The Hunger Games: Training Days
The Hunger Games: Training Days Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Each player takes the role of a Tribute in the world of Panem during the Training Days for The Hunger Games™. The Hunger Games™ are the Capitol's method of reminding the remaining Districts not to rebel as they did in the Dark Days. In punishment for the uprising, each District must send one male and one female Tribute to participate in The Hunger Games™.
Your goal is to prepare for the games during your time in the Capitol by impressing sponsors and the Gamemakers and increasing your Approval Rating. You can win Approval Rating each day by participating in various training stations to exhibit your skills, attempting to build alliances, and competing in special events such as the Opening Ceremonies. Use your effort wisely, as you can expend only so much Effort each turn.
But beware: each day is precious and could end before you accomplish everything you plan to. The Tribute with the highest Approval Rating will win the Training Days Game and secure a significant advantage going into the arena.
Game Overview
Once every player has chosen a Tribute, the Challenge deck is shuffled and Challenges are revealed equal to the number of players playing (4 Challenge cards for 4 players, 3 cards for 3 and so on). Players decide how much effort to put into each Challenge by placing their Effort Tokens face down on the Challenges (Players may look at their own Effort Tokens). Once all Effort has been assigned, each Challenge is resolved by determining a Total Score for each Tribute competing (see examples of Total Score later in the rules). The winner of each challenge gains Approval Rating. The player with the highest Approval Rating at the end of the game wins. A typical game consists of 2 or 3 days (see End of Day section for more details).
Game Contents
- Deck of 47 Challenge cards:
- 5 End of Day Cards (Red)
- 24 Event Cards (Blue)
- 8 Special Event Cards (Gold)
- 10 Alliance Cards (Green)
- 4 Reminder Cards that list turn order
- Effort tokens for each District (9 total sets with values of 1, 3, and 6)
- Approval Rating board with district tokens for tracking score
- 3 dice
- 18 Tribute Cards (2 for each of 9 represented districts, one male and one female)
A Tribute Card
The printed Tribute card has the following areas:
- Attributes: four attribute bars, Strength, Agility, Cunning and Charm, each numbered 1 through 8.
- Picture of your Tribute.
- Left Wing Alliance Bonus and Right Wing Alliance Bonus.
- Ability: a unique Tribute bonus.
- Expertise: each Tribute possesses a unique Expertise. If a player places their 6 Effort Token on an Event that matches their Tribute's Expertise, the player automatically wins that Event when Effort Tokens are revealed.
Game Setup
Each player chooses a District to represent. Only one District can be represented per player. Once Districts are chosen, each player takes their District Effort Tokens and either the male or female Tribute card for that District. Tributes from unplayed Districts are shuffled and placed face down.
Players decide how many days they will play. A typical game lasts 2 or 3 days. We recommend 2 days for the first time, but you can play as many or as few as you like (minimum one).
Shuffle the Challenge deck and place it near the players. Roll a die to see who goes first. The player to the left is player 2 and so on.
Game Play
Every turn, do the following:
Reveal Challenge Cards
- The first player flips over and reveals a number of Challenge Cards from the Challenge deck equal to the number of players.
- The Challenge deck contains Events, Special Events, Alliance Cards, and End of Day Cards (see sections later in the rules).
Assign Effort
- Each player has three Effort Tokens with values 1, 3, and 6 (with 1 indicating low-level effort and 6 indicating a high-level of effort).
- Starting with the first player, each player takes turns placing Effort Tokens face down on any of the revealed Challenge cards.
- Players can assign Effort Tokens to any Challenge, and there is no limit to the number of Effort Tokens a player can place on a Challenge card, but Player 1 must wait for all players to place their first Effort Token before they can place their second etc.
- Once an Effort token has been placed, it cannot be moved.
Illustrated example, "Four-Player Game Under Way" (each player has placed 2 of their 3 Effort Tokens): the four revealed Challenges are an Event (+1, District 1 Female's Expertise), an Alliance (+1), a Special Event "Gaining Sponsors" (+5) and an Event (+2, District 4 Female's Expertise). Players 1 to 4 have each placed two tokens across them, and each player's Tribute card is shown beside their tokens, with the Approval Tracker and the Approval Ratings - Score Tracker shown beside them.
Winning Challenges
- Starting with the first Challenge, determine the winner of each Challenge card by having each player who assigned Effort to the Challenge reveal their Effort Tokens and determine their Total Score for that Challenge.
- Total Score = the sum of a player's Effort Tokens + their Tribute Attribute (if applicable) + Alliance Bonuses (if applicable) + a die roll.
- The player with the highest Total Score wins the Challenge and adds the Approval Rating for that Challenge to their score. If two or more Tributes are tied for first place, they each roll a die and the player with the highest roll is the winner (keep rolling ties).
Worked example (Event "Eye-Catching Attire", Charm): Player 1 places Effort tokens 3, 6 and 1 and has Charm 4 on their Tribute card, an Alliance Bonus of +2 Charm, and rolls a 2. Total Score = 10 (Effort) + 4 (Attribute) + 2 (Alliance Bonus) + 2 (die roll) = 18. Player 2 places Effort tokens 1 and 3 with Charm 2, has a +2 Cunning Alliance Bonus which does not apply to this Challenge (scored 0), and rolls a 6. Total Score = 4 (Effort) + 2 (Attribute) + 0 (Alliance Bonus) + 6 (die roll) = 12. Player 1 has the highest Total Score and wins the Challenge.
End of Turn
- Once all Challenges have been decided, discard all Challenges (except for Special Event Cards; see Special Event Card section) and start a new turn. The player to the left of the first player will act as the first player for the next turn (dealing Challenges and leading off when assigning Effort). Be sure that all players score their Approval Rating before moving on to the next turn.
