1
Place the game boards
Put the 3 boards on the table in the play area
2
Distribute player components
Each player picks a color and receives playing pieces plus one farmyard board
3
Prepare starting farmyard
Put wooden hut room tile and family member disc on each of the 2 building spaces on farmyard
4
Sort card decks
Organize cards into Action cards, Round cards, Occupation cards, Minor Improvement cards, Major Improvement cards, Begging cards, and Summary cards
5
Prepare Round cards
Sort Round cards according to Stages, shuffle each pile, place piles on top of one another in order with Stage 6 at the bottom
6
Set up Action cards (3-5 players)
Take the corresponding set of Action cards and place them faceup on the spaces to the left of the first board in any order
7
Skip Action cards (1-2 players)
No Action cards are used in 1 or 2 player games
8
Select card decks
Choose a deck of Occupation and Minor Improvement cards or mix them, marked as Basic, Interactive, or Complex
9
Remove unused Occupation cards
Check the purple symbol on Occupation cards showing player count requirements and remove cards not used for your player count
10
Deal Occupation cards
Shuffle remaining Occupation cards and deal each player a hand of 7 cards
11
Deal Minor Improvement cards
Shuffle Minor Improvement cards and deal each player a hand of 7 cards
12
Display Major Improvements
Place 10 Major Improvement cards face-up on the Major Improvements board
13
Place Begging cards
Put Begging cards face-up beside the play area
14
Distribute Summary cards
Each player takes a Summary card
15
Determine starting player
Choose start player who receives the Starting Player marker and 2 Food; other players each receive 3 Food
16
Note component limits
Apart from 5 family member discs, 4 stables, and 15 fences per player, all other components are considered unlimited
