Summer is in full swing, and the world of Sims has begun heating up with fresh events and new pack announcements. Sims FreePlay kept players busy with a new garden-themed SimChase, a Produce Market Rerun, and a Moroccan Kitchen reboot.  Just days away from their final few events for the current update, Sims FreePlayers are looking to the horizon for the newest gamut of events for the June and July months. Meanwhile, Sims Mobile kicked off their Modular Wardrobe Treasure Hunt event and began the final stretch of their newest game mechanic: Sim Festivals.  Naturally, the biggest news of the week came from Sims 4, which dropped its long-anticipated "Dream Home Decorator" game pack.  Simmers in all circles are scrambling to decorate, remodel, and snag the best items for their pixel people to enjoy. ​

In classic FreePlay form, Sims FreePlay inundated its players with several, exciting events, sometimes all at once.  On May 27th, players began the newest SimChase: Garden Grapple.  During this event, players complete a laundry list of tasks-- many of which require multiple Sims-- in order to win the perfect pool-side accoutrements. If players are able to beat the "rival" Sim by completing the given tasks within the time limit, they are able to earn special outdoor items like patterned patio flooring, a grand hot tub, modular stone planters crawling with cacti, garage doors, and stone cladding. Not long afterward, on June 1st, Simmers dived into the Produce Market Live Event rerun.  A Live event that encourages Simmers to craft candles, constructor coins, glassware, jewelry, and pottery in return for prizes, Produce Market rewards Simmers with the brightly colored items required to build a quaint fresh farmer's market.  This event is stuffed to the brim with items like checkered store flooring, bread displays and hanging lights, wall signs and cute chalk displays, rustic stone animal stacks, produce freezers, grocery counters, shelves, fruit baskets, and much more.  The grand prize for these crafting efforts is, of course, a grocery store lot already brimming with the offered prizes. 

If this were not enough, just one day later on June 2nd, a brand new Influence Island began for Sims FreePlayers! This Influence Island event is version two of a previous event-- Moroccan Kitchens. During this event, players confuse and cajole game NPCs into friendship.  Their influencing efforts are rewarded with network coins, and these network coins purchase Moroccan-inspired assets like stone counters, squat glass tables, loose-fitting, colorful outfits, beautifully braided hair styles for men, and more.  This event runs for just ten days and will run alongside a SimChase Rerun: Mansion Mania, which begins June 4th. 

The past few weeks have been busy for Sims Mobile, which added a new game element to its growing repertoire-- Sim Festivals.  During these festivals, players complete in-game tasks to earn pink tickets.  These tickets move players along a fixed track of prizes.  Currently, Simmers can choose from two prize tracks.  The first prize track is free and offers a sparse collection of prizes like a lovely armchair, a well-rounded stool, a metallic droplet table, perplexed dresser, and a signed autograph of new NPC Venessa Jeong. 

However, if a player purchases the "festival pass" for $9.99, they earn 60 levels of possible earnable prizes that include Venessa Jeong as an official in-game NPC, in-game currency packs, a fully-furnished house template, a wooden island tub, trendy hair and clothes, and more.

Currently, players are digging and investigating their way through the newest Treasure Hunt event.  As Sims uncover golden bunnies and ancient relics at various excavation sites, they turn in these currencies for such glamorous prizes as gilded modular cabinets, bright lamps, lovely rugs, modular shoe and coat closets, designer shoes, stylish hoodies, cropped clothing, fresh hats, and a new twisted hairdo for men. The incredible grand prize is a backlit vanity desk, tufted chaise, and plush seat. 

Sims Mobile is also nearing the end of its scheduled events for the most recent update, so Mobile players are hungrily watching gurus and GameChangers for word of the next update. 

​This week, the highly anticipated "Dream Home Decorator" pack, a new Game Pack that allows Simmers to enjoy a new interior design career, hit Origin with a bang.  The pack offers many jaw-dropping changes to build mode including modular seating, sectionals, and modular storage units.  In addition, Likes and Dislikes were folded into both base game and Dream Home Decorator. The new interior design career encourages Simmers to remodel the homes of NPCs.  After choosing a gig, Simmers travel to an NPC's home to remodel their room, floor, or commercial space. As Game Changers began releasing their reviews of the Game Pack, offered for $20 USD, the Sims community buzzed eagerly about their joys and disappointments.  While lauded for its beautiful build assets, the pack has suffered from a few unfortunate glitches. In addition, some players, who are not as enthralled with the building portion of Sims 4, complained that the pack did not offer the gameplay that they had hoped. 

