Hi Simmers! I have been watching a YouTuber simmer, Salise Plays, who, I believe, created this challenge. It's a rags to riches challenge where your sim starts with nothing on an empty lot with 0 simoleons, and has a week to survive in one neighborhood in a sim world in winter., using only the resources in that neighborhood. There are lot restrictions such as off-the-grid, simple living and reduce-recycle. The neighborhood is normally bulldozed, so the sim does not have access to free chips at the bar, for instance. There will be exceptions to this as apartments can't seem to be bulldozed in The Sims (so, San Myshuno will remain intact, just the businesses bulldozed). Also no cheats for easy simoleons, such as buying the decoration box and rummaging for decorations and then selling them. The sim she uses normally has positive traits such as loves the outdoors, self-assured, etc. You can watch her videos HERE.
But I will be attempting this challenge, with a twist. The sim I will be using will have all negative traits. A sim not very suitable for survival in a rags to riches style of play. Her clothes may change as she heads to different worlds, but her traits will always remain the same.
And here she is! Meet Allie Beck. Her traits are squeamish, vegetarian, clumsy and her Aspiration will be Fabulously Wealthy. I don't think any of these traits will give her an advantage in surviving the week.
An additional challenge rule that I created is that all holidays will be cancelled on the calendar, because with a 7-day week, Winterfest falls in the middle of the week, and you could get a substantial gift from Father Winter, so, nah, not going to happen. However, I am going to keep New Year's Eve on the calendar as that is our deadline to have a small furnished house, with bathroom, bedroom, kitchen (or outdoor grill), and living room areas (could be one open area). The challenge ends when Spring arrives on Sunday.
To have some starter funds, my sim will be allowed to take a selfie (5 pics) once she arrives on her lot in each neighborhood.
If you would like to attempt this challenge, you can post your sim and progress here if you wish, (you can create your sim with any traits and aspiration).
Using a randomized wheel spinner, the first world will be San Myshuno, and the randomized wheel spinner for the neighborhood will be Uptown. Skye Fitness Gym will be bulldozed and she will live there. Here's hoping she will survive!
RULE CHANGE: Since Allie is permitted to purchase items in Buy Mode, I will allow her to purchase 1 seed packet if she is in jeopardy of starving. Let's say she did a mail order for seed packets. (This rule change occurs after her near starvation in Neighborhood 3 - Brindleton Bay, Cavalier Cove neighborhood).
Neighborhood: There are two community lots, the Skye Fitness gym, and the Stargazer Lounge. Both have been bulldozed. This area is surrounded by apartment buildings inhabited by Lily and Victor Feng and Diego Lobo.
Resources: There are 3 electrical boxes where you can collect posters; and 2 boxes of junk, where you can rummage for snowglobes, although other items can be found in here as well. They spawn daily. There is a food stand (on the 2nd level, which I didn't even know existed), and 2 public bathrooms near the Skye Fitness lot. There are various benches to sleep on (solo brown leather couch with the obstructor (fireplace) coffee table is the best with comfort level 5), and an area with a bubble blower. No fishing spots, no grills and no festivals take place in this neighborhood. There is a seated area with a podium, where you can give speeches (can you make simoleons from giving speeches?), and a Center Stage Performance Space (Must have Level 4 in guitar or violin to busk). There might also be a roaming Human Statue that you could tip $5 simoleons and then gain the costume to busk yourself.
Day 1: And here is Allie in her City Living winter attire. It is cold and windy on her first day in Uptown. And after cloudgazing, she takes 5 selfies. She keeps one and sells the rest.
She looks happy now, but how will she look in a day or two? So far, she has $35 simoleons. Since she has to wait for items to spawn, Allie decides to give a speech. Is she inspiring anyone?
Um, maybe not. Well, she heads over to introduce herself to a sim and he doesn't seem too happy. Maybe he's lost. She tells him a joke and then excuses herself to go and rip posters off of electrical boxes and see what she can find in some junk boxes.
Allie heads to the food cart next and tries her luck at "borrowing" another sim's food. Not that she is hungry, but better fill up while she can. The trick is to wait until they set the food down, and then click on it to eat it. And boom, one free caprese salad and one unhappy, hungry kid. Um, sorry.
Of course, there is the Welcome Wagon's fruit cake, but I cancel that, as in some worlds, there is no Welcome Wagon, so trying to make this part at least consistent. And she has a bit of red with all those Welcome Wagon sims now. Sheesh!
