Introduction to the districts
The hunger games had been shut down, but after about 53 years, people got bored. Plus, overpopulation was predicted to be the next big problem threatening the districts. They had re-shaped the district system and expanded. Now they had "equal distribution" which meant that each district did the same thing and none got too powerful. There was no capital, and now there was 22 districts.
Although they were all equal with each supporting the other and doing all trades, people tended to separate out.
Districts 1-10 were where most families would go. Kids overflowed the neighborhoods and twice a year, they had to relocate families to make sure the districts weren't too full.
Districts 11-17 was mostly elderly people who had gotten sick of all the children or families who didn't appreciate the noise.
Then there was 18. It twisted into a black hole of gangs and people who didn't care anymore. It was by far the most dangerous one and even guards tried not to venture inside there much because they knew better. They built a high electric fence around it and guards were stationed at the gates leading out.
Districts 19-22 were average. Although there was supposed to be equal things everywhere, there were five more universities in these districts. College students, families, and working people flocked here. It's a great place to live whether you enjoy solitude or a loud life.
Once a year, (June 1st) everyone aged 15-27(everyone agreed the ages should be altered) with no disabilities would meet at the "Games Building" at the center of District 11. Names were dealt with the same way, your name added once more the older you got.
Since people had been protesting the boy and girl tribute picking, they changed it to just 2-person random picking, not based on any gender. You might think, "wait, how do they get tributes from 1-10 if that's the family district? Or 11-17?"
The government makes sure each district has at least 8 people eligible for picking. District 18 had lobbied for more tributes to be picked years ago, but were shut down. They wanted to stop overpopulation, not just kill everyone.
There were 2 victors allowed, but only if they both agreed to it and shook hands at the cornucopia. Mostly, people teamed up with their district, but if their teammate was killed they ended up not allying with anyone else. Only once had people from two different districts been victors together, and that was 15 and 3, a 22-year old and their friend from another district.
(Since there are 44 tributes, there are two separate games with 22 people each to make it less drawn out. The arenas are the same in design)
Once the games started, that's when trust usually ended. Even in close friends.