1. Connect the boards so that the Awake Beast icon and the Robot Miner icon are facing up and place the Beast side (with the Bacteria tracks) in front of you.

2. Leave the 3 Upgrade tiles in the box. They will not be used.

3. Place the 4 Bacteria tiles on the starting spaces of their respective tracks on the Beast’s board.

Place the 8 Crystal tiles next to the board.

4. Place the 3 action dice next to the Robot Miner’s board.

5. Shuffle the Stomach cards and draw 7 to place on the spaces outlined between the Miner and the Beast. These spaces are collectively called the Digestive Tract.

6. Give the Beast player 7 Stomach cards to form their starting hand.

7. Place the remaining Stomach cards in a face-down deck next to the board, leaving space for a discard pile next to it. The discard pile is NEVER reshuffled into the deck.

8. Leave the 9 Mutation cards in the box. They will not be used.

9. Prepare the Immune Response cards by selecting all the cards with the Awake Beast icon on them.
Return the cards that only have the Hibernating Beast icon to the box.
Some cards have both icons, and are therefore used in all games.

10. Shuffle the Immune Response cards and place them in a face-down deck, next to the board.
Draw 3 cards and place them face up next to the deck.

11. Place the Replication tile on the starting space of the Replication Track on the Robot Miner’s board.

YOU ARE NOW READY TO BEGIN!