TF2Tags Hunger Games

**TF2Tags Hunger Games** was a series created by Yackitori and later repeated by Blast, wherein taggers input their names into the Brantsteele Hunger Games simulator to see who would be the last man standing in a 24-tribute battle royale.

## Lead-Up

On December 4th, 2015, a somewhat-known tagger named Yackitori posted a set titled "TF2Tags Hunger Games", which declared that he would be hosting the TF2Tags Hunger Games using the Brantsteele Hunger Games Simulator. He instructed interested Taggers to comment their names to enter themselves into the games, the first entrant being Yackitori himself.

Interest in these games quickly grew. Marmot would be the first to enter, followed by Relk\_Cehi, who praised the idea and noted that he has had heavy experience with the simulator in the past and was willing to help if desired. TGRobert entered next, followed by Fancytag, Ulysses (whose comment was unfortunately deleted due to the Great Comment Crash), Digi, CP, John Kennedy, Alpha Cranberry, and Lucario. Blast entered next, claiming that he would be "THE FIRES THAT CLAIM ALL YOUR SOULS." Legownz followed after, and then Qror and Player 1 + Player 2. Crimson Blitz claimed he would end the games quickly, and Greg the Mannequin entered with the goal of dying as quickly as possible. Bloo Kirby and Bonkspenser (another Comment Crash casualty) were next. Needing 5 more tributes, Yackitori posted another tag advertising the games, which brought Danjin, Master of Skelenomics, Smash Z, Walumancer, and Egg-Z. Some hours later, M3Lucas would join as the 24th entrant. Fred Fuchs, Lt. Col. Problem, PsychKlown, and L'Étranger would later express interest and joining, but lament that they were too late.

By the time everyone entered, Yackitori took a day to organize the simulator. The games would begin on December 6th.

## The Games

### Reaping

On December 6th, Yackitori posted the first entry of the simulator, consisting of the Reaping. The tributes were divided into 12 Districts based upon their order of entry (That is, Yackitori and Marmot were District 1 because they were the first 2 to join, followed by Relk and TGR, etc.). Some were pleased with their teammates (Danjin was happy to be placed with Bonk due to both having skeleton profile pictures, Legownz was happy to be with Qror, etc), others were somewhat upset (Alpha Cranberry was not pleased to be put with John Kennedy, and TGR readily disliked being placed with Relk). Regardless, the stage was set, and Yackitori went about making the second entry, the beginning-game Bloodbath.

Whilst he was doing this, some tributes went about making posts related to the games. Walumancer, acknowledging that he was placed into the poorest district in Hunger Games lore, proposed to his partner Smash Z starting a romance to keep themselves alive longer. This quickly saw Marmot make fun of the pairing, and Walumancer would eventually try to own it by naming the ship "Waluigi4Smash". Smash Z was confused about the strategy, but was weirdly okay with it. Digi made a pun about pita bread, as Peeta is one of the main protagonists in the Hunger Games series.

### Day 1

The games began with the Bloodbath, where the tributes start in a circle around a cornucopia full of various supplies that they could either fight for or run away from. John Kennedy, Walumancer, Smash, Marmot, Egg-Z, Bonkspenser, P1P2, TGR, Greg the Mannequin, and Ulysses all choose to run from the Cornucopia. Yackitori finds a bag of camping equipment, while Qror grabs a bottle of alcohol and a rag. Bloo Kirby spears Alpha Cranberry in the abdomen, marking the first death of the games. Digi grabs a pair of sais while Danjin grabs a trident. Crimson and Legownz fight over a bag, and Legownz ultimately prevails, strangling Crimson with the bag's straps before running off. It would appear that Crimson did, in fact, end the games quickly (for himself, at least). Relk grabs a jar of fishing bait while Lucario gets fishing gear. Finally, M3Lucas breaks CP's nose for a basket of bread.

