Set up the Clash-O-Meter. Place it in the center of the table.

Choose your Creatures. Give each player a matching set of Creature Cards based on the number of players, along with their Clash Marker and 1 Energy token. With 3–5 players, use the standard Creature set. With 2 players, add the additional Creatures indicated for the two-player game.

Set the Clash order. Randomly arrange the players' Clash Markers from top to bottom on the Clash-O-Meter. This order will break ties throughout the game.

Prepare the Scenes. Shuffle the Scene deck, place it beside the Clash-O-Meter, and reveal 4 Scene cards face up.

Prepare the Mortals and tokens. Shuffle the Mortal deck and place the Energy and Strength tokens within reach of everyone.

Choose a Scoring Tile. Select Side A or Side B of the Scoring Tile for the game. For your first game, use Side A.

Reveal the Mortals. At the beginning of each turn, reveal one Mortal card per player to create the Mortal Market.

Choose a Creature. Everyone secretly chooses one Creature Card from their hand and places it face down.

Reveal Creatures. Reveal all chosen Creatures simultaneously. If you played The Monster, you may spend Energy now to increase its Strength.

Determine Strength order. Compare the Strength of the revealed Creatures. If players tie, their positions on the Clash-O-Meter determine who acts first.

Take a Scene. The player with the strongest Creature takes the leftmost available Scene and immediately resolves any applicable effect.

Capture Mortals. Beginning with the strongest Creature and continuing in Strength order, each player chooses a Mortal from the Market and activates their Creature's ability. Resolve any Mortal effects when the Mortal is captured.

Discard played cards. Place your played Creature face up beside you and discard any Mortals left in the Market.

Continue for four turns. Once all 4 Scene cards have been claimed, the round ends. Return played Creatures to everyone's hands and reveal 4 new Scenes.

Play three rounds. After the third round, the game ends and final scoring begins.