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Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, child death, gender discrimination, bullying, and sexual content.

The chapter begins with a comparison between hand-clapping games and boxing. Although there are no strict winners in hand-clapping, the girls who play are often competitive in terms of endurance, seeing which of them will last longer as the accompanying chants loop over and over. The last fight of the semifinal round feels this way—an example of the loop that constitutes the tournament.

Tanya Maw was fond of hand-clapping games as a child, but is growing out of them at 17 years old. She is reminded of the way her favorite games felt illicit when she sees her opponent, Rose Mueller, clench her teeth down on her mouth guard.

The judges are non-professional arbiters whom Bob called in to play the part required as a favor. Tanya and Rose’s coaches are old friends who plan to go out to the casinos and get free drinks after the fight is done. As night falls over Reno, hundreds of people follow the same plan, drawn to the casinos by alcoholic slurpees. The walkway along the Truckee River is littered with men who slip passersby calling cards for sex workers.