How do you use clubs in your game?

I just really don't use them. They make me sad. They're like the dine out restaurants that I don't use since I had my legacy sim die there waiting to stop glitching out and get to eat food. The clubs don't work right in my game for some reason. I'm a total CC junkie so it COULD very well be my fault they are glitchy and weird, but they're just too much trouble so I use the items from the packs they come from and don't actually put my sims in Clubs or take them out to eat either.

They are also a great way to liven up lots and make visiting them different each time depending on which club shows up.


Moral rivalries.

E.G. You could have a Bar that is frequented by Cops (sims in the Detective career), and have a roaming club of Troublemakers (Criminals, or Mean/Evil/Hot-headed bullies) that could show up at any Bar. Making the two clubs rivals could mean a a barfight breaks out if the Troublemakers show up at the Cop Bar one night.

Other moral rivalries could be political or religious groups, kleptos vs. retailers, promiscuous vs. prudes etc.


Sports rivalries.

Cities might have basketballs, football (soccer), American football, swimming or various other sports clubs. They, in turn, have fan clubs. E.G. The Foxbury and Britechester football (soccer) teams form Team Clubs and give each team a Fan Club. The fan clubs would be friendly with their own team, and rivals to the other team and their fans. Teams would be rivals of each other, and friendly to their fans. Set them all to meet at Pepper's Pub. Depending on which clubs spawn at any one time, it could be a brawl or a party. There are lots of sports strips/jerseys that could be used as club and fan uniforms.


Teen cliques.

Mean Girls or other teen movies inspire these. You could have the trendy/popular/socialite sims, the nerdy/geeky/techy sims, the disenfranchised/rebellious sims, the hippy/eco warrior/activist sims, the sporty/jock/gym bro sims, the arty/crafter sims, music lover/bandie sims. Each club would hang out in different lot types and interact with the other cliques and non-Teen clubs in different ways. The Gym Bros might get along with any of sports teams or sports fans, but be dismissive of/mean to creative or nerdy clubs, for example.


Co-worker socials and networking.

Befriending co-workers increases work performance. It's also common for workplaces to have staff outings and parties. For WFH style jobs it's also fun to set up a common workspace, or meet at an appropriate venue type. It's also a good way to see appropriate sims at those lots while rotated away. Careers might also overlap, network-wise. E.G. Freelance Programmers might meet up at an Internet Café to keep the caffeine coming while they code. Such a venue might also attract sims in the Tech Guru, Social Media, Food Critic, Secret Agent or Oracle (cybercriminal) career, uni students on the eSports Team or completing Computer Science degrees, teens in the Computer Club after school activity or the local Coffee Addicts or Foodie meet up. Great for storytelling about how sims met.


Clientele diversity.

You can vary the clientele that shows at various venues to make them more unique from each other. You might want sims to stick to their local venues when going out. Have them join a group with other locals and make their hangout the local venues that suit their interests, such as having all the Active sims that live in Oasis Springs hang out at the Gym in that town, or all the students in Britechester drink at that Bar. You might want sims with particular taste in music to show up to a venue that plays that music (E.G. sims who Like Blues would enjoy hanging out at The Blue Velvet, but sims that Dislike Blues would hate going there and avoid it). Make the visitors you want to see there into Clubs to give each place more character beyond the build itself.


Wealth/Class/Fame divides.

The areas in game tend to fall into different cost brackets with some being poorer/starter areas through to others being richer/late game areas. Venues could also be given the same distinction by having clubs with wealth and/or fame filters either allowed or disallowed via club doors or lock mods. You might have a fancy, country club style Rec Centre in the rich hills of Del Sol Valley, or a run down community centre style one in the Spice Market of San Myshuno. Obviously the sims that might show up to these places wouldn't be the same, so using clubs to send in specific groups of sims will make the visiting sims more believable.


Activities and added autonomy.