Allie has nothing else to do now, so maybe she can sing for tips. I am not sure if this will work because technically she is on her home lot.
After singing badly for a few minutes, a sim passes her and gives her a second glance. Oh my word...who is that good-looking sim?
Allie tries to compose herself, but ends up running after him just to say sul sul, but he mysteriously disappears. Maybe next time. So, she meets another sim, and it has now started to snow, so she can gather snow. Another way to make simoleons when you live off-the-grid. is sell water.
Allie continues to gather snow and give speeches nobody hears. At the end of Day 1 she has $1,015 simoleons. All her needs are good except hygiene, so it's time to start her house and buy her a tub or shower. All houses in all worlds will be a micro tiny home of 32 tiles. Nitey nite Allie.
With the funds Allie has earned, it's time to build her house. It is a simple start, and she places her selfie and a poster she found on a piece of wall. I will try to use build mode items from Base game and City Living for her house. I later swapped out the poster for an Uptown poster, and switched the light for another one.
She also voted on a Neighborhood Action Plan (NAP) for Back to the Old Days, and bought a pile of books to comply with the NAP.
Making Simoleons:
Her days are pretty much the same as she goes to each electrical box grabbing posters (they actually spawn every few hours), and rummaging for items in the junk boxes (these spawn daily). She makes pretty good simoleons from this, as some posters are worth $200 simoleons. And, of course, she collects snow whenever she can to sell on her bills. There is a cool-down period for collecting snow. In fact, she collected so many posters that on Wednesday, Allie completed the Poster Collection and received a plaque in the mail.
Allie was lucky to see a Human Statue in Uptown and tipped them $5 simoleons, so she could get the outfit and busk herself. Even though she did this everyday, by the end of the week, she had made $0 simoleons busking for tips. What she should have done was concentrate on her charisma skill at the podium, and at Level 7 she could have asked sims for a Small Loan. Oh well.
Allie did see celebrity Brytani Chu in disguise in Uptown and was able to get an autograph from her. (Appraise the autograph and then wait 2 days before selling it as it is worth more then). She made $600 simoleons from the sale of the autograph.
Allie also saw celebrity Judith Ward, but she wasn't as lucky in getting an autograph from her.
Food Needs: Even though Allie had a fridge and counter, due to the Simple Living lot trait, she had no food to cook any meals. She could have ordered a grocery delivery; however, I was hoping that she would have found some seed packets in the junk boxes, but she didn't. Most of the time, Allie "borrowed" food from other sims. However, the food stalls change in Uptown, and at some food stalls, sims just stood and ate their food, so Allie didn't have a chance to "borrow" any. Food stalls in Uptown are Gourmet (eg caprese salad), Japanese (ramen), American (hot dogs) and Cupcakes.
So, when that happened, Allie had to pay for her food. Allie got to know the vendor first and then haggled with them. Most of the time, she was successful and got a discounted meal.
Sometimes, Allie was lucky, and food items were just sitting there waiting for her to retrieve them. So, yes, she found some free food, too.
Allie hung around the food stalls a lot, waiting to "borrow" food from sims, and also to busk for tips. But the vendors didn't seem to mind, as Allie also helped clean up the area for them. She was then able to rummage in the garbage cans, and rummage in the dirt piles. She found a few items (post cards, Blarffy), which she sold, and with the rummaged piles, she dragged them into her inventory and then placed them on her lot. The dirt piles then turned into trash fruit plants. Yes, Allie ate trash fruit to survive in Uptown.
On Wednesday, a sim visited her with a free gift, which happened to be an Uncommon seed packet with blackberry seeds in it. So, Allie purchased a planter pot and planted one of the seeds.
And with the others, made her first meal of a family-size fruit salad. Now the fruit salad did go bad, and when she clicked on get leftovers, if was greyed out. However, we know that food was in there. So, if you choose "Open", she can grab a serving of the spoiled food this way. Yes, I made her eat spoiled food, too.
Social Needs:
That good-looking sim who glanced her way when she was singing badly introduced himself to her. Akira Kibo became her first friend. If this was a true rags to riches legacy, Akira might have become a romantic interest, But, Allie's focus was on making simoleons this week. So, sorry Akira and Allie. It's not meant to be.
Allie was pretty social during her week in Uptown and, got a pop-up that she was Outgoing.
