Quarter Quell

"When the laws of the Games were laid out, they dictated that every twenty-five years the anniversary would be marked by a Quarter Quell. It would call for a glorified version of the Games to make fresh the memory of those killed by the districts' rebellion."

—Catching Fire, Chapter 12

President Snow announcing the third Quarter Quell.

A Quarter Quell was a special edition of the Hunger Games that was held every twenty-five years. They marked every quarter-century anniversary of the districts' defeat by the Capitol during the Dark Days.

Concept

All known Quarter Quells were characterized by a twist in the reaping process or pool, altering the selection of tributes in some way. The 50th and 75th Hunger Games also had twists to do with their respective arenas.

History

Creation

The Capitol claimed that when they created the laws for the Games at the end of the Dark Days, they dictated that a Quarter Quell would be held every twenty-five years. It was made to seem that the twists for these Games were written out at that time, with plans for "centuries of Hunger Games". However, the political convenience of the twist for the third Quarter Quell made Katniss Everdeen doubt that it had truly been prepared so far in advance. There was also no mention of Quarter Quells in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which took place ten years after those laws were written. This casts further doubt on the Quarter Quells being intended from the inception of the Games themselves and were likely added to the concept of Games, along with a number additions and modification made Dr. Volumnia Gaul and Coriolanus Snow, during the Games' early years and evolution into their modern form.

Film adaptation

Deleted scene of Plutarch Heavensbee burning the envelope.

In a deleted scene from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee entered an oval-shaped room with two Peacekeepers, opened a locker marked with the Roman numeral "LXXV" (75), and burned the envelope containing the original twist for the 75th Hunger Games. The number of lockers implied that, at least in the films, the Capitol had truly prepared around 80 Quarter Quells in advance.

25th Hunger Games

Main article: 25th Hunger Games

"On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes that who would represent it."

—President Coriolanus Snow

For the 25th Hunger Games, the citizens of the districts had to vote on who would compete that year. The victor is unknown and was presumed deceased by the time of the 75th Hunger Games.

The Cornucopia is also first introduced.

Dr. Volumnia Gaul did commentary for the Games with Lucky Flickerman and was credited with coining the phrase "may the odds be EVER in your favor" which would later become a way of saying good luck.

50th Hunger Games

Main article: 50th Hunger Games

"On the fiftieth anniversary, as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes. Two female and two male. In this doubling of reparations, we remember that true strength lies not in numbers, but in righteousness."

—President Snow

For the 50th Hunger Games, instead of the usual two tributes, four children were reaped from each district, two male and two female. This meant that a total of 48 tributes would be sent into the arena, and 47 would die. Two tributes in fact actually died prior to the games themselves: Woodbine Chance and Louella McCoy. Woodbine chose to attempt escape immediately after being reaped and was killed by Peacekeepers and replaced by Haymitch Abernathy. Louella McCoy was killed in a chariot ride accident and replaced by a doppelganger, Lou Lou. Everything in the arena was poisonous save for rainwater and provisions from the Cornucopia. The victor was Haymitch Abernathy from District 12, who tricked his last opponent, a District 1 female, into throwing her axe at the force field. Her weapon rebounded and flew right back at her, killing her.

The 50th Hunger Games was also notable for every tribute being a part of an alliance, the Careers or the Newcomers, the latter of which was made up of every non-Career district except for District 5.

The 50th Hunger Games arena was the target of a rebel plot to disrupt the games. Haymitch and Ampert bombed the arena's water tank in Sub-A, causing a number of malfunctions. After winning, Haymitch attempted to bomb the arena's generator which he was implied to be successful at.

The footage of the 50th Hunger Games was later heavily edited before being displayed to the Capitol audience.

75th Hunger Games

Main article: 75th Hunger Games

"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors."

—President Snow

For the 75th Hunger Games, tributes were to be reaped from the pool of living victors of past Hunger Games, forcing them to compete for a second time. As a result, the usual 12-18 age range was disregarded, marking the first time that adults would compete in the Games. Katniss felt that this twist was too convenient to be a coincidence and she believed it had been selected specifically to kill her in the arena in the hopes of stopping the uprisings she had inspired.

The plan of the 75th Hunger Games arena.

During the third Quarter Quell, the only supplies at the Cornucopia were weapons. The arena was divided into twelve sections like a clock, with a new horror being inflicted upon the tributes who were in a specific section every hour. Six tributes were alive when the Games were interrupted by the rebels' plan to extract Katniss from the arena, making it the first and only Hunger Games to have no victor.

Trivia

• Based on the deleted scene from the Catching Fire film, the Capitol had anticipated around 80 Quarter Quells or 2,000 years of Hunger Games.
• Both the Second and Third Quarter Quells had a rebel plot surround them. In addition, some of the rebels involved in both were Haymitch Abernathy, Beetee Latier, Mags Flanagan, Wiress and Plutarch Heavensbee.