The Sims Trivia
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This Sims trivia quiz has 96 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 96 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which New York museum acquired The Sims for its video game collection in 2012?
MoMA
MoMA: its curators judged it an outstanding example of how players interact with a game, not just of visual quality.
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
Simoleons: Will Wright has said he meant the game, with all its buying, as a satire of consumer culture.
Q 04What is the name of the gibberish language Sims speak?
Simlish
Simlish: real pop stars have re-recorded their own hits in it for the games' radio stations.
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
Livin' Large: the same pack added a pet guinea pig whose bite could give a Sim a potentially fatal illness.
Q 07In the original The Sims, when a Sim pleads with the Grim Reaper for a dead housemate, what game decides the outcome?
Rock paper scissors
Rock paper scissors: a win brings the Sim back to life, but a loss leaves them dead or revived 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
The Tragic Clown: his failed tricks only make gloomy Sims sadder, and one way to be rid of him is to set his painting on fire.
Q 09How much money does every new family start with in the original The Sims?
§20,000
§20,000: every family got the same amount whatever its size, enough only for a small house or an empty lot to build on.
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 11In the original The Sims, what happens to a child whose grades stay at F for too long?
Sent to military school
Sent to military school: the child leaves the household for good and is never seen in the game again.
Q 12Which psychologist's 1943 work helped Will Wright build the Sims' happiness model?
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow: the model put chores at the heart of play, since keeping a Sim happy means cooking, cleaning and a comfortable home.
Q 13Which comedian makes a cameo in The Sims: House Party if your Sims throw a good enough bash?
Drew Carey
Drew Carey: he pulls up in a limo, and his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, later ran a scene set entirely inside The Sims.
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
Sunset Valley: Sims roamed the whole town seamlessly, but in The Sims 4 every trip, even next door, meant a loading screen.
Q 23Which Sims 3 tool for recolouring almost any object or outfit was famously left out of The Sims 4?
Create-a-Style
Create-a-Style: reviewers lamented its loss, since players could no longer pick exact colours and textures for almost everything in a house.
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 15What could Sims newly do in The Sims 2?
Grow old
Grow old: in the original, babies became children and then never aged again, but Sims 2 Sims grow into elders and die of old age.
Q 16Which iconic Sim, wife of Mortimer, famously vanished before the events of The Sims 2?
Bella Goth
Bella Goth: a Bella with no memory of her family later turns up in alien-themed Strangetown, hinting she was abducted.
Q 17In the Sims' made-up language, what does 'sul sul' mean?
Hello
Hello: the Sims' speech was kept as gibberish on purpose, so players' imaginations fill in what they are saying.
Q 18In The Sims 2, what can happen to a male Sim abducted by aliens?
He comes back pregnant
He comes back pregnant: three Sim days later, he gives birth to a half-alien baby.
Q 19Which secret Sims 2 aspiration can a malfunctioning ReNuYuSenso Orb give a Sim?
Grilled Cheese
Grilled Cheese: while other Sims make the sandwich only at lunch, these Sims can cook it at any time of day or night.
Q 20Which Sims 2: University career reward, inspired by Little Shop of Horrors, can eat your Sims?
The cowplant
The cowplant: after it swallows a Sim, drinking its 'milk' adds five days to the drinker's life.
Q 24Sims 3: World Adventures lets Sims travel to fictional versions of which three countries?
France, China and Egypt
France, China and Egypt: in China's Shang Simla, a Sim who masters meditation can even learn to teleport.
Q 25Which pop star got her own 'Sweet Treats' stuff pack for The Sims 3 in 2012?
Katy Perry
Katy Perry: she re-recorded 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)' in the Sims' made-up language for the pack.
Q 26Which new system was The Sims 4 built around?
Emotions
Emotions: each feeling opens its own actions, so an embarrassed Sim can, for instance, tell a self-deprecating joke.
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
Olympus: the online plans were dropped after the always-online 2013 SimCity reboot had a troubled launch, and The Sims 4 shipped as a single-player offline game.
Q 29Which two features, absent from The Sims 4 at launch, were later added in free updates after backlash?
Toddlers and swimming pools
Toddlers and swimming pools: the developers left both out at launch, saying that building the game's all-new technology left no time for them.
Q 30Which of these is one of the three active careers added in The Sims 4: Get to Work?
Doctor
Doctor: instead of the Sim vanishing off-lot for the workday, players follow it into the hospital and direct its work, even delivering babies.