9th Hunger Games

9th Hunger Games
Type	Regular
Arena	Capitol Arena
Head Gamemaker	Dr. Volumnia Gaul
Preceded by	8th Hunger Games
Followed by	10th Hunger Games

The 9th Hunger Games were held one year before the prequel and sixty-five years prior to the start of the trilogy.

Tributes

Not much information was archived about the tributes during the first nine years of the Hunger Games. Ahead of the 10th Hunger Games, mentors collected data from their tributes such as their names, district addresses, dates of birth, hair and eye colors, height and weight, disabilities, and family makeup. Since this was an attempt to change course from the previous years' poor recordkeeping, it is unclear how much of this information, if any, was recorded during the 9th Hunger Games and before.

Arena

Main article: Capitol Arena

Interior of the Capitol Arena in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

The 9th Hunger Games, as well as the eight previous editions, were held in the Capitol Arena. The tributes' area of play was limited to the arena's field and stands. At that time, the once-lush green field had been reduced to dirt and weeds, and rubble was strewn everywhere from Dark Days-era rebel bombings.

Summary

Pre-Games

During the first nine Games, tributes were reaped from their home districts and transported to the Capitol by train. Upon arrival, they were held in the Peacekeepers' stables.

The Games

Soon after arriving, tributes were locked inside the Capitol Arena with nothing but weapons. People in the Capitol were encouraged to watch, but most people avoided doing so. In terms of casualties, Dr. Volumnia Gaul said on the first evening of the 10th Hunger Games that the number of deaths was "running neck and neck with last year". This implies that during the 9th Hunger Games, around 10 tributes had died by 5pm on the first day.

Once twenty-three tributes died, the victor was thoroughly searched when they left the arena, and they were unceremoniously sent back to their district. Subsequently, the bodies of the deceased were removed alongside the weapons, and the arena's doors were locked until the following year.

Placing

Italicized numbers are speculative.

• 1st - The victor of the 9th Hunger Games is unknown. However, Districts 1 and 2 produced more victors in the first nine years, and Districts 4 and 11 were also considered contenders, making those four districts likely prospects.
• 2nd-14th - Unknown. The information above could imply that tributes from Districts 1, 2, 4, and 11 tended to place highly as well.
• 15th-24th (Day 1) - Around ten tributes were dead by the first evening.
  • Throughout the first nine years, District 12's tributes were said to be "stunted, joint-swollen kids that always died within the first five minutes," so they were likely among this number.
  • In The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Arachne Crane complained that she might receive a "pathetic runt girl from one of the poor districts, like 8 or 12" as her tribute, who would die within a few minutes "like they did last year and the year before." If her comment was specific to those two districts, then District 8 and 12's female tributes died very early into the 8th and 9th Hunger Games.

Trivia

• Mentors, betting, sponsorships, interviews, and muttations would not be introduced until the 10th Hunger Games.
• The Victors' Village, monetary winnings for victors, food for the winning district, and Victory Tours were not introduced until the 11th Hunger Games.
• The following year's tributes were only fed by their mentors and spectators, so the tributes of the 9th Hunger Games and their predecessors most likely went into the competition starving and dehydrated.
• The 10th Hunger Games' tributes wore the same clothes from the reaping all the way into the arena. This may have also been the case in prior years.
• Stylists, prep teams, escorts, and training stations were not a part of the Games yet. The year(s) they were introduced is unknown.