Sims 4 players are already buzzing about the next Sims 4 expansion pack promised to arrive this summer, though developers have not yet revealed what the pack will entail. 

Until next time, stay safe and happy Simming!

Hide your mods and custom content, Simmers! Sims 4 developers have planned two patches for the month of May; one smaller patch which will address smaller bug fixes such as:

Another “larger” update will drop in game “later” this month, including the following fixes:

The last update to the “hates children trait” is no small thing. Not long ago, Sims 4 developers tweaked the “hates children” trait so that Sims with the trait would refuse baby-making unless “dazed.” Understandably, some Simmers were deeply disturbed by such language, which suggested their beloved pixel people could be swayed into unwanted sexual activities if somehow inebriated or incapacitated. The community at large balked at the idea until The Sims Team released an official statement apologizing for the blunder. They promised to address this issue in a “later” patch. It appears that time has come.

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Additionally, this “later” and “larger” patch may include the Courtyard Oasis kit leaked early last week. This kit is rumored to release May 18th.

What bug fix are you most looking forward to?

To say that the greater Sims community has been parched for new content for weeks is an understatement. After a rash of speculation about werewolves and a disruptive controversy about updated personality quirks, the Sims 4 community has sniffed around gurus for any hint of fresh content to sink their teeth into.

Early this morning, Microsoft came to the rescue with a juicy leak that has a strong likelihood of truth.

The leaked kit, listed on Microsoft’s stores, is called Courtyard Oasis, and it appears to feature luxurious Moroccan-inspired build/buy items. The items include fresh marble fountains, keyhole doorways, lattice-laced lanterns, geometric coffee tables, intricate wood-carved seating, and far more.

Simmers who dabble in either Sims FreePlay or Sims Mobile may not be surprised by the possibility. Both Sims iterations have featured similar updates in the very recent past, particularly FreePlay. Months ago, FreePlay offered stunning divans, modular couches, gold-plated incense holders, key-hole doorframes, bronze lighting, and rich rugs that sent Simmers to a northern African paradise.

During its first year running, Sims Mobile also featured some Moroccan items of their own, including lattice doors. Check out the screenshot below from Sims Mobile Central:

Will Sims 4 Simmers soon enjoy the richly sumptuous items of Arabia just in time for Ramadan? According to Microsoft, this kit will drop May 18th.

For months, Sims Mobile had a big problem.

​Despite its bright, engaging design and stylish gameplay, Sims Mobile was beginning to lose its long-time players. After living and breathing the game for several months, the most dedicated players quickly reached the game’s inherent progress “caps,” hitting level 60, maxing all careers, hobbies, and relationships, obtaining the peak lifestyle title “Toast of the Town,” and completing the EcoWorkshop. While such a state of absolute completion is worthy of bragging rights, the experience effectively kills the game for those who desire progression.

Progression is a strange and sometimes wily beast. Adept game designers must continually provide players with a sense of progression without completely overwhelming or boring them. Once a player has reached maximum level, there is little impetus for them to continue grinding the game’s offered content. Sims Mobile players stopped playing through hobbies and careers, stopped maxing relationships, stopped visiting EcoWorkshop, stopped engaging with LlamaZoom. Some players put the game down all together. After all, what was the point?

The Sims Festival, rolled out April 19th, 2021, effectively addresses the issue of game progression for many.

In a brilliant move that weaves together the time-worn events of Sims Mobile while simultaneously breathing new life into them, the Sims Festival offers players a feeling of progression as they earn pink tickets for completing certain career, hobby, relationship, and EcoWorkshop events. Players then turn in those tickets in return for prizes.

Suddenly, players who had maxed Sims Mobile career, relationship, and hobby stories had a reason to return to them. Because the improved task list also often asks for a specific sort of completed event, it often forces players to work outside of their comfort zone.

