Getting your questions ready
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This Sims trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and runs the whole length of the franchise, from the 2000 original that Will Wright pitched as a virtual dollhouse to the free-to-play Sims 4, Project Rene and the movie in the works. It covers the things every player knows - Simoleons, the plumbob, the Grim Reaper, motherlode - and the things only long-time Simmers remember, like the Tragic Clown, SimPeople, the cowplant and what happened to Bella Goth. Expect questions on Maxis and the Oakland fire, the seven original expansion packs, The Sims 2's neighbourhoods and aspirations, The Sims 3's open worlds and Create-a-Style, The Sims 4's missing pools and Sixam, plus the spin-offs: The Sims Online, MySims, The Sims Medieval, FreePlay and The Sims Social. Around a third of the questions are warm-ups; the rest climb toward the trivia only a Legacy Challenge veteran would get. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and EA's own pages, and each explanation adds one more thing worth knowing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On what date was the original The Sims released for Windows?
February 4, 2000
It went on to be the best-selling computer game in the United States in both 2000 and 2001.
Q 02Losing his home in which 1991 disaster pushed Will Wright toward the idea that became The Sims?
The Oakland firestorm
Rebuilding his life and replacing his possessions made Wright think about turning that experience into a game; the Maxis board was unimpressed, and Electronic Arts backed it instead.
Q 03What is the name of the currency Sims use to buy furniture and pay bills?
Simoleons
The unit is written with a section-sign-style symbol, and every household in the original game began with the same fixed pile of it regardless of family size.
Q 04What is the name of the gibberish language Sims speak?
Simlish
It began as raspberries and nonsense; later games recorded tens of thousands of lines, and dozens of pop acts have re-recorded their hits in it for the in-game radio.
Q 05What is the green diamond that floats above the active Sim's head called?
The plumbob
It doubles as the franchise logo, and expansion packs add coloured bands around it to mark vampires, mermaids and aliens.
Q 06Which expansion pack for the original The Sims introduced the Grim Reaper as a character?
Livin' Large
The same pack added a genie lamp, a chemistry set and a guinea pig whose bite could be fatal.
Q 07When a Sim pleads with the Grim Reaper for a dying housemate, what game decides the outcome?
Rock paper scissors
Win and the Sim is revived; lose and they are taken away or, in some cases, brought back as a zombie.
Q 08In the original The Sims, which NPC spawns from a painting and always fails to cheer up a miserable Sim?
The Tragic Clown
It was Will Wright's 'pet object' for the expansion; the only ways to get rid of it are to raise everyone's mood or set the painting on fire.
Q 09How much money does every new family start with in the original The Sims?
§20,000
The amount was the same whether the household had one Sim or eight, which is why big families started out squeezed into tiny homes.
Q 10In 2002, The Sims overtook which game to become the best-selling PC game in history at the time?
Myst
It had passed 6.3 million copies worldwide by March 2002, and the game and its expansions together went on to ship over 41 million.
Q 11Under what title was the original The Sims released in Japan?
SimPeople
The rename kept it in line with the studio's other Sim titles, from SimCity to SimAnt.
Q 12Will Wright dedicated The Sims to which pioneering game designer, known for M.U.L.E.?
Danielle Bunten Berry
Bunten Berry, best known for M.U.L.E. and The Seven Cities of Gold, died in 1998, two years before the game shipped.
Q 13Which comedian makes a cameo in The Sims: House Party if your Sims throw a good enough bash?
Drew Carey
He shows up once the party hits full swing, one of several celebrity nods that peaked with the Superstar expansion two years later.
Q 21Which Devo co-founder composed the main theme and Build/Buy music for The Sims 2?
Mark Mothersbaugh
The original game's jazz-piano Build Mode tunes were by Jerry Martin, who returned to help supply the sequel's made-up-language radio songs.
Q 22What is the name of the town that ships with The Sims 3 base game?
Sunset Valley
In-game lore says it is the same town as the original neighbourhood and Pleasantview, just seen decades earlier; a second world, Riverview, was a free download.
Q 23Which Sims 3 tool for recolouring almost any object or outfit was famously left out of The Sims 4?
Create-a-Style
Q 14Which expansion pack first brought cats and dogs to the original The Sims?
Unleashed
It also expanded the ten-lot neighbourhood to more than forty lots and let players rezone them as shops and cafes.
Q 15In which year was The Sims 2 released?
2004
The sequel moved to full 3D, added genetics and ageing, and sold a then-record one million copies in its first ten days.
Q 16Which iconic Sim, wife of Mortimer, famously vanished before the events of The Sims 2?
Bella Goth
Fans still trade theories about her disappearance, and she has turned up in nearly every game in the series since the 2000 original.
Q 17In The Sims 3, Mortimer Goth's future wife appears as a child under what maiden name?
Bella Bachelor
The Sims 3 is set decades before the original game, so the whole Goth clan appears much younger, and she and Mortimer are childhood friends.
Q 18Which pre-made Sims 2 neighbourhood is a loose modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet?
Veronaville
Its feuding Capp and Monty families are named after the Capulets and Montagues, and the town is styled after old Europe.
Q 19What hidden 'joke' aspiration in The Sims 2 comes only from a malfunctioning mood machine?
Grilled Cheese
Sims with it want nothing more than to eat, cook and talk about the sandwich, and a later expansion even lets them paint still lifes of it.
Q 20Which Sims 2: University career reward, inspired by Little Shop of Horrors, can eat your Sims?
The cowplant
Sims who drink the 'milk' it produces after a meal live five days longer, which makes it a grimly popular household pet.
Its absence, along with the open world, was one of the loudest complaints in reviews of the fourth game.
Q 24Sims 3: World Adventures lets Sims travel to fictional versions of which three countries?
France, China and Egypt
Each destination teaches a skill: nectar making in Champs Les Sims, martial arts in Shang Simla and photography in Al Simhara.
Q 25Which pop star got her own 'Sweet Treats' stuff pack for The Sims 3 in 2012?
Katy Perry
It came alongside a Collector's Edition of Showtime built around her Teenage Dream album imagery.
Q 26In which year did The Sims 4 launch on Windows?
2014
The release date was announced at E3 that June; the game reached macOS the following February and consoles in 2017.
Q 27Which two worlds shipped with The Sims 4 base game at launch?
Willow Creek and Oasis Springs
A third, empty-lot world called Newcrest was added free in 2015 for players who wanted a blank slate.
Q 28Under what codename did Maxis begin The Sims 4 as an online multiplayer game?
Olympus
The plan was scrapped after the disastrous always-online launch of the 2013 SimCity reboot, and the game shipped single-player and offline.
Q 29Which two features, absent from The Sims 4 at launch, were later added in free updates after backlash?
Toddlers and swimming pools
A Change.org petition followed the announcement; pools returned within months, but toddlers did not arrive until 2017.
Q 30The secret alien lot 'Sixam' in The Sims 4: Get to Work takes its name from what?
Maxis spelled backwards
Reaching it requires a wormhole generator unlocked at the top of the Scientist career.