SMPEarth Hunger Games

The group photo above the stadium prior to the event.

The **SMPEarth Hunger Games** was a server-wide event that occurred on Day 135. The event was announced on Day 134 by Michaelmcchill and JoshA20, in lieu of the SMPEarth Olympics which was expected to be held on Days 134 and 135.

## History

### Day 134

As previously announced on Day 116, the Olympics was expected to happen for two days, Day 134 and Day 135. However, a statement was released on the official SMPEarth Twitter account informing that the event would be postponed to the next day to allow more preparations to be made.

Several hours later since the postponement tweet, Michaelmcchill announced in his livestream that a Charity Hunger Games event will take place at 2PM EST / 6PM GMT on Day 135, in lieu of the Olympics. Much like the Olympics, the event aims to raise fund for The Trevor Project. This change of plan was made after a 6-hour discussion with the server's administration, as stated by the official SMPEarth Twitter.

At the same time, JoshA20 with the help of KotiePlayz and Eret prepared a designated game area for the event, located in the American Midwestern region between the Great Lakes to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west. This includes the colony of Pogland, Gary, Indiana and approximately northeast of the Laramie Online Office.

    Landmarks from all over the server were duplicated and placed there, namely:

* Parisian Eiffel Tower from Corvarian France, Corvarian Empire
* O.D.S.Y Building and the Olympic Stadium from Log Lagoon
* The palace from Port-aux-Francais and the Boomer Mansion from the Antarctic Empire
* The Lincoln Lodge from Fairbanks, Alaska
* The Great Pyramid of Steve and the Statue of Steverty from New Hawaii, Ursus
* The Parthenon from Aeropostale†

Apart from that, the world spawn was reset from the Atlantic Ocean located on the western area of the overworld to inside the duplicated Olympic Stadium, nicknamed the 'cornucopia'.

### Day 135

    About 4 hours before the event is expected to commence, Josh and a number of players such as VoiceOverPete, KotiePlayz, Thunder1408 and Tubbo were seen around the cornucopia, presuambly making preparation for the big game. All players' name except Tubbo's were fashioned in red colour (possibly indicating a temporary admin permission, akin to Josh's).

Other buildings and landmarks from the server were duplicated to the location as well, including:

* The New Bean Empire State Building and the apartment complex from Bean York City, New Beanland, Bean
* Krakahumungus
* The original Woodie Statue from Packlevania, Packle
* The Slav Squat from Sevastopol, Kievan Rus
* Kwite's towers from Salt Lake City, New Montana

Later, Josh announced in the community discord and the official SMPEarth Twitter about 2 hours before the event starts that the server will attempt to reach a donation goal of $ 5,000 or more for The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ suicide prevention utility for crisis situations, aswell as other various services for the LGBTQ+ youth.

#### **Prelude**

Around 2PM EST, players started to gather in the airspace of the Olympic Stadium on top of barrier blocks placed between the VoiceOverBlimp and the Battle Bus. Michaelmcchill, KaraCorvus, DinksterDaily, Pokay, Sophietexas and Thunder1408 began to approach CaptainSparklez in an attempt to get a screenie. Kara then suggested everyone to get together on the makeshift bleachers for a group photo. Jordan was appalled that the participants were not practicing social distancing, in light of the recent COVID-19 global pandemic in the real world. Nonetheless, JoshA20 administered the group photo and shared in the general chat of their Discord.

Later, Michael asked if everyone that had signed up for the event has arrived, prompting VoiceOverPete to quickly crack a common joke - "everyone not here, raise your hand!". Michael then gave everyone a rundown about today's event—the long-awaited Olympics was unfortunately replaced with a classic battle royale fight between the players, dubbed the Hunger Games. The rules of the game was quite straightforward too:

* There is a 5-minute grace period at the beginning of the match where players are free to roam within the borders of the game area. Once the time limit ends, PVP is enabled.
* Players can gather items in forms of food and weapons either from the central area (cornucopia) or all over the landmarks in chests and barrels.
* Barrels are rare, bonus chests, containing valuable items, better food and more powerful weapons.
* Players have about 25 minutes before the border starts to shrink to as minimum as the turf arena of the Olympic Stadium.
* Players would play in teams of 2.
* The last man standing wins bragging rights.