For example, a seasonal task (larger tasks that offer larger pay offs) might ask the player to earn a certain number of simoleons in a certain area— say the courthouse. If the player does not currently have Sims who work at the courthouse, then they will be forced to make a Sim change their career or introduce a new Sim into gameplay. This shakes up even the most entrenched of mobile Simming habits and makes the game feel almost new again. In addition, the seasonal tasks often ask players to purchase or develop new lots. This encourages even the most weary veteran to reinvest in building, a staple feature of the Sims since time immemorial.

This new feature finally rewards players for doing what was already offered in game on a regular basis, encouraging jaded players to log in several times a day for their festival tickets.

Predictably, perhaps, this much needed change did not come without a cost. While free-to-play players can now complete tasks in return for prize-winning pink tickets, they earn significantly less than “festival-ticket-track” players. For $9.99 USD, players who pay can earn up to 56 prizes over the course of 50 days. Free-to-play players can earn less than 15 prizes for the same effort.

For the same effort but after paying $9.99, paying players can win the following prizes in addition to large sums of simoleons, SimCash, and fashion gems.

This is the rub for some Sims Mobile players, who are quickly realizing that the lion’s share of mobile events are revenue-generating ones.

The trouble that is microtransactions, however, is not a Sims Mobile specific one. Indeed, it is the mobile game standard in which all free-to-play mobile games participate.

Even so, some players point out that while they expected a difference between the “free” and “paid” festival tracks, they did not expect such a large difference.

In the end, however, both new and old players have re-engaged with the game that houses their precious pixel people, and this is, without a doubt, a positive thing.

After weeks of anticipation, the Sims Mobile development team finally unveiled their next huge game-changing update late Thursday evening. The enormous update will introduce a fresh event type, the arrival of house templates, and the long-awaited demise of LlamaZoom.

Read EA’s Celebrity Life Blog notes here: https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/news/sim-festival-faq?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0QiwI93siJCnwXzL33WlEEXAmCGQVRFyrhJSGt058VMyGjy0_4p_c0LvU

LlamaZoom became a staple of the Sims Mobile franchise a couple years ago in the wake of the static, dependable daily task list. The LlamaZoom truck, with Sim NPC Emily at the helm, offered LlamaZoom tokens in exchange for a predetermined gamut of relationship, hobby, or career tasks. Mobile Simmers used these tokens to unlock land or purchase coveted Build/buy objects.

Mobile’s Celebrity Life update completely removes Emily and her ubiquitous llama truck for good.

Instead, players will complete daily tasks for a new in-game currency: prize tickets.

Simmers can redeem prize tickets at festivals, fifty-day special events that offer incredible CAS and Build/Buy prizes. A new one will trigger for every major Sims Mobile update, or as soon as their app icon changes.

Here is a quick rundown of how festivals work:

In short:

• Festivals are long-term events that offer prizes in return for prize tickets.
  
• Occasionally, Sims Mobile will ask the player to complete “seasonal” tasks
  
• Festivals will offer TWO separate prize tracks: Free and Festival
• ”Festival” tickets are paid tickets.
  
• Festival ticket holders will earn a non-playable Sim character, a fresh HOUSE TEMPLATE, and brand new, rare flooring and wallpapers in return for their trouble.
  
• Each festival reward comes with ALL COLOR SWATCHES
• Complete daily and seasonal tasks to earn festival prizes!

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House templates are pre-built homes that Simmers who are short on time (ahem, or building skill) can plop down on any lot for their Sims.

It appears that Simmers who purchase the “Festival” ticket will gain access to these exclusive homes and a new NPC to boot. Players will be able to befriend or marry the new NPC.

There is far more to this update, and all will be revealed soon! Keep it locked right here on Simmer’s Digest!

The Sweet Treats Showdown: Dessert for Two rerun kicked off again March 22nd. This beloved event offers Sims Mobile players romantic lighting, a luxurious marble lover’s tub, an enormous outdoor movie screen, and far more.