The End Is Near:
Aside from grabbing posters rummaging through junk boxes and busking, Allie did do some other things during her week in Uptown. She took part in a protest...
...and made a speech that someone actually liked.
She saw that the homeless population was on the rise, which spurred her to work harder towards her goal...
...even during a blizzard...
....and when she was so exhausted that she collapsed in a heap.
But, the good news is that on New Year's Eve, Allie had enough simoleons to finish building and furnishing her house. She looks excited...albeit a bit dirty! lol
Finished House & Final Stats:
When the banner flashed that Spring had arrived, the challenge was finished. Allie now had a nice loft in Uptown, had gained some skills, and even had $1,026 simoleons left! Congratulations, Allie! You survived your week in San Myshuno in the Uptown neighborhood.
The Next Neighborhood:
Using the randomized wheel spinner, Allie will next travel to Chestnut Ridge, in the Galloping Gulch neighborhood. Her home lot will be Palomino Junction. Oh gosh! I don't think she likes that idea! Until next time...
I welcome your comments and any suggestions you might have on what Allie could have done differently. Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a great day! :)
Neighborhood: This neighborhood is HUGE! Travelling by foot from one area to another took a long time. There are 2 residential lots and 1 rental lot, all were bulldozed. Palomino Junction actually has the wild prairie grass lot trait, so I kept that as well as giving it the off-the-grid, Simple Living and reduce-recycle lot traits. There is a swimming area near the waterfall, and there are several areas to train your horse in barrels and jumping.
Secret Area - Deadhorse Caverns: A rabbit hole secret cavern (look straight to see the cave opening), where your sim can go and defeat spiders, skeletons, etc. and get items. There are levels to get to the end, and sometimes your sim has to have specific items in their inventory to get past a level. So, no matter if they return the next day, they are stuck at that level if they don't have that item. You can click on your sim and you get the option to explore Deadhorse Caverns. A word of warning that your sim has to traverse through water...and they will change into their bathing suit...and if you don't change them back into their cold weather gear, they could freeze to death.
Resources: No foodstands. One fishing spot. There is a firepit area with 2 campfires, benches to sleep on, and an outhouse. There are also 2 pee bushes in the neighborhood. Collectibles include 3 frog areas, 2 fossils, 1 time capsule, and wild prairie grass. There are two grape bushes; however, they are out of season. After the first day, the collectibles did not spawn again, except the wild prairie grass. There are 3 areas to collect water (waterfall, stream in front of Deadhorse Caverns & fishing spot) for the off-the-grid lot trait. Snow can be collected anywhere.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Day 1 - FAIL
This is a hard neighborhood. Lack of food sources, and the real possibility of freezing to death while collecting water in the waterfall area, or running through the stream to get to Deadhorse Caverns are the biggest challenges.
And, in fact, Allie did die on her first attempt in this neighborhood. She was in her bathing suit running from collecting water in the waterfall to running to the fishing spot to collect water and she froze to death. So, yes, she FAILED the challenge on her first day in this neighborhood. Sorry Allie.
However, I just didn't save and started again. This time I am going to ensure that after Allie collects water in the waterfall, that I will change her back to her cold weather outfit to prevent her from freezing. Because let's face it, sims need our help.
Day 1 - Take 2:
And here she is, for a second time, ready to start the challenge dressed in her Horse Ranch winter clothing. She takes her 5 selfies, sells 4 and keeps 1. She now has $36 simoleons to her name.
Since there is no snow yet, she might have a chance to fish. She spends almost the whole day fishing and catches 2 fish. That night the temperatures turned to freezing, so the fishing spot was no longer available to fish from.
While she is fishing, she meets another resident, Dani Davila, and says Howdy. Allie then tells Dani a joke and Dani leaves. Was the joke that bad?
She needs to use a pee bush and there is one at the crossroads. She heads there and sees celebrity Brytani Chu and asks her for an autograph. And, yes, she gets one. Brytani, are you going to be Allie's lifesaver in all the worlds?
Back to the pee bush where she fertilizes it, and she also has a quick nap before she has to head to her next destination.
She travels down the various paths and collects frogs, rocks and wild prairie grass. She is also very lucky and while harvesting the wild prairie grass finds Elderberry and some normal horse manure ($15 simoleons).
Allie heads to the waterfall to collect water and then I quickly have her change. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for her to warm up.