#### **Round 1**

The first round of the Hunger Games commenced following some initial technical difficulties. After the game was reset a few times and as anticipated, all the teams quickly rushed towards the cornucopia located in the centre of the stadium. Everybody attempted to grab some of the items stored in chests and then quickly separated in to their respective pairs. Each of the teams ventured in to the wilderness during the grace period and began to search for other item chests located throughout the arena.

Moments after the grace period ended, Thunder1408 and Tubbo quickly ambushed VoiceOverPete and Eret, eliminating the two from the games. Thunder and Tubbo hastily encountered Pokay and DinksterDaily and successfully eliminated them from the games as well, gaining their team a great deal of attention. The other players were still roaming the arena visiting the landmarks in search of chests and valuable weaponry. Some teams even camped out at locations with bounties of chests, awaiting the chests' anticipated restocking of new supplies.

The team of Thunder and Tubbo began their quest for their next victims, taking notice of nearby teams, including CaptainSparklez and KaraCorvus, as well as Beatsolos and Sophietexas. Jordan and Kara began to debate a method to descend the arena's Parisian Eiffel Tower's observation deck as they had trapped themselves above without realizing that there was no accessible option to descend. The two needed to escape from the tower in order to avoid the approaches from Thunder and Tubbo as well as Beat and Sophie. Due to the tower's wide base and the fact that only Jordan had a water bucket, they could only release the water during their descent to the ground (also known as attempting the water bucket challenge). As Beat and Sophie closed in on Jordan and Kara's location, the latter team's escape tactic partially failed as Kara succumbed to her impact with the ground thus eliminating herself from the games. Jordan, who successfully survived the drop, began to make his escape as Beat and Sophie attempted to establish combat with him. Beat and Sophie's attack was unsuccessful and the girls took notice of Thunder and Tubbo's arrival to their location. Beat only managed to escape as Sophie was slain while still underneath the Parisian Eiffel Tower by the hands of Thunder.

Thunder and Tubbo abandoned their chase of Beat, deciding to continue to hunt down Jordan instead. The manhunt continues as numerous other players continue to arm themselves for the possible showdown against the forces of Thunder and Tubbo. While en route, the two intersect the team of AllanahVA and KotiePlayz and engage in conflict, where Thunder is successful in eliminating Kotie from the games. However, Allanah escaped their attacks and managed to survive.

The border of the arena continued to shrink forcing many players out of their hiding areas including the teams Krinios and Sylvee, as well as Michaelmcchill and CrowWing15. During this time, Jordan was slain by the hands of Tubbo, fulfilling Thunder and Tubbo's goal to eliminate Jordan from the games. The border shrunk to the vicinity of the stadium where the remaining players began to engage in combat. Thunder and Tubbo attacked several of the players including Allanah and Beat, where only Beat managed to escape their forces as Allanah was eliminated by Thunder. Seconds later, Krinios and Sylvee launched a surprise attack on Thunder and Tubbo where Tubbo was slain by Krinios.

The battle between the team of Krinios and Sylvee against Thunder continued, while Beat charged an attack against the team of Michael and Crow. Beat slaughtered Crow and then Michael, eliminating them both from the game, seconds apart from each other. Meanwhile, Thunder accidentally committed suicide while avoiding Krinios' strikes, gaining a great deal of attention for his error right after Beat's impressive feat. Thunder thew an Ender Pearl at a great distance and succumbed to his impact with the ground, thus the remaining players alive are Beat as well as the team of Krinios and Sylvee.

The game arena continued to shrink, forcing Beat, Krinios, and Sylvee to engage in a final combat in an area around the cornucopia. Both sides employed the same strategy at first, firing arrows at each other in order to chip away at each other's health. This strategy was not effective as all the players alive were equipped with bounties of potions and golden apples which would regenerate health quickly. Beat decided to alternate her strategy and engaged in combat against Krinios, swiftly eliminating him from the games after waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Krinios' elimination left Beat and Sylvee as the last two players remaining. The two were right about to engage in a final battle yet were suddenly transported to the spectator area above the arena. The game's timer had concluded, igniting a huge uproar amongst all players present. They demanded that a final battle be fought in order for a champion to be declared. After identifying the issue, JoshA20 said that he would transport Beat and Sylvee back down and distribute each of them supplies such that they may fight their final battle. Amongst the commotion, Kara even noted that "regardless of who wins, the Coochie Gang wins!"