In the comments of the bloodbath, Walumancer complained that only two tributes died in the "bloodbath". Legownz apologized to Crimson for strangling him. TGR would start a recurring trend he would do throughout these games by summarizing the events of the section in his own words. Ulysses likely said something incendiary towards Relk, to which Relk responded that he would end him, calling his back a trident magnet. Danjin proclaimed himself Danseidon, Master of the Sea. Marmot was glad to have survived the first scrim, while CP proclaimed that his nose would heal. Smash Z revealed that he and Walumancer ran off to do some violent loving-making before they got stabbed later on. Alpha Cranberry took his death lightly. Qror noted that taking a bottle was so Demoman of him. After this, Danjin made a joke that District 10 was "A real skeleton crew", while Relk made a tag related to the situation. CP then proposed that everyone partaking in the games alter their username to add their District and current status in the games, which several of the tributes would go on to do.

Day 1 started with Greg scaring Walumancer off. Fancytag receives a hatchet from an unknown sponsor. Danjin injures himself. Ulysses and Lucario split up to look for resources. Smash Z scares M3Lucas off. Qror, Marmot, and Bonkspenser all separately notice smoke rising in the distance, but decides not to investigate. Blast, Yackitori, and Relk each receive food from unknown sponsors. Egg-Z runs away from TGR. Bloo Kirby and John Kennedy work together for a day. Digi camouflages himself in the bushes while Legownz makes himself a wooden spear. CP hunts for other tributes. P1P2 explores the arena. In the comments, Smash taunts Lucas, Walumancer asks Greg why she's so scary, and Marmot wonders if she is going to sit around doing nothing the entire time. TGR threatens Egg-Z as he runs from him, and Egg-Z calls back that he won't catch him. Digi, hiding in the bushes, hisses.

As day transitions to night, Alpha Cranberry and Crimson Blitz's deaths are formally announced. Alpha perhaps isn't taking the news as well as previously thought, and Crimson was happy to just sit back and watch the rest of the carnage unfold. Digi would later make a tag asking for sponsors as he was hiding in a bush. CP, Digi's District 4 partner, offers to sponsor him from within the games... somehow.

That night, Marmot and Lucas sleep in shifts, as well as the group of TGR, Danjin, and Digi. Kennedy cooks his food and extinguishes his fire. Qror and Yackitori each receive clean water from an unknown sponsor. P1P2 and Lucario huddle for warmth. Relk questions his sanity. Ulysses convinces Bloo to snuggle with him. Legownz, likely filled with regret for killing Crimson, cries himself to sleep. Blast begs Egg-Z to kill him, but Egg-Z refuses. CP tends to Fancy's wounds. Bonkspenser stares at the night sky. Smash Z tries to sing himself to sleep. Walumancer, getting over his fear of mannequins, convinces Greg to snuggle with him. This last event in particular started a running joke that Walumancer was a raving sex addict with no loyalty in the comments. CP asked if Fancy would then tend to his wounds, while also stating he wanted to ally with Legownz. Marmot was happy to befriend Lucas. TGR calls Legownz a pussy in his summary, to which Legownz replies that he isn't a pussy, but apparently Sensible Haircut (because Yackitori used the Bullet Buzz to represent Legownz in this set). Smash noted that the songs he sang to himself were from Nightmare Before Christmas. Egg-Z tried to improve Blast's morale, but Blast called him a bastard for not ending his misery. Digi would later make another tag about him hiding in a bush and asking for sponsorships. CP again tries to help, but gets confused.

### Day 2

During the second day, Digi sees smoke rising in the distance from his bush, and decides to stay put. CP, looking for a way to sponsor Digi, finds a river. Bloo Kirby awoke to find Ulysses and all of her food missing, and she soon starves to death. Ulysses, it would seem, tricked her. At the same time, Fancy and M3Lucas threaten to double suicide (an infamous event in this simulator), which results in both of them dying. Later on, Player 1 + Player 2 somehow puts Marmot in the position where she must kill either Egg-Z or TGR. Marmot refuses to kill either of them, so P1P2 kills Marmot, letting Egg-Z and TGR go. Lucario, Greg, Bonk, Blast, and Relk all hunt for other tributes. Smash and Kennedy decide to work together for the day. Qror crafts himself a slingshot. Yackitori thinks about home. Walumancer searches for firewood. Ulysses fights Legownz and wins, but decides to spare his life. Danjin attempts to climb a tree, but slips and falls to his death.

