Short answer: The Hunger Games story is set in a future year system called ADD/ATT, with the original trilogy spanning roughly 74 ADD to 76 ATT in most explanations, and the first book(s) occurring during the 74th Hunger Games. The most commonly cited anchor is that Katniss and Peeta win the 74th Hunger Games in The Hunger Games, with the 75th Games following in Catching Fire, and the prequel Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes explores events earlier in Panem’s history.
Details you might find helpful:
- Original trilogy timeline: 74th Hunger Games (The Hunger Games), then 75th Hunger Games (Catching Fire), followed by Mockingjay events, with the narrative timeline centered on those yearly Games.[3][5][9]
- Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (prequel) covers earlier years in Panem, including a much earlier era than Katniss’s story, but it is set within the same ADD/ATT dating framework used in the wider Hunger Games universe.[9]
- Some fan-curated timelines use the ATT/ADD dating scheme; fans and analysts point to the original trilogy as occurring in the 74 ADD to 76 ATT window, though official in-universe dating isn’t explicitly defined in the novels themselves.[1][3]
Illustration:
- If you’re visually tracking it, think of ADD as the years after Panem’s creation; Katniss’s era sits around 74 ADD, with the earlier events in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes happening many decades earlier in the same system.[3][9]
Citations:
- The Hunger Games timeline and dating framework discussions note the 74th Games as Katniss and Peeta’s victory year.[1][3]
- Coverage of the film franchise and timeline place The Hunger Games opening around the 74th Games timeline, with subsequent events in 75th and beyond.[4][9]