Beat and Sylvee's battle resumed, where the two initially fired arrows at each other. Beat maintained the upper hand throughout the situation as she was much more skilled at combat than her rival, which Sylvee acknowledged as well. Beat established combat with Sylvee, where the latter attempted to run away in order to remain alive. This strategy did not work as Sylvee was swiftly eliminated, crowning Beat as the champion of the Hunger Games.

#### **Intermission**

Following Beat's victory, all the players reappeared in the area above the arena and congratulated Beat on her title. The players unanimously requested to Josh that another Hunger Games round take place where Michael discussed the amount that they had currently raised for the charity.

While Josh began to set up another round, Krinios gained attention from the other players as he continued to proclaim how his team was actually victorious and that Sylvee's loss was merely an illusion. Moments later, a command block appeared near the players with a switch and sign on the block saying "Ban Krinios", gathering a great deal of attention from those present.

The attention then turned towards Jordan (CaptainSparklez) as Kara had noted that he had just commenced to lift weights on stream as the former claimed that it was the perfect opportunity to do so. Michael requested that his viewers spam his chat with the number 7 while somebody placed a map-art image in-game of Jordan posing shirtless in the meantime. Many of the players would begin to compliment Jordan's physique, however Jordan attempted to take the map-art moments later.

Prior to the commencement of the second round, Thunder announced that he had to leave, leaving Tubbo partnerless. Michael noted that his friend, R0ar304, could replace Thunder and Josh quickly whitelisted the player such that they could join.

#### **Round 2**

The second round of the games commenced in a similar fashion to the previous round, with the exception of any of the original technical difficulties. The teams ventured off in to the wilderness of the arena once more during the grace period, with many of the teams repeating the same strategies that they applied in the previous round. Some players quickly noticed that there were technical difficulties once more with the game's setup as the timer displayed that the round would last close to 600 minutes, while some teams were even able to venture past the arena's borders.

Not a single player was eliminated within the first 5 minutes following the grace period, which was likely due to the fact that several teams had resorted to camping near or within buildings dispersed around the arena. Other players quickly noticed the difference in the round as a much longer period of time elapsed before any players were eliminated from the game. This silence ended quickly as three teams intersected each other at at the same location in the arena, Eret and Pete, Tubbo and Roar, as well as Krinios and Sylvee. Eret and Pete would not walk out of the area alive as the former was eliminated by Tubbo while the latter was eliminated by Krinios. Beat and Sophie were nearby as the battle broke out, yet the two quickly ran in the opposite direction as they knew that they would be targeted next.

In the mean time, other teams continued to prepare for combat as the first two players were eliminated from the games. The team of Kotie and Allanah, for example, began to breed wolves in order to develop an army, while other teams strategized by camping out and some of the landmarks. Crow and Michael were the next two players to be eliminated as they were ambushed by Krinios and Sylvee. The latter of the two quickly eliminated both Crow and Michael in combat from the game and gained her applause from the other females participating.

The border begins to shrink, drawing players closer to the central stadium and cornucopia. Several instances of combat were established amongst teams while travelling towards the centre, yet none of the players were eliminated. The lack of deaths was due to a much more conservative approach, refraining from head-on attack strategies which was commonly adopted amongst all remaining players. The arena's border had further shrunk, forcing the players to head towards the central stadium.

Sophie was the first fatality amongst the remaining players of the round as they returned to the stadium. She was swiftly killed and eliminated from the game by Krinios after she had fallen over the stadium wall from the bleachers to the ground below. Beat raced down in order to protect her teammate, yet Sophie had sustained damage from the impact and was not able to regenerate health sufficiently. Tubbo and Roar, who were also nearby, confronted Krinios and Sylvee and exchanged fire. Beat watched the two teams fire arrows as each other, attempting to keep her stealth and attack at the most advantageous time.

Krinios successfully eliminated Roar from the games during the heated barrage, and took notice of Beat who was still positioned behind him. Kara and Jordan began to fire arrows from above at all the players as they had seemingly gathered in the same space. Krinios and Sylvee also took notice of Allanah and Kotie and begin to fire at the duo as well. Krinios repeated the same strategy and eliminated Allanah from the round while Kotie managed to escape the bombardment.

