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The Hob was District 12's black market. It was the only place to buy and sell illegal goods like liquor and poached game. It was often open at times when most legal stores would not be, such as on the day of the reaping.[1]

History[]

Origin[]

The Hob was originally a coal warehouse, but a more efficient system of coal transport was discovered, allowing coal to be taken directly from the mines to the trains. As a result, the warehouse was abandoned, and the empty space was gradually taken over by the black market.[1]

Performances[]

The stage at the Hob.

The stage at the Hob.

Around the time of 10th Hunger Games, the Covey put on regular musical performances at the Hob on a stage of wooden pallets. District 12 citizens and Peacekeepers were frequent customers.[2] During one of these weekend shows, a fight broke out during a blackout, so Peacekeepers were no longer permitted to leave the base alone. There was even discussion of making the Hob off-limits, though that never came to pass.[3]

Weeks later, during another performance, Coriolanus Snow and Spruce shot and killed Mayfair Lipp and Billy Taupe Clade in the shed behind the Hob. Lucy Gray Baird witnessed the murders, and due to her relationship with Snow, she went back on stage to perform music that required all of the Covey to be present, postponing the discovery of the bodies. Eventually, Maude Ivory Baird found the bodies in the shed.[4] After that summer, musical performances at the Hob were outright banned by Commander Hoff's successor.[5]

Black market[]

By the time of the 74th Hunger Games, the Hob remained more or less an open secret, still patronized by citizens and Peacekeepers alike. Authorities turned a blind eye to the black market because many of them benefited from the goods available there;[6] for example, the Head Peacekeeper, Cray, bought white liquor from Ripper.[7] However, once Cray was replaced with Romulus Thread, he ordered Peacekeepers to set fire to the Hob. The build-up of coal dust inside caused it to burn quickly and violently, and those who did business there had to find another way to sell their wares.[8]

Description[]

The Hob was located about twenty minutes on foot from the Peacekeepers' base.[2] It was also on Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne's way home to the Seam.[1]

Shed[]

Around the time of the 10th Hunger Games, there was a shed behind the Hob that the Covey used as a green room.[9] The shed was actually an old garage, one that could hold "about eight cars." The large garage door was chained shut, but it had one entrance directly across from the Hob's back door, and another door directly across from that one on the opposite wall, propped open by a cinder block. It also had "a few cracked windows".[10]

Inside, there were tires and "odd bits of furniture" for the Covey to sit on as they tuned their instruments. They also kept their instrument cases and equipment there.[10]

Regulars at the Hob[]

Traders[]

Trading was common practice at the Hob, so many patrons bought people's wares in exchange for their own goods rather than money.

Vendors[]

Katniss buying liquor from Ripper in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Katniss buying liquor from Ripper in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

People who set up stalls in the Hob to sell their goods for trade or monetary payment.

Patrons[]

People who only purchased goods at the Hob with money.

Performers[]

People who put on performances at the Hob prior to the ban.[2]

Known goods[]

Food and drink[]

  • Alcohol
    • White liquor,[7] known elsewhere as moonshine[2]
    • Whiskey[4]
  • Bread[1]
  • Coffee[7]
  • Eggs[7]
  • Goat cheese[12]
  • Lard[1]
  • Oil[7]
  • Salt[1]
  • Soup and stew[1]
    • Mice meat, pig entrails, and tree bark - a "winter specialty"[12]
    • Bean and gourd[7]
    • Wild dog and rhubarb stew[16]
  • Wild game/plants

Other goods[]

Trivia[]

  • Apart from the Hob, District 12 also had a public market in the town square where above-board goods could be sold.[11] That was where Katniss bought Prim's goat, Lady, from the Goat Man.[17]
  • In The Hunger Games film, Katniss got her mockingjay pin from Greasy Sae at the Hob as a gift for Prim.[19]

References[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 The Hunger Games, Chapter 1
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 23
  3. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 24
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 28
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Epilogue
  6. The Hunger Games, Chapter 15
  7. 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 Catching Fire, Chapter 1
  8. Catching Fire, Chapter 9
  9. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 25
  10. 10.0 10.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 26
  11. 11.0 11.1 The Hunger Games, Chapter 2
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 The Hunger Games, Chapter 3
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 The Hunger Games, Chapter 4
  14. 14.0 14.1 Catching Fire, Chapter 8
  15. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 24
  16. Mockingjay, Chapter 1
  17. 17.0 17.1 The Hunger Games, Chapter 20
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 27
  19. The Hunger Games (film)
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