Play continues using the turn order described above until all Days have been completed (see End of Day Cards section).
Challenge Cards
Event Cards (Blue Border)
Event cards make up the majority of the Challenge deck. Event cards represent opportunities to impress and train in front of Gamemakers or Sponsors and prove your worth as a Tribute. Each Event card falls into an attribute category. For example, Personality is a Charm Event. This means that each Tribute will add their Charm value to their Total Score when competing for the Personality Event.
When a Tribute wins an Event, they impress sponsors and the Gamemakers and earn Approval Rating for their performance. Add this Approval Rating to your score by advancing your District marker on the Approval Rating board.
At the end of the turn, discard all Event cards that were revealed as Challenges.
Card anatomy (as labelled on the printed diagram): Approval Rating won; Event name; Attribute used. The example card is the "Eye-Catching Attire" Event, Approval Rating +1, Attribute Charm, with the printed note "District 1 Female's Expertise: If they place their 6 Effort Token, they automatically win the Event."
Special Event Cards (Gold Border)
Special Events occur only once in each game. Typically, Special Events allow Tributes to add two attributes to their Total Score.
In addition to being worth Approval Rating, Special Events have a special ability that the winning Tribute will get to use later in the game. Unlike other Challenge Cards, Special Events are not discarded at the end of a turn. Whenever a player wins a Special Event, they place that card in front of them for the rest of the game and use that card's special ability. Each player may only have 2 Special events. If they gain another they must select 1 of the 3 cards to remove from the game.
If a Special Event is revealed but no player assigns any Effort to it, it is removed from the game (placed back in the box instead of being discarded at the end of the turn.)
Example card (as printed): "Opening Ceremony" Special Event, Approval Rating +5. Text: "Any player that spends 1, 3 or 4 Effort on this gets +2 Approval Rating." Special Event Ability: "Whenever you have a Total Score of over 20 when competing for a regular Event you gain +1 Approval Rating." The card's two attribute icons are shown as graphics on the card, and the diagram marks them "Both attributes count toward Total Score."
Example card (as printed): "Gaining Sponsors" Special Event, Approval Rating +5. Text: "The player with the lowest (or tied for the lowest) Approval Rating gets +3 to their Total Score for this event." Special Event Ability: "Once per turn you may reroll a die and subtract 1 from that roll."
Alliance Cards (Green Border)
Alliance cards present Tributes with the opportunity to befriend another Tribute and form an Alliance. Alliance cards do not have any associated attribute that is added to the Total Score.
When your Tribute wins an Alliance, you get to add an unallied Tribute to your Alliance chain (see next page), or in some cases steal an ally from another player. Your first ally must be the other Tribute from your District (e.g., If you are playing as the District 12 Female, you must first add the District 12 Male). If you already have both Tributes from your District, you randomly add any Tribute that is not already in an Alliance or steal an ally if the card allows for that. The Tribute order can be changed only when adding or removing an ally, and the original Tribute must be in the first position, and the other Tribute from their district in the second position.
Other players may not choose the other Tribute from your district for their alliances, even if they are available or a card says they may steal an ally.
Alliance card (as printed): "Winner: Gain an ally." Approval Rating +1.
The right side of every tribute card has a number, and the left side has an attribute. When you connect two Tribute cards, an attribute and a number will line up, and you gain that much of the attribute while competing for Challenges.
Alliance chain (as printed diagram): "Your Tribute", "1st Ally", "2nd Ally". Alliance chain: The player gains +2 Cunning from the first ally and +2 Charm from their second.
The benefits for an Alliance shown in the Alliance Bonus space are immediately applied to your Tribute. No Attributes, Abilities, or Expertise from the added Allied Tribute(s) apply. If the winner of an Alliance Challenge is unable to add an Ally to their Alliance Chain, the Alliance has no effect beyond providing its Approval Rating to the winner.
End of Day Cards (Red Border)
When an End of Day card is revealed, it signals the end of the current Training Day. The current turn will still be completed as above, but the day will end when this turn is done. When the day ends, shuffle all cards (except Special Events which remain with the players or have been removed from the game) back into the Challenge deck to begin the next day. The winner of the End of Day card is the first player at the beginning of the next day.
If more than one End of Day card is revealed on the same turn, only 1 day is counted as being completed. Both cards can receive Effort Tokens and Approval Ratings awarded, but only the end of Day Card with the highest Approval Rating determines who goes first on the next turn.
Card (as printed): "End of Day", Approval Rating +4. Winner: "Go first next round. (If two End of Day cards are out, the player who wins the End of Day card worth the most points will go first.)"
Winning the Game
The winner of the game is the player with the highest Approval Rating after all days have been completed. If two players are tied, both are winners of the Training Days.
Optional Advanced Rules
You might want to try out some of the following optional rules once you've mastered the basics. Because these rules might dramatically change the flavor of the game or favor different play styles, we recommend trying out only one or two at a time.
- You can choose Allies instead of selecting them at random.
- Your first Ally doesn't have to be the second Tribute from your District, and any player can choose that Tribute as an Ally.
- When placing your first Effort Token, You can choose to place all three on the same Challenge at the same time. If you do, you get plus two to your Total Score.
- Play with all Effort Tokens face up.
- Allow 2 players to ally with each other when one of them wins an Alliance Challenge (getting the Alliance Bonus to Total Score shared between them), and build Alliance Chains on the left side for one player and the right side for the other. The allied players do not share Attributes, Expertise or Abilities, but may share information on how they are bidding for specific challenges. Either may break the Alliance at the end of any turn.