Players have a number of choices they can make before the game actually begins. These choices can be bewildering to players who don’t even know what the game is about yet. We give recommendations that you should follow when setting up the game for people who are new to Cerebria.

Players divide evenly into two teams, Bliss and Gloom. Teammates sit side by side with their Team board between them.

TEAM COMMUNICATION: Players are free to share any information with their teammate, including showing them their hand of Emotion cards. However, teammates are not allowed to trade Essence, Willpower or cards between each other.

The two sides of the Team board have different Intentions – ways to score points during your turn. Both teams should play with same side, A or B.

Each team should take 3 Ambition tokens and place them on their board with their inactive side up.

Each team shuffles their deck of Hidden Aspirations and places it on their Team board.

BASIC GAME: Before shuffling your deck of Hidden Aspirations, remove the cards Reflection and Sensibility from it. Intentions are not used at all in the basic game.

NOTE: Don’t look at the top card until you have chosen your Spirit and built your Emotion deck, as in the Spirit and Emotion sections.

Each team should also take the Fragments and the Intensity tokens associated with their team. The teams also have different Essence, which can be kept on the Main board, as shown on the Main Board Setup.