Players can expect the following:

Sweet Box Prizes
✔️Hopeless Romantic Candle
✔️Light of Love Centerpiece
✔️Sparkling Path
✔️Dreamdate Blazer
✔️Table for Two
✔️Dessert for Two Chair
✔️Magical Mood Side Table
✔️Lover’s Lantern
✔️Orb of Amour

Royal Box Prizes
✔️Lover’s Flame Firepit
✔️Tree of Love
✔️Dearest Loveseat
✔️Lounging Lovebird Robe

GRAND PRIZES
✔️Sweetheart Spa
✔️Date Night Movie Screen
✔️Mads Multicolored Braid

The Sims Nation compiled swatches for all the available prizes. Many thanks to ShellyBee Sims for painstakingly creating these images.

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Join the Sims Nation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/simsnation/

Or on Discord: https://discord.gg/H2g3eTP
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The varied realms of the Sims are all steadily changing, offering fresh content for their respective, awaiting audiences. Sims FreePlay finally unveiled their New York Apartment update, Sims Mobile wrapped up its charming greenery Treasure Hunt, and Sims 4 geared up for the upcoming bunkbed update with hints of more to come. ​

After several days of Twitter teasers, Sims FreePlay developers finally rolled out their latest New York Apartment update featuring Big Apple loft worthy looks such as contemporary industrial bookshelves, drafting tables, enormous windows, steel beams, chic chests and wardrobes, sleek ovens, and far more.

Influence Island: New York Bedroom offers players an array of Big Apple looks in exchange for exchange tokens. After convincing and cajoling neutral NPC Sims into “clan mates,” players get the chance to spin for such prizes as king sized beds, metal floor lamps, faux cow-hide rugs, wardrobes, leather ottoman, and vintage lighting.

SimChase Season 26 guides players through a gamut of events in competition with a “rival” Sim. Successful Simmers have the chance to win sleek bathroom and breakfast items such as corner showers, wall lights, brick wallpaper, and New York hair for male and female Sims.

The Lofty Lifestyle Live Event begins April 5th and continues to offer the glamor and glitz of New York life. Players can win a drafting table, vintage bicycles, industrial lighting, exposed brickwork, and metal shelving, but only the craftiest of Simmers will succeed.

Influence Island season 8 will offer Scandinavian 2.0 prizes. These are the same prizes as the previous version— beds, hanging shelves, kitchen tops, basin sinks— but in new color swatches.

SimChase Season 27 gives players the chance to create an iconic New York Diner with such prizes as diner uniforms, bat stools, black and white flooring, milkshake makers, wall lighting, square booth tables, and more. ​

[Screenshots from the lovely Joy C. Finger. Watch her video here: https://youtu.be/dofVaJW7aBI ]

Sims Mobile wound down it’s Greenest Garden event. Players claimed their new glossy female hair, rustic sprinkler, and quaint greenhouse only to settle in and wait for spring cleaning reruns— Wash n’ Fold, which begins April 5th, and Dessert for Two, which begins March 22nd. 

The Wash n’ Fold Sweet Treats rerun allows players a second chance to win the SimpleSuds Washing Machine, the Linen Fresh Clothesline, and a beautiful slew of adorable laundry clutter and furniture like pastel shelves, squat hampers, and wicker chairs. 

The long-awaited “Dessert for Two” Sweet Treats rerun gives Mobile players a chance to win the coveted Sweetheart Spa, Mads Multicolor Braid, Date Night Movie Screen, and an array of date night wear, comfortable couches and romantic lighting. 
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Developers neither condone nor support these mods, and having them shatters the “terms of service” between a player and the developer, even if the player uses the cheat “once only.”

That is, if a player gleefully uses these mods to his advantage, but then complains when his game crashes irreparably, he will not have the EA Help team on his side to save it.

