase');
+		this.botsAfterAnswering(room);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * The bots' moves, once the request that made them due has been answered.
+	 * A bot that thinks for a second or two would otherwise hold up the reply
+	 * to the person whose move it is answering, so their own move would seem
+	 * to hang and the bot's to come at once. The table is told as each move
+	 * lands, the same as any other.
+	 */
+	private botsAfterAnswering(room: Room<State>): void {
+		setImmediate(() => {
+			// A room forgotten and loaded again drives itself; this one is no longer the table.
+			if (this.rooms.get(room.id) !== room) return;
+			this.driveBots(room);
+			this.botsSpeak(room, 'phase');
+		});
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -538,8 +553,7 @@ export class Rooms<State, Input> {
 			}
 		}
 		this.commit(room, { t: 'turn', at: Date.now(), inputs });
-		this.driveBots(room);
-		this.botsSpeak(room, 'phase');
+		this.botsAfterAnswering(room);
 	}
 
 	/**