Another way to enliven venues and make them different from each other is to theme them around specific activities. However every Museum, for example, has the same requirements and autonomy tied only to those requirements. What if I wanted a Science/Space/Natural History Museum instead of one that functions like an art gallery? Well clubs come in handy here too. Sims would likely view space prints and possibly some collectibles as viewing things is part of Museum autonomy, but if you wanted to have interactive exhibits then they would likely not be used by NPCs. Having an Astronaut/Rocket Science club going on rocket missions, building/upgrading rockets, Botanists/Geologists analysing samples, Astronomers using telescopes, Roboticists tinkering and building Servos or an Amateur Scientists club doing all of the above would mean items that generally wouldn't be used on that lot type are actually in use making the whole lot more interesting to visit. It also makes it a likely place to meet sims with the associated hobbies or careers, if you are looking for that kind of thing in friends or lovers.

I most often use them in three ways:
1. Similar to @Eldrai I often use the skills for the club perks, including skill building. The career boost perk is pretty nice too. I might use the chess and fitness clubs that come with the pack if I have someone who needs to work on Logic or Fitness. Mostly I create my own. For example, I had a Sim that I wanted to build Charisma and Mixology. I had her create a club called the Beach Bums that would hang out at the Sand Bar in Sulani socializing and mixing/drinking umbrella drinks.
2. I sometimes use family clubs where its just the kids. I start a club meeting when I want them to do homework or work on skills. I play with large families so this helps the household stay organized.
3. I also use the club system as a hack for finding sims that meet certain criteria. If I want someone to meet a coworker, I open up create-a-club and set the club requirement to that career. Then I click on one of the club vacancies and it shows me all of the sims in that save who are in that line of work. If I know where they live, I'll exit create-a-club without starting the club. If they're harder to pin down I'll finish setting up the club and then I'll starting a gathering just to introduce my sim to their coworkers. I also use this to find compatible sims for friends or love interests. I might set the club requirements to Outdoorsy and Young Adult (if that's what they're looking for) and then see what sort of prospects we have.

I use clubs mostly to have my sims meet other people, though sometimes they're in a club for a specific game goal. Lately and because I micromanage my entire housed families I've used clubs for singles to meet partners who are their best compatibility match.

I create clubs for coworkers, classmates, friend groups, family groups and hobby groups, but I also like to use clubs to make NPCs and custom community lots.

If there's a particular community lot I want but the game doesn't have, like a bank for my business sims to roleplay in an active work environment, I create a club filled with sims in the business career, create their work uniforms, and set up the rules so that they mimic actively working at a bank, talk to clients, refine skills, drink coffee, etc.

Before cottage living added Mrs. Crumplebottom I made a club to mimic having her in my game, she would show up at night clubs, always be in an angry mood, never do romantic interactions, be mean to everyone, and knit.

I tried to create a club based on what another Player had created, but sadly, the club still fails epically for me. Mostly I don't bother. The notion of having a Family Club that you could use to gather the family together more easily just didn't work out. I guess my families are too big, or something. I don't get the concept of wining points to expand the membership. Unless you throw club meetings left, right and sideways, it's a waste of time to me.

In the past I've used clubs to boost a sim in skill building and to make friends along the way. In the future I plan on using the club system in a more creative way like a homework club or a singles club. I think people forget that you can make hangouts. Find or build a community lot with extra space so you can make a club space.

When I was playing my mermaid sim who was a conservationist, I started a club for cleaning up the beaches to make the process faster lol. Bit cheaty I guess, but I really wanted to see the baby turtle hatching. <3

When I set up a new game I like to create clubs for NPCs so that there will be life in different venues. For instance a pool club for the park in oasis springs, a movie club for my "cinema" (actually a restaurant) and so on, that way those things get used even when they're not the "right" lot type... I generally like the game to feel more alive that way.

For my played sims, I usually create clubs with all the family members (especially as kids move out). Makes holidays and birthdays dead simple to arrange. For teens and kids friends or homework clubs are good too, and if my sim work in a semi-active career I usually create a work club for that career and a "work place" for them to go (usually in some kind of retail lot, basement or on top of it). That way my sim can go to work, talk to their co-workers and do their work tasks and then go home at the end of the day, just like an active career.

I tried hobby clubs but I kept forgetting them.

Like @GalacticGal said, I think this only works when you have a small family. They outgrow the function real quick

For me I like to buy the rally the troops option and rally the troops. You can do it as many times as you want and it boosts them through the night, also it's good for if your sim's needs are bad right before work