In the comments, CP laughs because he isn't going to die of thirst. TGR cheers for Marmot's death in his summary, though Marmot considers herself a winner because she died a pacifist. Walumancer was pleased to see his lovers both still alive. Crimson finds it hilarious that Ulysses would spare someone, and awaits the inevitable duel between him and P1P2. Digi demands a sponsor drop, and demands CP give him some water from that river. Bloo is outraged at her death. Danjin notes that he died by falling on his trident, impaling himself.

During the official announcements of the day's deaths, Digi noted that he desperately wanted to last as long as possible (likely in his bush). Marmot and Fancy got annoyed that Yackitori used incorrect representative items for them. CP told Lucas, who previously broke his nose, to "suck it" and celebrated his death while also noting how fun the simulator was. Walumancer, the self-proclaimed manwhore, was happy to still be living. P1P2 wonders what he is even doing, and Marmot notes that he is definitely doing something, because he killed her. Bloo was still salty over her death. Digi would then make another tag noting his 2000-crit milestone and asking once again for Hunger Games sponsors.

The second night began with Walumancer the Manwhore spearing Player 1 + Player 2 to death. Lucario screams for help. Smash Z sees a fire, but stays hidden. Relk, TGR, and Egg-Z all receive hatchets from unknown sponsors. Blast, still miserable and not wanting to be alive, cries himself to sleep. Greg receives explosives from an unknown sponsor. CP questions his sanity for continuously trying to sponsor Digi. Digi, meanwhile, spots a fire in the distance from his bush. He remains in his bush. Legownz, still guilt-ridden for killing Crimson, begs Qror to kill him. Qror refuses. Yackitori and Bonk huddle for warmth. John Kennedy repeats his actions from the first night. Ulysses stares at the night sky.

In the comments, Walumancer laments killing his friend, noting he had just changed his profile picture. Either Bonkspenser or Ulysses complained that that Yackitori used the incorrect representative item, to which he replied he either would use their rep item or an item representing whatever they were doing at the time. P1P2 responded to his death by lamenting that he could no longer fuck Lucario. TGR summarized, and Egg-Z asked if he would like to stick together. Legownz commented that he wasn't so suicidal in real life before asking to die. CP just said "wot?"

### Day 3

On the third day, Blast constructs a shack. Lucario receives explosives from an unknown sponsor. Bonkspenser finds Digi hiding in his bush and chases after him. TGR, Relk, and Smash hunt for other tributes. Greg tends to Legownz's wounds. Walumancer makes himself a slingshot. John Kennedy and Ulysses hunt for other tributes together. Yackitori questions his sanity. Qror receives fresh water from an unknown sponsor. CP, going insane from trying to sponsor Digi, begs Egg-Z to kill him. Egg-Z refuses, finding it hilarious. In the comments, Smash cheered on the manhunt. TGR notes that nothing happened. Egg-Z asks CP if he wants to team up after sparing him. Digi notes that he is running away. CP wonders why everyone is so suicidal. Blast celebrates building a house.

P1P2 was the only announced death, to which Marmot insults P1P2 in celebration, still mad that he killed her over not wanting to kill anyone. Walumancer tells P1P2 to rest in peace. P1P2 was just happy to have a set dedicated just to him.

That night, Walumancer used the firewood he previously found to construct a fire. The fire attracts Bonkspenser, Digi, and Ulysses, but Walumancer is successfully able to fend them off, though he doesn't kill any of them. Legownz, Greg, and Blast sleep in shifts, as well as Relk, CP, and Egg-Z. TGR and Yackitori truce for the night and stick together. Lucario tends to Smash's wounds. John Kennedy dies of an infection from an unknown injury he sustained earlier in the games. Qror is awoken by nightmares. In the comments, Walumancer makes a JonTron reference about protecting his fire. TGR summarized the night and noted that Walumancer wanted to also fuck the fire. Smash questions when he got wounded. Marmot predicts Yackitori will win the whole thing, but Yackitori spoils that he doesn't. Legownz notes that this is the first night he doesn't want to kill himself. CP is glad to be teamed up with someone. Later, TheOnlyGuyEver makes a tag officially sponsoring Walumancer and cheering him on, and advocates others do the same. Walumancer thanks him.

