This is a game setup for a Cooperative vs. Zombie Game. For other game modes, see Other Game Modes.

1. Place the 9 Mall Cards to form the Mall Map:

A. Place the Courtyard in the center of the table with the side labeled “Cooperative Courtyard” face up.

B. Then, in random order and randomly selecting which side to use, arrange the 8 Stores around the Courtyard. Note that each Entrance Symbol must be placed on the outside edge of the Mall (some will be upside down—see the Setup diagram below).

C. Place 1 Zombie onto each Store’s Entrance Room (8 Zombies total).

2. On the Courtyard Card:

D. Place the Barricade Token on the “2” space of the Barricade Track.

E. Place 2 Survivor Tokens in the Pool Area.

3. Select one Player to be the Zombie Player. That Player shuffles the Player Cards underneath the table and randomly draws 3 Player Cards and chooses one, then flips it to the Zombie side (shuffle the unused Player Cards back into the stack). Then:

F. Place 1 Horde Marker (green cube) onto the “1” space on the Horde Track of the Zombie Player Card. Keep the other 2 Horde Markers nearby.

G. Place all of the remaining Zombies into a supply near their Zombie Player Card.

4. Each other (Human) Player is dealt 3 random Player Cards and chooses 1 to keep. Their Player Cards are flipped to the Human side. They each then:

H. Choose an ITEMeeple and place it into the Courtyard’s center Room.

I. Take a Wound Token (matching the color of the ITEMeeple) and place it on the “0” spot of their card’s track.

J. Take an Ammo Token and place it on the “9” spot of their card’s track.

K. Return any unused Player Cards and Wound/Ammo Tokens to the box.

5. Shuffle the 9 Objective Cards underneath the table and randomly draw 3 of them. Place them in a row on the table with the “Cooperative Objective” side up. Follow the setup rules on the cards, which may include adding extra pieces or tokens from the box. If an Objective Marker (a colored cube) is required, choose any Player’s color to use.

6. Assign a Player to be in charge of creating the Search Deck and the Supply Deck (see Assembling the Search & Supply Decks):

L. Place the Supply Deck face down near the row of Objective Cards.

M. Place the Search Deck face down near the Zombie Player Card, and have the Zombie Player draw a hand of 8 random Search Cards.

N. From this hand of 8 Search Cards, the Zombie Player now chooses 1 card to place face down in front of each Human Player (the Humans may not look at them at this time), and keeps the remaining cards.

7. Place the 12 Items and the Melee Die near the Supply Deck.

8. Place the Stores’ game components in their respective spots:

O. Place the Vehicle (Motorcycle or Police Car) in its marked Room in Parking Deck Z / Echo Ridge Security Office. The Vehicle used is based on what Store is present.

P. Place the 2 Trap Tokens, gray-side up, next to Amp’s Electronics /T.E. Toys.

Q. Place the 2 Supply Tokens on each of the 2 spots, matching their numbers.