Turn 1. What to do?

After receiving the first message from the Capitol, as a tribute you have several tasks to complete within 24 hours, some of which can be avoided if you have a special role.

Surviving the Lies

In general, people lie in The Hunger Games. Learn to deal with it. Every time you exchange information with another tribute, what they tell you may or may not be true. And even if it is true, you should ask yourself why they are sharing it with you.

The only exception, paradoxically, is the Capitol, which never lies. Later in the game, you can ask them questions. You can also find out who is on your team by attacking.

Editing Your Tribute

All tributes except the Cult have a number of advantage points that they can use during Turn 1 to improve their survivability. Cultists have 0 advantage points, regular tributes 10, the mercenary 20, the psychopath 25, and the lunatic 50. More information can be found in the section about editing roles.

Choosing your turn 1 action.

During turn 1, most actions (particularly those requiring items) are unavailable, so it's expected that many tributes will perform the same actions. Available actions include moving to another space, picking up materials or items, resting to regain some energy (you don't start at full), blocking attacks, pushing or punching another tribute in your space, having sex with them to regain more energy than resting (usually requires permission), stealing, and eavesdropping.

The actions are detailed in their respective sections, but it's worth mentioning the advantages and disadvantages of each as an introduction.

• Move: Since you start on a space surrounded by several potential enemies, staying put isn't advisable. While moving doesn't guarantee safety, it's unlikely you won't find yourself in a more secure location. Other options include grabbing the items in the center of the island or running away from the other players and hoping no one follows. You might even find a particularly interesting space nearby that you can take advantage of. In any case, always keep in mind that others might be thinking the same thing.

• Pick Up: Crafting materials are available throughout the island. On your starting space, you can randomly pick up two of these materials, and they can be duplicates. If you're pushed to the center of the island, you can also pick up items from your initial crafting pool.

• Rest: Replenishing your energy is always beneficial. Two points more or less can mean the difference between survival and death, and it also allows you to perform your next turn's action with enhanced power. However, doing so surrounded by rivals requires two "V's": courage and skill.

• Covering Up: Starting defensively might seem like an odd strategy, especially when you're on equal footing with everyone else, but by covering up, you could be immune to the punches you take at the start of your adventure. It can also be useful for someone on your team to identify you as one of them by hitting you.

• Having Sex: If you agree with another tribute in your space, you can agree to have sex and recover 5 energy points on the next turn instead of 2 resting. However, this costs 2 energy points on the turn itself, and unless one of you has chosen to have a higher maximum energy than usual, it's not very practical on the first turn.

• Pushing: Want to stay in your space but with fewer people? Choose a victim and send them to the next space of your choice. Keep in mind that you can also be pushed 9 spaces. Or you can push an ally into the center squares to collect items.

• Punch: If you've come to play and you're not interested in defensive strategies, you can start the game with a bang by hitting another tribute and taking away 2 energy points… hoping they're not on your team! Or assuming they are, and warn them to take cover.

• Steal: If you think someone is going to stay in your square collecting items, you can try to start by taking one from them. It's not common, but it can work.

• Listen: From turn 1 onwards, the positions of the other tributes will no longer appear on the map (with some exceptions). Listening leaves you vulnerable, but you can investigate who's still around you. Remember that you can still see those in your square unless they're invisible.

Choosing the Action You Take on Turn 2

Yes, you also do that on Turn 1. The Hunger Game is full of uncertainties, and to complicate matters further, each turn you choose not what you're going to do that turn, but what you're going to do the next turn! Without even knowing what will happen during the turn you're on.

For example:

• Let's say you want to pick up a sword that's next to you in the center squares. Logically, on Turn 1 you would move towards it and on Turn 2 you would pick it up. In that case, you would say "Turn 1: I move to where the sword is" and "Turn 2: Pick up." When you indicate the action for the next turn, you only give the name of the action without any details. That is, "pick up" is enough, without specifying what you're picking up. Now let's suppose Turn 1 ends and when you get to where the sword is, it's gone because another tribute has picked it up. If that situation arises, you would randomly pick up two materials as if you had stayed on your starting space. During turn 2, you would then have to indicate which action to perform on turn 3.

Now, let's suppose that in the previous case, when you reach the sword, you realize you'd actually prefer to pick up materials. You can change what you pick up during your turn without any problem. Within your turn, you can choose how you perform the action—in this case, "pick up"—but you cannot change the action itself. And each turn, you also choose the action for the following turn.

The action for turn 2 cannot coincide with the action for turn 1. This is extremely important to keep in mind. In particular, if you perform an action on any given turn, you cannot repeat that same action until a certain number of turns later. This means, for example, that if you move on turn 1 and you don't like where you end up, you will have to stay there until turn 4, when you can move again. There are some actions that are best left for later.