There is a frog near the Deadhorse Caverns, and she collects some water there, too. As soon as she changes into her bathing suit, she is freezing. So I get her on dry land and change her back to winter wear.
She has 3 frogs in her inventory (worth $10, $10 and $25 simoleons), which she will keep to breed and sell. She already called to have the autograph appraised and will keep it for 2 days and then sell it. Her earnings for the day are rather slim at $231 simoleons.
Her needs in hygiene, social, hunger and energy are in the red. It's time to head to that campfire area. roast a fish for dinner (which is against her vegetarian principles, but, hey, she needs to eat), and get some shut eye for the night. Rest up for tomorrow Allie...it's going to be a long day.
Neighborhood: There are 5 residential lots overlooking a boardwalk, the beach and pier areas. There are many walking trails. The Bedlington Boathouse lot is right at the water. All lots were bulldozed and the Delgato family, who had lived at the Chateau Frise lot were evicted. The seaside area is busy with sims, cats and dogs.
Resources: There is no foodstand; however, there is a grill and picnic tables. There is a public bathroom and benches to sleep on. There are 5 fishing spots. There are dig sites and many areas to collect frogs, fossils and mystery boxes. Bonus here is that they spawn daily. There is one pee bush, which can only be used by the pets, and feathers can be collected here. There are some harvestables that are out of season (tulip, chrysanthemum, cherry tree}. The harvestables that are in season are catnip, madnip and napnip (cat treats), and one pear tree on the Chateau Frise lot.
Day 1:
Allie starts off in her Cats and Dogs winter wear and takes 5 selfies. As usual, she sells 4 and keeps one and earns $36 simoleons.
The only source of food in the neighborhood is a pear tree on the Chateau Frise lot, not ready to harvest as yet.
There is already snow on the ground and Allie immediately sets out collecting. This is a good neighborhood to collect frogs and collectibles.
She also collects water near the Dachshund's Creek lot, and surprisingly, she doesn't change into her bathing suit.
While collecting, she also spotted celebrity Judith Ward and snagged two autographs from her!
Allie's main concern was finding food. Fishing was out, as the streams, rivers and ocean were all frozen. The pear tree on the Chateau Frise lot would take a few days before it could be harvested. But perhaps sims would grill and she could get free food that way. Let's hope so.
Allie met quite a few sims.
She also befriended several dogs, and even met a cat named Mayor Whiskers.
Allie ends Day 1 with $538 simoleons and keeps the 2 autographs and frogs in her inventory. She's hungry and dirty and off to sleep on a bench. She has enough simoleons to start building her house.
But her needs were plummeting, especially her hunger needs. No-one had done any grilling, and even though Allie had dug up one fish in a dirt pile, she needed 2 fish to grill fish on a stick. Will that pear tree be ready to harvest tomorrow? Because if not, things were not looking good for Allie's survival in this neighborhood.
3 - BRINDLETON BAY - CAVALIER COVE NEIGHBORHOOD (Finale)
Here is the start of Allie's house. At least she was making good simoleons.
Food Needs & Nearly Starving to Death:
Things were not looking good for Allie on Day 2. Her hunger needs were very much in the red and she was very uncomfortable. Her only food source was the pear tree, and even though it had grown, it was not yet ready to harvest. Her only hope for today to overcome her hunger was if anyone grilled food or if she found another fish in a dirt pile.
Her day was pretty tense. And then her hunger needs became ravenous and she was given 24 hours to live until she starved to death. I started to worry.
I was sure that the pear tree would be ready to harvest tomorrow, but my concern was that even if it was, she would be too uncomfortable to harvest the pears that she needed to survive. Would she be able to get her needs up in time to harvest the pears, or would she die of starvation? The clock was ticking.
I was still hoping that she would find another fish in a dig pile, or even some fruits or vegetables that she could eat. But it didn't happen. So, as a precaution, I did purchase 2 fruit seed packets in case she needed to use these at the last moment in case she couldn't get her needs up in time.
But then I thought of another idea. She had been rather social in this neighborhood already, and she had enough reward points to purchase a moodlet solver potion. And, so that is what I did. I bought her the potion, and all her needs were fixed. She was then able to harvest the pears and not starve to death. She never did use the fruits from the 2 seed packets, but I just kept those in her inventory.
Thankfully, with the pears, she was able to make a family sized serving of fruit salad.
