Arena 11

Setting
Like other Arenas before it, the PaneMall Arena feels extremely empty despite the one hundred and eight Tributes running throughout it. Created to manage thousands of people at a time, the mall sprawls out over multiple floors and with a bevy of attractions. The ice rink, and thus the Cornucopia, is on the ground floor, and light pours in from a glass ceiling overhead. A huge lighting rig is up top as well, with all sorts of strobes and effects and an employees-only ladder and walkway. Though currently inactive, it was probably once used for mood lighting for parties and events. Contact a mod if you want your character to access the lighting rig.

Tributes will see that the Cornucopia this time around is at the center of an ice rink, and that their podiums are on the edge. In the center of the Cornucopia are not supplies, but rings of keys. One of the keys on each ring is stamped with a number, and opens up a locker in the changing rooms located on the floor off to the side of the ice skating rink through which you can find and store supplies. Sponsor gifts will also appear in these lockers; Tributes without keys will find their Sponsor gifts in unclaimed lockers, which means they’ll also have to be fast to keep them from getting sniped. Benches line up along the locker rooms, and the skate rental sits at the entrance.

First Floor
Throughout the mall are little perfume kiosks, with perfumes tailored to each Tribute. Do not point these at your face; while some of the perfumes are lovely, others spray acid. Thankfully, all of the many water fountains produce potable water.

Restrooms are located on every floor of the mall. There are also restrooms in the food court. The restrooms are actual, functioning restrooms. However, toiletries and other supplies are on short supply and may run out by the end of Week 2.

There is no sustainable food outside of the first floor food court, and unfortunately, Sponsors are barred from sending food this time around. The food court is in a typical circular set-up, and once a day Avoxes appear in the Arena to set up food at the restaurants. They also arrive to clean up at the end of each lunchtime, and will entirely ignore the Tributes. Some cooking supplies, such as nacho cheese and popcorn butter, stay out overnight, but unfortunately are almost entirely devoid of nutritional value. Oddly enough, the fryer is always on, and the cooking oil is always heated to boiling.

Tributes with key rings will also have access to the Employees Only walkways and pathways throughout the Arena. While these may be safe places to stay, there aren’t many supplies here, and getting from pathway to pathway requires going across the main show floor.

The ground floor of the mall houses the largest clothing store, A Touch of Class. At the Arena’s commencement, there are no mannequins at the displays. A few hours after each death, a lifelike mannequin in the likeness of the fallen Tribute will appear dressed in the latest fashions. Though cannons ring for each fatality, this silent display is the only notice Tributes receive of whom, among them, has fallen.

The shops in the mall are varied, and often themed. First floor shops include The Authority (a sporting goods store), A Touch of Class (a large, two story department store), Cushion Pushin’ Upscale Lingerie (it’s very classy), Bob’s Bargain Basement (a five-and-dime), Build-a-Buddy Workshop (where you can make dolls of all your favorite tributes and give them a heart of their own), Glamour Nail (you can smell it from a mile away), CELL-U-LAR Zone (a cellphone shop that only carries nonfunctional Nokia flip phones and nothing else), Only Bath Salts (as opposed to Bed, Bath and Beyond), EliteFeet and Athlete’s Foot (two fairly typical shoe stores), Blaire’s Accessories, Somerhalder & Smith (a casual clothing store for young adults, ala Abercrombie) NeverXXI (... you see what we did there?), GameBarn (they don’t just sell video games), Cheap or Free Jewelry, Experience: the Power of Crystals (a New Age shop).

The Authority sporting goods shop is useful for any resourceful Tribute. There are hunting knives, archery equipment, helmets, water bottles, kayaks, skis, goggles, flashlights, loaded paintball guns, binoculars, bear traps, backpacks, golf clubs and walkie talkies (batteries included!).

The first floor Internet cafe (The Daily Grind) seems to be perpetually closed. However, something will be happening here once a week. Stay tuned.

The first floor is home to the Pizza Fire Explosion Arcade and Fun Emporium. It is your standard Chuck E. Cheese style family pizza joint with arcade attached. There are plenty of coin operated games to play as well as an anamatronic band which performs a wide variety of musical numbers every fifteen minutes. There is no way to shut off these performances and the anamatronic animals are electrically charged, so if you touch them, you will get jolted. The only food in the pizza parlor is moldy cans of tomato sauce and rotten anchovies.

Second Floor
The second floor features the upstairs portion of A Touch of Class (the department store) as well as the upstairs area of the Centurion Cineplex.

The Centurion Cineplex is a twelve screen movie theater spanning the first and second floors. There is a concessions area which does not have any fresh food. There was remnants of popcorn residue as well as old nacho cheese to eat. There are films showing at all hours of the day, however they’re all very odd cinematic choices.



The second floor is also home to a sprawling bookstore called Chapter One. Those who browse through the aisles of Chapter One will find a wide variety of titles to read, however it might be wise to heed the old saying about judging books by their covers. Intrepid Tributes will find that all the books in the shop are fancifully written biographies of every Tribute, past and present, including natives and off-world Tributes. The facts in these biographies range from being spot on to wildly inaccurate, but who’s keeping track, right? Some truths are even stranger than fiction.

Third Floor
The third floor of the mall is filled with shops tailored to different Tributes’ homeworlds or nations. There is, for example a Marvel New York-themed shop with models of the Stark Tower and Avengers’ Mansion, as well as an Alternian-theme shopped with buckets, plastic Troll horns, and playing cards.

The third floor also holds a single luxury SUV on display. It can be broken into, hotwired, and driven around the Arena, however if it is crashed or damaged, it will mysteriously be removed every night and a new one will be placed on its original pedestal.

There are a total of ten shops on the third floor, as well as an area which overlooks the ice rink. Clearly this was not the most happening area of the mall.

Attire
Tributes begin the arena dressed in district themed figure skating costumes. For example, tributes from District 12 could be dressed as coal miners. With sequins. And tights. Keep in mind that there are numerous clothing stores and a Footlocker for your character to find more acceptable clothing as the Arena progresses. Most important is the fact that characters will be wearing ice skates to begin the arena. Have fun with that.

Trivia
Tributes who were arrested following the murder of Penny were barred from receiving any sponsorship during Arena 11.