<P> The Hunger Games trilogy takes place in an unspecified future time, in the dystopian, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, located in North America . The country consists of a wealthy Capitol city, located in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by twelve (originally thirteen) poorer districts ruled by the Capitol . The Capitol is lavishly rich and technologically advanced, but the districts are in varying states of poverty . The trilogy's narrator and protagonist Katniss Everdeen, lives in District 12, the poorest region of Panem, located in Appalachia, where people regularly die of starvation . As punishment for a past rebellion against the Capitol (called the "Dark Days"), in which District 13 was supposedly destroyed, one boy and one girl from each of the twelve remaining districts, between the ages of 12 and 18, are selected by lottery to compete in an annual pageant called the Hunger Games . The Games are a televised event in which the participants, called "tributes", are forced to fight to the death in a dangerous public arena . The winning tribute and his / her home district are then rewarded with food, supplies, and riches . The purposes of the Hunger Games are to provide entertainment for the Capitol and to remind the districts of the Capitol's power and lack of remorse, forgetfulness, and forgiveness for the failed rebellion of the current competitors' ancestors . </P> <P> The Hunger Games is the first book in the series and was released on September 14, 2008 . </P> <P> The Hunger Games follows 16 - year - old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12 who volunteers for the 74th Hunger Games in place of her younger sister Primrose Everdeen . Also selected from District 12 is Peeta Mellark . They are mentored by their district's only living victor, Haymitch Abernathy, who won 24 years earlier and has since led a solitary life of alcoholism . </P> <P> Peeta confesses his longtime secret love for Katniss in a televised interview prior to the Games . This revelation stuns Katniss, who harbors feelings for Gale Hawthorne, her friend and hunting partner . Haymitch advises her to feign feelings for Peeta in order to gain wealthy sponsors who can provide crucial supplies to the "star - crossed lovers" during the Games . </P>

How long has the hunger games been going on
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