But just to be safe, I wanted her to reach Level 7 in Cooking to make the off-the-grid recipe, Boiling frog pot, since she was collecting a lot of frogs. She didn't quite reach Level 7 though.
Later on in the week, she also found a trash plant at the shore area.
And a sim came by with a gift, which was a faux meat cube.
And finally she was able to unearth another minnow and grill it along with the one in inventory for fish on a stick.She also got a new personality trait, Foodie.
Making Simoleons:
Once her hunger and other needs were in good shape, she was able to collect again. Her daily routine was frog breeding, and collecting from dirt piles, fossils, harvesting, and she also found one set of feathers at the pet pee bush.
She actually kept the feathers, and if you place them on the wall, they turn into pictures.
She planted several pear trees and the madnip, catnip and napnip on her lot.
Whenever she met a dog, she would ask it to go potty. Sometimes she was lucky and they rewarded Allie with a little gift. Yes, she sold the pet poo.
And, of course she collected snow and water to sell through her bills.
The End is Near:
Allie didn't have any problems with social needs as there was always a sim, or dog or cat around to talk to.
She did have to brave a blizzard in collecting items.
But after her initial scare of near starvation, on New Year's Eve, she knew she had made it and had survived the week.
Finished House & Final Stats:
She was able to finish her house, a small sea shanty. All her house builds are 32 tiles. She was left with $64 simoleons.
These are the feathers that Allie collected, which, when placed on a wall, turn into paintings.
Congratulations Allie! You survived the Brindleton Bay, Cavalier Cove neighborhood in winter. It was harder than I thought it would be, especially with the lack of food sources, but she did it!
Technically this was a FAIL since I used the moodlet solver, which was not something that she found in the Neighborhood. I am sure that Allie would not have been able to get her needs up in time to harvest those pears. So, yes, it was a bit of a cheat to save her from starvation, but it worked.
So, because of this, I am making a bit of a rule change. Since she can purchase items from Buy Mode, I will allow her to purchase 1 seed packet only if she is in fear of starvation.
The Next Neighborhood: Using the randomized wheel spinner, Allie will next travel to Mt. Komorebi to the Wakaba neighborhood. Until next time...
Neighborhood: There are 3 residential lots (1 is occupied by the Ito family, who were evicted), 1 rental lot, and the Hazakura Lounge. All lots were bulldozed. Alilie's lot is 2-4-1 Wakabamori. There are train tracks in the neighborhood and you can see trains come and go.
Resources: There is a beautiful waterfall on the Wakaba River, and you can swim here. No fishing spot. There is a grill and picnic table on the shore, as well as an info board. There are several benches to sleep on, and 2 public bathrooms. There is one permanent food stall and picnic tables near the town square, with 3 vending machines (simmie capsules, bits & bobbles & cold food/drinks). There is one onion and one potato plant to harvest. There is also a dirt pile near the river. Parsley and tomato are also in the neighborhood, but are out of season. You can gather water at the Wakaba River.
The Festival of Youth is held in the square on Sundays, and there is a food stall at the festival, selling ice cream crepe cones (Harajuku).
Day 1: Allie started like she did in every neighborhood with a selfie. Sold 4 and kept 1 and made $34 simoleons.
She then went down to the Wakaba River and checked out the info board, collected some water and swam in the Wakaba River (it was cool. not freezing).
She then collected an onion right near the shore and there was a dirt pile there also and she got a fossil.
Her lot had a potato growing there. Allie then returned to her lot and Allie planted the onion and potato.
Even though it was Sunday, the Festival of Youth did not generate. So, she decided to purchase a simmie capsule ($50 simoleons). her first one was a gold and she sold it for $250 simoleons.
She continued to collect and sell simmies, and on the fifth try it stuck and she had to shake it.
She did get her simmie capsule, but I decided that she would try again later as I didn't want her to die from a vending machine death.
And as luck would have it, she spied celebrity Brytani Chu, and got 4 autographs from her! Yes! Four! (What I do is keep asking the celebrity for an autograph until they say no. Usually my sim only gets one).
Her hunger needs were getting low, so she decided to haggle with the food stall vendor, and got a discount on the Tri-Color Dango, which is vegetarian-safe, for $1 simoleon. Oh this was good.
Since Allie had to wait two days for the autographs to be worth more before she sold them, she decided to wait and build her house then. So, she headed to the nearest bench in the square and took a nap. She made $708 simoleons on her first day.
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