1. Place the game board between all players.

2. Place the Rat Market board next to "Hero Start," on the left edge of the game board.

3. Draw 15 Minions (not Minion effects) at random and place 1 on every Location on the game board, except for Mud Canyon and Murky Woods.

4. Place all remaining Minions and Minion Effects into the Minion bag and mix them up. Then, place the full Minion bag near the board.

5. Place the Shiny Shield token on the Not So Secret Lab Location.

6. Place the Knuckles figure on his starting position in the bottom right of the game board.

7. Prep the Rat Market:

7a. Separate the transparent Upgrade cards by their 2 types:

- Attack cards (icons only)

- Special cards (cards with a star icon on the top left and text on the bottom).

7b. Shuffle each card type, and then place 3 of each faceup in their designated areas in the Rat Market.

7c. Place the remaining cards facedown on the left side of the Market to make a draw pile for each type of card.

8. Choose a character: Each player chooses which character to play. Characters have different health amounts, a Base Move on the bottom of their board, and a unique special ability.

Players take the player board, the deck of 10 starting cards for that character, the matching figure, and 6 cubes in their color: Pink for Ham, Black for Malcolm, Gray for Lobos, and Green for Ronin.

8a. Place 1 cube on the money track, on the space with the gold outline. (Ham starts at $1.)

8b. Place 1 cube at the top space with the pink outline on the health track.

8c. Place 1 cube on each of the leftmost spaces with the yellow outline on the 4 skill tracks.

8d. Ham starts with the Wood Katana of the Dead on his player board. If Ham is not playing, return the Katana to the box.

8e. Each player places their character figure in Mud Canyon.

8f. Each player shuffles their deck and draws a hand of 4 cards. Feel free to show cards and discuss strategy with other players.

8g. Place your deck facedown to the left of your player board, near the DECK prompt.

9. Prep the Villain deck: Villain cards are divided into 5 cards each of Levels 1 to 3 and a single Level 4 card.

Each card has the steps for the Villain Phase on the front.

The back shows the Level number, the number of rounds remaining in the game, and colored rewards.

9a. Shuffle Levels 1–3 separately from each other, and then draw 1 of each.

9b. Create a single deck made of 4 Villain cards with the single Level 4 card at the bottom, followed by Level 3, 2, and Level 1 on top.

9c. Place that deck facedown in the area of the game board marked “Villain Cards” in the top right.

9d. Return all remaining Villain cards to the box.

10. Choose a Villain: Players choose which 1 of the 4 Villains they want to battle and select the matching Villain board.

The Villains are ranked in increasing difficulty from Hen, to Chad, Robo-Knight, and finally Silk.

Each has a unique amount of health that adjusts by player count.

Each Villain board also has a Skull power, power-ups, and special dice ability, plus a space to store extra Spider Nest tokens.

Place the selected Villain board faceup next to "Villain Start," on the right edge of the board. Return the remaining Villain board to the box. For your first game, try battling Hen, the easiest Villain.

10a. Place 1 Spider Nest token on both of the two text boxes below the Skull power on the Villain board, covering the text.

10b. Place all the remaining Spider Nest tokens in the notch at the bottom of the Villain board.

10c. Set the Villain Health Dial to the starting health shown below (and on the Villain board) based on the number of players.

Starting health:

Hen: 1-2 players: 35 / 3-4 players: 50

Chad: 1-2 players: 50 / 3-4 players: 60

Robo-Knight: 1-2 players: 50 / 3-4 players: 65

Silk: 1-2 players: 60 / 3-4 players: 70

NOTE: You can adjust the difficulty of the game by increasing or decreasing the Villain’s starting health. See Alternate Rules for details.

10d. Place the Villain Health Dial and the 2 Villain dice next to the Villain board.

10e. Place the Villain figure on Murky Woods.

11. Place the Indicator Tokens where all players can reach them.

12. Give a double-sided Order of Play card to each player.

13. Choose a 1st player. We suggest the player that most recently did anything pig related. They take the First Player marker.