Hunger Games Training Days FB App: First Look!

One thing I absolutely love is The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. The story is so engrossing that when I read the first two books, I didn't even stop to eat. The picture Collins paints of Katniss Everdeen's world draws you in, and you feel like a part of what is happening to her. The books really are incredible.

With the upcoming release of Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games series, there is a lot of promotion going on. A blog tour, multiple contests, and now, a nifty game. I had the privilege to be invited to play the Facebook game in beta this morning, and it was really a lot of fun!

Here's a screenshot of the opening page that the Panem TV (@PanemTV) Twitter account posted:

Image courtesy of PanemTV.com

Pretty awesome, huh?

The game is a combination of cards, dice and tokens. It seems kind of complicated at first, but you get the hang of it pretty quickly. Before the game begins, players choose the district they will represent. For my first game, I chose to play as the District Four female tribute (as an homage to my dreamy District Four male champion Finnick Odair, who in my mind is Jensen Ackles). Each district tribute has points for their strengths. As District Four's female tribute, my highest marks were in charm, because I'm sexy like that. District One had high marks in strength, and District Twelve had high marks in agility.

That Jensen Ackles is HOT! *My Dream Finnick*

Each player receives three effort tokens, each holding a different points value. You spend your effort tokens on task cards that are laid out, each yielding a points value that goes to your approval rating. The higher your approval rating, the better.

Once players have laid out all their tokens on the four exposed event cards, the effort points plus the players' skill points are added and compared. Then each player rolls the dice to add extra points to their score for that event. The player with the highest event score wins that even and gains the approval points.

The game is really a fun link into the Hunger Games universe. All of it has basis in the books, so it's pretty accurate for the fans. It's still in beta, so it's a little buggy, but I'm sure they will get the kinks worked out quickly. There is a chat function at the bottom of the screen so you can chat with your fellow tributes and report bugs to the developers. Fans of the series will definitely get a kick out of playing this game, and it will be available as a Facebook app and a physical board game. You can check out the Facebook fan page, the Panem TV Twitter and the Panem TV website for information about both games.

So, what do you think about the Hunger Games Training Days game? How excited are you for Mockingjay? If you haven't read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, click the links to get a copy from Amazon. It's SO worth the purchase!