### Day 4

Egg-Z camouflages himself in the bushes, likely sick of people asking him to kill them. Digi, having lost his precious bush, constructs himself a shack. Bonkspenser receives medical supplies from an unknown sponsor. Relk receives another hatchet from a sponsor. Qror injures himself somehow. Smash, in a extremely shocking turn of events, snaps Walumancer's neck. His motivations are unknown. Perhaps he was jealous of the other things Walumancer was loving. Perhaps he felt Walumancer was holding him back. Either way, this betrayal ended the Waluigi4Smash ship forever. TGR begs Legownz to kill him, but Legownz cannot bring himself to kill again after Crimson, and leaves TGR alive. Blast picks himself some flowers. CP, Yackitori, and Lucario encounter each other and get into a three-way fight. Lucario emerges victorious, killing them both.

In the comments, Relk calls Legownz a fool for not taking the opportunity to kill TGR. Smash tells Walumancer to be quiet, calling him his son. TGR summarizes. Relk asks why TGR keeps summarizing the sets, to which he responds he is doing it out of boredom. TOGE mourns the loss of "Wally my boy" who he literally just started to actively support. Digi claims his shack is made of gold. Blast preemptively addresses comments calling him a pansy for picking flowers. CP laments his death.

With the Fallen Tributes being announced, TOGE remarks that Wally must not be forgotten, to which Fancy spams Waluigi over and over. CP mentions he might change his rep item.

Night comes, and Relk, Greg, and Blast cheerfully sing songs together. Elsewhere, Eggz, Bonk, and TGR team up to ambush Ulysses, Lucario, and Legownz. However, it backfires horribly, and all three of them die instead. Digi looks into the night sky. Qror receives more water from a sponsor. Smash cooks his food and extinguishes his fire. In the comments, TGR notes he finally died. Relk is satisfied at making the the final 9. Danjin laments the death of District 10. Digi is still looking for a sponsor.

### Day 5

Day 5 opens with the Feast, an event where the Cornucopia is replenished with food, supplies, and weapons, as well as personal memoirs from the tributes' loved ones. All of the remaining tributes decide to risk going. Lucario and Greg get into a fight over some raw meat. Greg, realizing she is a mannequin and doesn't need food, runs away. Blast, Digi, and Qror decide to band together, successfully ambushing the likes of Relk, Ulysses, and Legownz, killing all three of them. Smash Z, seeing all the death and feeling guilty over killing his lover, commits suicide.

The comments on the Feast mostly consisted of reactions to all the deaths. Relk lamented his death. Digi and Blast celebrated the successful ambushes. Smash wondered why he suddenly became such a wimp.

After the Feast, Digi runs into Lucario, who he is able to distract long enough to escape from. Greg picks flowers. Blast tends to the wounds Qror sustained during the ambushes. TGR comments that nothing happened. Digi once again asks for sponsors, requesting a katana or something similar.

The seven deaths from the Feast and previous night are announced. Fancy celebrates TGR's death, letting their actual personal bad blood spill over into the Hunger Games, resulting in a long and vicious argument between them that goes on way too long. Egg-Z laments his death.

During the night, the infamous double suicide rears its ugly head again, taking the lives of both Digi and Blast. Qror screams for help. Greg cannot start a fire and sleeps without warmth. Lucario does start a fire and uses it to cook his food. In the comments, Smash notes it's the final three. TGR summarizes. Digi is angered about the circumstances of his death, while Blast states that if he had to go down, Digi had to come with him.

