Tesserae Hunger Games
In Suzanne Collins’ dystopian novel “The Hunger Games,” Tesserae are food rations that impoverished families in the totalitarian District 12 receive in exchange for entering their names multiple times into the annual Reaping, a lottery that selects two Tributes to fight to the death in the Hunger Games, a televised gladiatorial event that perpetuates the Capitol’s oppressive rule and quells any hint of rebellion.