Hunger Games (event)

"*In the arena, you only get one wish. And it's very costly."
"It costs your life."
"Oh, no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people? It costs everything you are.*"
―Peeta Mellark and Caesar Flickerman on the Hunger Games[src]
The **Hunger Games** were a morbid and brutal competition which took place annually in the country of Panem. Every year, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 were selected from each of the twelve districts as tributes, who train for a week and then are sent into an outdoor arena to fight to the death. The event was nationally televised as mandatory viewing for all citizens. The last living tribute is declared the victor and is showered in gifts and lives the rest of their lives in luxury in Victor's Village. The winning district also receives parcels of food from the Capitol for a year. Seventy-five years before the 74th Hunger Games, the thirteen districts of Panem revolted against the Capitol. Together, they stood strong, but when District 13 was supposedly obliterated by the Capitol, resistance became impossible, as District 13 was the driving force behind the rebellion. The remaining districts submitted to the Capitol and lost their hope for change.

Every year since the rebellion, the Capitol forced 24 children into the arena and used hidden cameras to televise the events in order to both entertain the Capitol citizens and remind the twelve districts how they are completely at the Capitol's mercy.

## Reaping

*Main article: The Reaping*
Every year, each district holds a reaping ceremony "Lottery". Two large glass balls contain slips of paper with the names of each child through the ages of 12-18. However, they can choose to add their name more times in exchange for tessera, which is a small ration of oil and grain. Each tessera has enough oil and grain to supply one family member with food for one year and entries are cumulative from year to year. Exception to this rule was the 25th Hunger Games, the FirstQuarter Quell, where each District was forced to elect or choose their own male and female as tribute to the Capitol.

The district's representative/escort picks a name out of the balls, one of which is for girls and one for boys. The tributes whose names are chosen are then entered into the Hunger Games, unless someone is willing to volunteer - a normally quite rare phenomenon unless it is in one of the "Career Districts" (1, 2, and 4 in the novel, 1 and 2 in the film), in which children have been training their whole lives at a special school to enter the Games.

Victors from previous Hunger Games are no longer eligible to be reaped or volunteer for subsequent games, even if they are still age eligible.

## Mentoring

*Main article: Mentors*
Each living victor from each district is given the task of mentoring the next tributes for the Games. If there is only one living victor, he/she will be the mentor for both tributes. Any living victor, mentor or not, is required to visit the Capitol to watch the Games, visit the residents, and make Capitol TV cameos, but the mentors come alongside their respective District tributes and to watch the Games live. Mentors are very important as they give advice to their tributes, assist in the forming of alliances, politic for their tributes, secure sponsors, and control the sending of any gifts into the arena. A good clear minded mentor is imperative to the success of their tributes with very few exceptions.

## Sponsors

*Main article: Sponsors*
As tributes battle in the arena, quite often they can become helpless (ex. Peeta Mellark with blood poisoning, Katniss' leg burn, etc.). This is simply because of the Cornucopia bloodbath, since the tributes are fighting over the items they need to win the Hunger Games. Many of the tributes are left with limited or no items they wanted from the Cornucopia. Wealthy viewers or groups of people can pool their funds and send items into the arena should a tribute need something, such as food, shelter, weapons, or medicine.

## Cornucopia bloodbath

*Main article: Cornucopia bloodbath*
The bloodbath is what starts the excitement in the Games. On average, roughly half of the tributes die at the initial battle that takes place at the Cornucopia, near the starting point of the games. Spilling from the Cornucopia and strewn on the ground among the tributes are various items including weapons, food, water, and other supplies. Some tributes venture into the opening scramble for these valuable items, while others use it as part of their strategy for slaughter. Usually, the Career tributes are the ones who get most of these supplies.

## Feasts

*Main article: Feasts*
The Cornucopia feast, with the four District packs in front. If the Gamemakers feel that there has not been enough bloodshed recently, they will invite all of the tributes to the Cornucopia for a feast. Normally this feast features something desirable to the tributes, like food, armor, medicine, etc., though Katniss states in the cave that sometimes there is only a loaf of stale bread to fight over, so they will be more likely to go. Some still choose not to because these feasts usually result in a bloodbath. Attendance is not mandatory.

## Quarter Quell

*Main article: Quarter Quell*
Every twenty-five years, the president of Panem selects a card from a box made during the original establishment of the Hunger Games that makes a change in the rules of the reapings.