Before you can kick down doors and fight monsters, you need to know what you're working with. Munchkin has two main decks of cards: the Door deck and the Treasure deck. They have different backs so you can tell them apart easily.

The Door deck is where you'll find monsters to fight, curses to suffer, and helpful things like classes and races. This is the deck you'll draw from at the start of most turns.

The Treasure deck contains the rewards. Here you'll find weapons, armor, and one-shot items that help you defeat monsters and gain levels. You only get to draw from this deck after you've successfully defeated a monster or through special card abilities.

First, shuffle both the Door deck and the Treasure deck separately and place them face down on the table.

Once the decks are ready, deal four cards from each deck to every player. This gives each person a starting hand of eight cards. It's a good idea to keep your Door cards and Treasure cards in separate piles in your hand to stay organized.

This is also your chance to be a little mischievous. If you have any Curse cards, you can play one on another player before the first turn even begins.

Now for the final touches. Everyone starts as a level 1 human with no class or race (unless you just played a Class or Race card). Find a way to track your levels. You can use the level tracker included in some versions of the game, ten-sided dice, a phone app, or just pen and paper. The key is that everyone's level must be clearly visible to all other players.

So who goes first? The rules suggest that you figure this out by rolling a die, with the high roller going first. Or, you can argue about it. The person who wins the argument gets to be the starting player.

Let's check your understanding of the setup process.

With the cards dealt and levels set to one, you're ready to start kicking down doors.