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I saw this map in one of the answers to another SE question:

enter image description here

And it got me thinking that if Panem is divided into 13 Districts and the Capitol, then where are the Arenas located? Since Hunger Games have been taken place 75 times after the Dark Days then there must have been atleast 75 Arenas located all over Panem (assuming that a new Arena has been used every year for the entertainment of the Capitol citizens which I'm not quite sure about).

So are the Arenas located

  1. somewhere outside the Districts and the Capitol but still inside Panem?
  2. somewhere inside the vast uninhabited regions of the Districts?
  3. somewhere entirely outside Panem?

And if it is #1 then what sort of control the Capitol has over the (presumably) uninhabited regions? Also, are there any such regions in Panem?

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CobaltBabyBear
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    In the books it is mentioned that the old arenas are tourist attractions, so it is almost certain there are 75 arenas. – Dave Johnson Mar 26 '14 at 14:55
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    Also, I always found the other map linked in that question to be far more likely. – Dave Johnson Mar 26 '14 at 15:06
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    As far as I know that map is just fan art, so it could be wildly inaccurate. North America is a pretty large area, the Capitol and Districts don't necessarily take up all (or even most) of the available space (I'd actually be surprised if they did). There's probably plenty of free areas to build arenas in. – Anthony Grist Mar 26 '14 at 15:13
  • @AnthonyGrist A lot of coastal areas of the former North America are under water due to global warming, so it wouldn't be as big as today's NM. But you are right, it is still a pretty big expanse. – CobaltBabyBear Mar 26 '14 at 15:16
  • I agree. Even if North America is a fair bit smaller in area after the Dark Days, we have to allow for the vastly reduced population numbers which would surely result in large swathes of land that is unoccupied. District 12 for instance is the size of a small town in total numbers. There would be more than enough spare room for arenas to be located "within" districts or perhaps even the Capitol. – The Giant of Lannister Mar 29 '14 at 11:29
  • And when I say "within" districts, that may only be due to nominal boundaries. I expect in truth there is a lot of landmass within Panem over which the Capitol exerts very little, if any real everyday influence. These areas would have very little infrastructure besides e.g. rail tracks/roads for transport, and the means of transmission for energy supplies. But then, so long as it has a tight hold over what people there are on the continent, there is no reason why the Capitol can't claim such in-between areas as part of Panem. – The Giant of Lannister Mar 29 '14 at 11:30
  • The arenas arent really all that big, either, probably 9-16 square miles at most. A square mile is pretty big if you're standing in the middle of one, but compared to the size of a continent it's not all that much. – Joe L. Sep 29 '14 at 19:48

4 Answers4

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That is never mentioned in the books. But what are mentioned are that:

  • Old Arenas are tourist attractions
  • The Gamemakers have the power to entirely change the conditions inside arenas. In the movie Catching Fire, the Arena was an enclosed dome.

Since traveling is forbidden other that for business, and the only people who can have money for tourism are Capitol people, we can assume that the Arenas are all near the Capitol, probably in the outskirts.

Another justification why Arenas wouldn't probably be in the Districts is that if something happened, such as riots to support the District's Tribute, it would be a catastrophe. As we saw in Catching Fire, the Arena is loosely guarded with real guards.

Hope this helps.

MikhailTal
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In the beginning days of the games, they used one arena, an old stadium. It’s mentioned in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. So there may not be 75 different arenas. They did things differently in the early days.

Stephanie Botters
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    Could you [edit] in the relevant passage(s) from book? It would greatly improve your answer – fez Nov 29 '22 at 06:37
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All arenas take lace between district 1 and the capitol. They are created in depressions in the ground that are up to 2000 meters down. They are close by to each other and they have different climates because the game makers simulate them by destroying the original wildlife and replacing it with artificial biomes. Hope this answered your questions.

Evan Voelker
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    Can you provide sources to back this up? – Invisible Trihedron Jul 01 '20 at 01:43
  • I don't think this is true. In Catching Fire, Katniss blows the force field up and a hovercraft from the sky picks her up. It's also mentioned when the force field flickers, she sees dirt and grass (which wouldn't be able to grow 2000 meters down). And it would be VERY HOT, hot enough to possibly melt metal in some places. – Silvermidnight Nov 29 '22 at 23:11
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In the books it kept saying that they were tourist attractions from our times since the hunger games is in the future, but in the films it looked like if they just made out of technology, and the sky of the arena would be just pixels showing the fallen and man other things. There would also be cameras in the trees and speakers every where in the arena so, I think the capitol has more technology than any other place in Panem. Let me know if I'm wrong... Hope this helps.

user134181
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    Hi, welcome to SF&F. This doesn't really answer the question where they build the arenas; are you trying to say they're all in the Capitol? – DavidW Nov 17 '20 at 18:18