Note from HNG: Hey Nerds and Nerdettes, your favorite virtual drinking buddy is back! You may remember Vivian’s fantastic Firefly Drinking Game post (or not, depending on how drunk you got while playing it) and this time she’s created a Hunger Games Drinking Game that will make you Rue the day you didn’t drink while reading it (what? too soon?) So without further ado, heeeeeeere’s Vivian!
Hey there! Guest Nerd Girl Vivian again. Since you were all so incredibly supportive of my last admission of addiction, I thought I’d share another one with you. And that is… books. Books are great. Books are underappreciated. And books are sexy. There’s a vicious cycle that I’ve been caught in for many, many years. It goes something like this:
Step 1: Fall in love with a book.
Step 2: Find out a movie is being made based on said book, and get very excited.
Step 3: Be disappointed with the movie.
In case of sequels, repeat.
And so it was with The Hunger Games. I was a little late to this party, and I didn’t start the first book until just a few months ago. But I made up for my tardiness with unabashed, obnoxiously vocal adoration. I was that person who worked “that’s like when Katniss…” into every conversation. If woman and young adult literature could wed, I would ask these books to be mine forever. And we would honeymoon in District 7.
I was so devoted to the books that I resisted watching the movie trailers or clips, or looking at the casting choices, until I’d finished the series. (I had the same strategy for the Harry Potter movies, which only lasted through about four of them before I caved.) I just didn’t want anyone else’s images in my head, and I also didn’t want to be disappointed. But then, immediately after finishing the third book, I did watch the trailer, and… daaaaammmn. It was so beautiful. And thrilling. I don’t think I exhaled through the whole thing. And my expectations for the movie shot sky high. To be fair, I was not actually disappointed by the film. I loved it. I had issues with it, but when a movie focuses on a girl whose major personality trait is her inability to outwardly express her thoughts and feelings, a lot of the book’s magic will inevitably be lost, and I accept that. Overall, the movie served as a sort of Cliffs Notes companion to a book I can’t get enough of. So I enjoyed every minute of it. (Well, almost every minute. I found Cinna’s scenes maddeningly boring and those damn CGI mutts were doomed to suck. Also, “enjoyed” is a really strange word to use when describing a movie about kid killing.)
So this one-trick capitol-engineered pony is back, with a new literary drinking game for all of you who love these books like I do, and for those who just want an excuse to drink alone. Cause why should drinking games be reserved for movies? Answer: they shouldn’t. I suppose that this could feasibly be played with the film, but as a friend of mine so harshly put it “the alcohol intake would be just as watered down as the emotional impact of the movie.” Zing. So, really, enjoy a book. And a beer. Let your young adult fiction flag fly. (Note: This game is specifically based on the first book. I don’t think it would carry over to the other two very well. Or prove me wrong.)
Let the First Annual Thirsty Games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favor!
Drink when:
Katniss fires an arrow. This seemed like the logical place to start. Drink twice if she misses her target.
Anyone uses the words “Girl on Fire.”
Anyone climbs a tree.
Katniss has a foodgasm. Suzanne Collins spends whole pages describing those meals, and it’s one of my favorite things about the book that really couldn’t be adequately conveyed in the film.
Katniss expresses naïve statements about not understanding her feelings for Peeta or Gale. Oh, the wonderful romantic confusion of young love triangles… whilst trapped in an arena of death, broadcast to an entire nation. Sure, not an easy situation; but still, that girl is as dense as District 12 bread.
She mentions her mother’s depression. Cause, ya know, just drink away those my-husband-was-killed-in-a-mining-accident-and-now-my-daughters-and-I-are-going-to-starve blues.
Katniss (or anyone, if you’re going all out) incurs bodily injury (but doesn’t die).
Drink twice for emotional injury described as physical pain. Katniss is so emotionally closed off that feeling feelings gives her chest pain and makes her throat close up. That’s my kind of girl.
Drink when Haymitch drinks. Drink twice when he vomits.
Here’s the big one: Drink for each tribute projected in the sky. That first night is a doozy!
And, just for funsies, some themed drinks!
The Capitol
1 part Goldschlager
2 parts Sprite
1 dash grenadine
serve in a highball or martini glass, rimmed with pink/green/some unnaturally artificially colored sugar
Girl on Fire
3/4 shot of Amaretto (almond liqueur)
Top off with Barcardi 151.
Light the shot on fire. (Yes, light it on fire. Be careful, please.)
Drop the shot in a half-filled pint glass of beer, and down the whole thing.
The Haymitch
Gin.
Enjoy!
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