Women's History Month is in full swing as both Maxis and Firemonkeys leap full-bodied into spring with fresh content.  This week, Sims FreePlay inundated their players with a Live Event, an Influence Island event, a hobby event, and a SimChase simultaneously; Sims Mobile developers unleashed a deluge of spring-themed purchasable packs and player-pleasing events; and Sims 4 got down and dirty with their new "Bust the Dust" vacuuming kit, their "Throwback Fit" kit, and their "Country Kitchen" kit, though not without hiccups.  The Sims 4 team also revealed their internal spring cleaning efforts through a published list of bug-correcting efforts, aptly dubbed the "laundry list" in the spirit of transparency. ​

​The world of Sims FreePlay is a buzz this week with activity.  Busy Simmers engaged their Sims in a series of incredible events -- all within the fresh Art Deco.  Persistent players win a slew of sleek, gilded prizes during Influence Island - an event that encourages players to swindle and cajole NPC Sims into friendship in return for "network tokens."  These tokens purchase such glamorous prizes as Art Deco Archways, Gold pendant lights, Diamond Mirrors, Gold Deco Coffee Tables, Gold Deco showers, bookshelves, baths, corner chairs, bathroom sinks, and a grand prize pack of wardrobes, king-sized suite beds, lavish pianos, Deco wall lights, Fret Deco paint, and Flapper worthy outfits and hairstyles for female Sims.  

Additionally, the current Glam Mansion Live Event offers more gilded gifts for Sims FreePlayers in return for their crafting efforts.  Players craft candles, glassware, pottery, and jewelry to earn jaw-dropping luxury items befitting only the swankiest Sims.  Players are currently working to earn pristine bamboo plants, geometric paintings, geometric showers and sinks, geometric baths and toilets, counters and tinted windows, shiny kitchen essentials, a gleaming breakfast bar, luxury lounge sectionals and coffee tables, and a grand prize of the imposing Glam Mansion, an expertly pre-designed lot for upper class Sims. 

Meanwhile, Kam Ham's current SimChase offerings encourage Sims to compete against a "rival" Sim in return for luxury restroom prizes.  The hobby event lures Sims into the fashion hobby in order to win an array of fresh male hairstyles.  

FreePlay Simmers now look to the horizon for the next update announcement for April and May.  

​This week, Sims Mobile developers unveiled a gamut of spring cleaning events for the gardening gamer.  The Greenest Garden Treasure hunt, which began March 8th, promises such quaint accoutrements as bird houses, bug farms, a functional greenhouse, and large broad-leafed plants and flowers to build a landscaping paradise.  

The rest of Sims Mobile's current spring-themed update features long-anticipated reruns such as the "Dessert for Two" Sweet Treats event, which is due to begin March  22nd.  This event offers the amazing marble lover's tub, a huge outdoor movie screen, a wealth of romantic candles, and the sparkling path any Sim could use to seduce a loved one.  The Wash n' Fold Sweet Treats event, which rewards players with a functional washing machine and other laundry room essentials, will return April 5th.  

Wumples returns in this update alongside some anniversary prize offerings, several pack reruns, and purchasable packs filled with flowers for the gardening guru.  

​Maxis rolled out their "kit" DLC this week to mixed reviews.  While some players balked at spending more money for bite-sized content, other players leapt at the opportunity to add more game play, fashions, and kitchen-themed build-buy to their games.  According to the developers, these new kit offerings are easily digestible content updates, offered for $4.99 between larger pack releases, to whet the insatiable Simming appetite.  These kits will offer either fashion (for the discerning stylist Simmer), fresh build/buy (for the bold builder), or new gameplay (for the avid storytellers and completionists.) For now, Maxis has released three "kits" - "Throwback Fit", which offers colorful 90's athleisure wear, "Country Kitchen" which offers brand new country-style worn kitchen items, and "Bust the Dust," which offers a set of vacuums, a new dusty gameplay loop system complete with dust bunnies, and two new aspirations.  Not long after release, however, the kits began disappearing from Origin, even for the players who had already purchased the kits.  Maxis is currently looking into the issue. 

Sims Nation Magazine and Simmer's Digest offered three free kits to their followers.  

The winners are: @MaiamakesSims (country kitchen), @cowplant318 (Bust the Dust), and @giawlegend (Throwback Fit.) 

An enormous shoutout to streamer TaylorRynai who helped Sims Nation raise $122 for our Girls Who Code Charity event! Let's keep Simming for Good! 

That's all for now but keep checking the Simmer's Digest website for more giveaways, challenges, and events.  

Stay safe, thank a woman, and happy Simming.