I figured since I mentioned Sim Survivor last time, I should tell you how to play.

It is really quite easy.

  1. Create a new family with eight people in it. We would do more than eight but families can only have eight people in them.
  2. Start a game with this family in a home that you will build.
  3. When you build the home, focus only on exterior walls. The home should have a fridge inside and a front door. Carpet, wallpaper, furniture, bathroom, beds – all optional.
  4. When the home is built, get everyone to go inside the home. Then pause the game and remove the door.
  5. The game is on! Eventually you will run out of money and there will be no food in the fridge.
  6. The last person still alive is the winner. Enter the cheat code to give them $1M, and then give them some food – fast!

Now that they have won, they can blow their $1M on crap, just like the winners of real Survivor do.

Some considerations:

  • The spartan game (empty rectangular house with a single fridge) is interesting enough, but adding some creature comforts, like a toilet, one or two beds, or a couch can make things more interesting. This way, some of the Sims will be more rested than others, more happy, etc.
  • Building a smaller house increases the likelihood of unhappiness. Not only are people more likely to be standing (and sleeping) in trash and filth, but they are more likely to get in fights. If you are lucky, some of the contestants will give up and quit the game. They will also try in vain to leave.
  • For added zest, include a very junky stove. Odds are pretty good that they will start a fire, and with no front door for the firemen to enter, you have to hope it will just burn itself out. This is a good way to expedite the reduction in contestants, although it sometimes you end up with no winner of the game (for example, the Sims sometimes get so sleepy, that they can’t help but fall asleep right in the middle of the fire).
  • You will find that the neighbors come by to meet the new move-ins, and will die of starvation trying to find the door. If you care whether the others in your game survive, you may have to intervene in creative ways.
  • The winner of the game may find his/her home haunted with the ghosts of the losers in the aftermath.

Have fun, and remember – it isn’t true life.