### Day 6

Day 6 would be the final day. The three tributes were separated from each other, but a string of bad luck claims two of them. While Greg thinks about home, Lucario falls into a frozen lake and drowns. Elsewhere, Qror tries to escape the arena but dies in the process. Thus, Greg is crowned the winner by default. Yackitori encouraged everyone to congratulate Greg on her victory, but many of the contestants were... more than hesitant to. TGR found it ridiculous that a "GODDAMN" mannequin survived out of all people. Smash angrily ranted that his suicide was bullshit. P1P2 angrily asked who Greg even was in the first place, due to her being a newer tagger at that point. Marmot pointed out that one of the smallest and most minor taggers of the entire 24 won the whole thing. CP stated he had no idea who Greg even was. Regardless, it wasn't all negative. Acquiesce found the result natural, as how could one kill a mannequin? Fancy replied that one couldn't, and likened Greg to the Mad Dummy from Undertale. Greg herself embraced the comparison and celebrated her victory. She would make a follow-up tag about it, also trying to change her rep item to the Pocket Villains now that the Batman promotional items had been added to the site. Greg's IRL friend John Kennedy sarcastically congratulated her while Marmot mentioned that people would no confuse her with P1P2 due to the rep item change. The change, however, ultimately never stuck. Later on, Lucario would angrily make a set noting that he missed the games and returned only to discover he had victory stolen from him by a lake.

## Attempted Follow-Up

Following the controversial end to the Hunger Games, Blast decided to host a second round, telling everyone to enter their names by commenting on his tag. For this second round, many of the previous contestants threw themselves back into the arena, including Blast, Fancy, Relk, Legownz, Smash, M3Lucas, Walumancer, Marmot, CP, Alpha Cranberry, Ulysses, Bonkspenser, and P1P2. Danjin, Lucario, and Yackitori would later join in as well after Blast requested more tribute names. Newcomers TOGE, Fred Fuchs, Makin' Bacon, Mnemonic\_Horse.EXE, PsychKlown, Biolizard, Le Tryhard Hunter, and BEAT also decided to sign up and see where things would take them.

This second time around, suggestions were made as to how to change the simulator a bit. Walumancer requested that all suicides be removed from event list due to how much anger they caused in the previous round. M3Lucas suggested determining the District teams through Random.org.

The reaping was soon published, and people were largely more satisfied with their partners this time around. The bloodbath was posted soon after, which saw Relk get killed by P1P2 and Smash once again commit suicide (which he called absolute bullshit in the comments, as suicides were left on). However, shortly after the bloodbath Blast posted a set with some bad news. Is infamously bad internet was acting up, which was preventing him from posting more Hunger Games sets. He offered to send the link to anyone who had the time to continue it, but unfortunately it was never continued even though either Bonkspenser or Tryhard offered to continue it.

Since the link to this particular Hunger Games simulator no longer works (the game was erased from the simulator's servers in 2018), posts from the tribute taggers are the only means by which information from these games can be gleamed. It is known Fred Fuchs died due to a post by Makin' Bacon, and the fact he was lumped in with Relk and Smash likely means that he died third. A tag by Ulysses insinuates that he blew himself up. Blast made a set being outraged that Fancy at some point tended to his wounds and then later decapitated him. PsychKlown eventually made a set detailing the end of the simulation. Through this, it is known that the final four consisted of CP (who killed Lucario and Tryhard, as well as three others), Alpha Cranberry, Marmot (who killed Mnemonic and M3Lucas), and PsychKlown (who killed Legownz, Biolizard, and 4 others). It is known that in the endgame, CP killed Alpha Cranberry and PsychKlown fell off a cliff. Due to vague framing it is unknown if CP or Marmot won in the end, especially in the comments where Marmot believed she went on a murderous rampage. These comments also revealed Walumancer died by drowning in a lake.

## Reception

Most of the reception to TF2Tags Hunger Games came from those who participated in it themselves. Due to this fact, it was almost universally positive overall, with most thinking the idea to be fun and community-building, watching the drama unfold through such simulated events. Many tributes consistently commented on these sets throughout the day in reaction to the latest events. Even those not participating eventually came around to become invested in it, such as TheOnlyGuyEver. The fact that the Hunger Games lasted for only one day meant it was fresh throughout, likely keeping retention high. Overall, it was a successful series.

There were, however, general trends of negativity in response to certain events. Suicides or suicidal acts were the most common sources of complaining, likely because many believed them to be cheap deaths that felt detached from the events occurring between characters. In some cases, suicides would occur late-game, costing those in the top ten or even top five a shot at victory they otherwise might have had. The ending was also somewhat controversial due to Greg the Mannequin not being a very well-known tagger, as well as her victory coming from the fact that the other two tributes died through accidental means.