While Krinios and Sylvee's team engaged in combat against the team of Allanah and Kotie, Beat ran back towards the the stadium in order to avoid being further attacked from above. Kara and Jordan were aware of her entry and began firing arrows at her from the distance. Beat began to return fire yet quickly noticed that Krinios and Sylvee had followed her in hot pursuit. The other remaining players, which included Kotie and Tubbo, had also entered the stadium at this time as the border continued to shrink. The two teams fired at Beat, striving to eliminate her from the games, whilst creating a difficult situation for her to overcome. As Beat returned fire, Sylvee threw an Ender Pearl in an attempt to change her position yet accidentally sent herself falling to her death.

After a brief eruption of laughter, the players returned to their battle such that a winning team may be declared. The event continued as Krinios chipped away at Tubbo's health with a barrage of arrows which eliminated the latter from the game. He then endeavoured to establish combat with Beat yet retreated seconds later. Kotie intercepted Krinios' escape and the two engaged in combat. Kotie triumphed in their fight as he eliminated Krinios from the game.

The border continued to shrink, enclosing on the central cornucopia where the remaining players were Beat, Kotie, and the team of Kara and Jordan. Kara and Jordan, being at an advantage in the situation, utilized their extra manpower to attempt to bombarded both Beat and Kotie with aerial attacks in an effort to eliminate them both. This strategy did not work, however, as both Beat and Kotie managed to defend themselves and worked together to weaken Kara and Jordan. This was an unspoken agreement as no form of established communication occurred between Beat or Kotie during the final moments of the round.

Seconds later, Kotie began a full frontal assault on both Kara and Jordan, smiting them both, respectively, with his sword mere seconds apart from one another. Beat watched Kotie spring in to action, eliminating the duo and placing Beat in the final two once more. Beat and Kotie both advanced towards one another and engaged in player-versus-player combat. The battle was short and Beat was defeated by Kotie. Upon Beat's elimination, Kotie was crowned as the champion of the second round of the SMPEarth Hunger Games.

#### **Closing**

The event came to a close with the players congratulating Kotie on his victory in the second round of the hunger games. He also received praise from Beat, who acknowledged that she was glad that somebody else won the round instead of herself. Krinios and Sylvee insisted that Kotie won the round for 'Team Bean Empire' and requested it is mentioned in the wiki article as well.

Although some players wanted to continue playing on the server, they were abruptly disconnected such that the server could be restored. Josh began restoring the server from a backup that he captured a few days earlier.

## Teams

Participants were divided into teams of 2, regardless of their factions. They were most likely paired with each other due to their mutual relationships and alliances.

 Team Tëxas
 The Middle Eastern Alliance
 Team Bean Empire
 Team We Did Well But Didn't Win

* Both Basicallybea and Galaxies18 (Logan) were present at the inauguration of the Hunger Games, yet did not participate in any round as Logan was having difficulties joining the server.
* DinksterDaily and Pokay left as soon as they were eliminated in the first round. They did not return for the second round of the Hunger Games.
* When Thunder1408 had to drop out of the second round, R0ar304 was immediately whitelisted and brought onto the server under recommendation from Michaelmcchill to fill the vacant position.
* Note: Italicized names were added by the wiki team.

## Trivia

* This event is possibly the final large event to be held on the server before its official closure on Day 142.
* JoshA20 revealed the origins of the Hunger Games event on SootMC to KingGaming, the VOD can be seen here.
* This was the fifth and final gathering of the Coochie Gang following their reunion on Day 90.
	+ Not all Coochie Gang members were present however, as Amethystt did not participate in the event.
	+ It should also be noted that CrowWing15 posed alongside the other female members in the group photo. They also unsuccessfully attempted to capture another Coochie Gang moment prior, which may have included her.
* The backup captured by Josh to restore the server after the Hunger Games is the same file as the SMPEarth World Download.

## Gallery

The logo of the event (originally the SMPEarth Olympics) shared by JoshA20 in the SMPEarth Discord on Day 133.One of the promotional photos tweeted out by some of the players participating in the event.Another group photo taken by JoshA20 prior to the event.