Take all needed Feather cards (depending on the player count), shuffle them together and deal 8 cards, face down to each player.

In a 3 player game, don't use Feather cards numbered 11, 10, 9 and 8.

In a 4 player game, don't use Feather cards numbered 11 and 10.

In a 5 player game, use all of the Feather cards.

Players then place their cards inside their peacock, so that all other players can see the value and the color of the cards, but you can fully see only the dark blue circle on your Feather cards.