## Placements

1. Greg the Mannequin (District 9) (Winner)
2. Qror (District 7)
3. Lucario (District 6)
4. Blast (District 6)
5. Digi (District 4)
6. Smash Z (District 11)
7. Legownz (District 7)
8. Ulysses (District 3)
9. Relk\_Cehi (District 2)
10. TGRobert (District 2)
11. Bonkspenser (District 10)
12. Egg-Z (District 12)
13. Yackitori (District 1)
14. CP (District 4)
15. Walumancer (District 11)
16. John Kennedy (District 5)
17. Player 1 + Player 2 (District 8)
18. Danjin, Master of Skelenomics (District 10)
19. Marmot (District 1)
20. M3Lucas (District 12)
21. Fancytag (District 3)
22. Bloo Kirby (District 9)
44. Crimson Blitz (District 8)
45. Alpha Cranberry (District 5)

## Gallery

Yackitori proposes TF2Tags Hunger Games to the community, which is extremely receptive to the idea.Though initial support was high, it wasn't quite enough to reach the necessary 24 tributes.The Reaping, where the tributes and their Districts are revealed.Walumancer tries to develop a strategy for the games with his District 11 partner Smash Z.Walumancer, realizing he started a new on-site ship, attempts to name it.Digi makes a joke about the Hunger Games.The Bloodbath.Danjin makes a pun about he and Bonkspenser's representative items.Relk\_Cehi makes a tag referencing the Hunger Games.CP suggests that the tributes add their Districts to their on-site usernames.Day 1.Legownz makes a pun regarding the Bloodbath.Fallen Tributes 1.Digi begs for sponsors. CP, his District Partner and fellow contestant, offers to do so.Night 1.Digi still wants sponsors.Day 2.Fallen Tributes 2.Digi celebrates his 2000-crit milestone asking for sponsors.Night 2.Day 3.Fallen Tributes 3.Night 3.TheOnlyGuyEver officially endorses Walumancer to win.Day 4.Fallen Tributes 4.Night 4.The Feast.Day 5.Fallen Tributes 5.Night 5.Day 6 (Finale).A joke by Acquiesce.Greg the Mannequin celebrates her victory. She also attempts to change her representative item, though this does not largely stick.Blast proposes a second round, and asks tributes to sign up below.Blast needs more tributes.Lucario, who performed exceptionally well in the Hunger Games, missed most of the action.Round 2 Tributes and Districts revealed.Round 2 Bloodbath.Round 2 is derailed due to technical problems on Blast's part.Makin' Bacon mourns three tributes who died in Round 2.Jesse makes a joke about the Hunger Games.Blast is outraged by Fancytag's (simulated) behavior during Round 2.TheOnlyGuyEver requests a link so he can see Round 2.PsychKlown dramatizes the end of Round 2. However, due to the vague and unclear wordings, it is unknown if Marmot or CP won.
## Trivia

* While this series was going on, Smash Z went on his second spree of spamming, the first since his initial MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE spree during the second Taggening. This spree was not MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE, however. Instead, it was related to Bill Nye the Science Guy.
* Real drama would spill over into this series after Fancytag celebrated TGRobert's death in the games, which caused a massive argument about a running joke of TGR calling Fancy "hooky" and saying he has a hook fetish. This eventually became a somewhat bigger drama between them that resulted in most siding with Fancy.
* The second round that Blast hosted saw the tagger BEAT retrieve a sickle from the cornucopia. This random occurrence influenced BEAT so much that he made the sickle become a part of his identity, renaming himself to ¡BEAT! McSickle.
	+ The sickle part of his identity would continue on for the rest of his tagging career, even when he started to employ the Mercedes-Benz car into his identity, becoming ¡BENZ! Mercedesickle.
* This series would later inspire Walumancer to create his TF2Tags Survivor series, where he wrote a full narrative based upon the random events given to him through the Brantsteele Survivor Simulator.
* TF2Tags Hunger Games would be the last significant contribution Yackitori would make to the TF2Tags community. After the series ended, he made a few more tags in December and then one in January before disappearing from the site forever.
* Despite the start of the Hunger Games always being shown as especially violent and bloody, both rounds saw very few tributes get killed at the very start.