Setup

Choose the player count, then tick steps off as you go. Ticks are kept on this device.

First game

Players: 2

The shared board

Place the main board within reach. Sort Coins, Camels, Goods, dice and markers into shared supplies.
Shuffle the Small City bonus tiles and place one at each of the six Small Cities. Set out the Contract tiles and the black dice.
Choose the first player and give them the marker. Begin round one by rolling dice.

Each player

Choose a color and take its player board, figures, Trading Posts and dice. Place your Trading Posts on the player board spaces.
Take the starting Coins and Camels shown in the rulebook and draw your starting Contracts and Goal Cards.
Reveal one more Character tile than the number of players. In reverse turn order, each player chooses a character.

Shared displays

Shuffle the Goal Cards. Prepare the Contract piles as shown in the rulebook. Place the Large City cards at their matching spaces.