Place the Game board in the center of the table on the 6x6 side of Game Board.

Set up four Player status boards around the board. Give each board 1 starting tile, 1 Prisoner Token, and 1 Nerve.

Remove 2 Keys from the pool of tiles and place them in the box. Your tile count should contain 6 Keys and 12 Wax Eaters.

Place aside a number of Passageway tiles (randomly selected from straight, T and four-ways) equal to 2x the number of players. Stack them face down (with the Pit side facing up) and shuffle them.

Place all the remaining tiles face down in a pile (with the Pit side facing up) and shuffle them thoroughly. Then, stack them at random into the Tile Holder, keeping them face down. When the all the tiles have been placed into the holder, add the stack of Passageways you set aside on top. Then place the Tile Holder near the board, in easy reach of all players.

Place a number of Key tokens, equal to the number of Key tiles, into the reserve on the corner of the board.

The owner, or host, of the game will be the first player and play will proceed clockwise throughout the game.

Regardless of player count there will be 4 prisoners wandering the darkness.

1 player - you control all 4.

2 players - each player controls 2 poisoners

3 players - players will take turns controlling the 4th prisoner.