Toddler Mania challenge rules
Inspired by Jo's (joandsarah) stab at the Toddler Mania challenge earlier in the week I wanted to try it out myself, but it was hard to find a good rule-set so I decided to create my own, borrowing heavily from TreyNutz2 and simsdivad's rule-sets.
Credit must be given where credit is due:
simsdivad wrote:"The Toddler Mania challenge was originally created by TreyNutz2 for The Sims 2. It was featured in the Sims 2 Challenges Podcast in early 2007. The original rules were posted to the related Sims 2 Challenges Blog on February 13, 2007. You can find them here".
These rules were modified for The Sims 3 by simsdivad. You can find them here.
I have used parts of both versions to create my own rule-set, as well as added a few of my own. Enjoy.
EDITED 1/9/10 to add what is mentioned in this post here.
EDITED 10/9/10 to add what is mentioned in this post here.
Toddler Mania rules - for Sims 2
Amended by mountainshade1
GOAL
-Raise 7 toddlers to childhood while collecting as many points as possible, and avoiding penalties.
HOW TO PLAY
- Create a family of 7 toddlers and 1 adult parent. Choose the aspiration and personalities that you think will help you the most.
- Move the family into any lot you can afford with the provided household funds.
- Remember to save game as soon as the house is built, before you start playing, so you can exit without saving if you have a bad event. You can also build the house before you create the family, only remember not to make it too expensive.
- Build the best 'Toddler-Rearing Institute' you can. Optimize the entire house to raising 7 toddlers. Use every trick you can think of but still follow the rules and restrictions below.
- Play the game, raising all 7 toddlers to childhood.
- The challenge ends when the last toddler ages to a child. Pause the game, and total up your points.
RULES
- No hacks allowed which gives you an unfair advantage over players who don't have the hacks. Be a fair judge; if it feels like cheating - it is!
- You may not turn aging off.
- Your adult may not get a job.
- Your adult may not at any time during the challenge go to a community lot.
- You may use motherlode once at the beginning of the challenge to help you build a nice and functional Toddler Institute, but no more after that. BUT - there is a whooping +10 point bonus if you don't use any money cheats.
- A maximum of 7 potties is allowed in the challenge house.
- You may save the game and rework your house at any stage of the challenge, if you can afford to do so.
- You may reload after bad events as many times as you want but there is a -5 penalty for each time you do so.
- The moveobjects cheat is allowed only for bugged or stuck items.
- You may not use the handtool to move rubbish/bottles/nappies(diapers), a sim has to do it.
- You may not use inventories for keeping food/bottles fresh, neither may you use inventories for storing rubbish/dirty nappies/old bottles.
- You may not sell full potties in buy mode and purchase new empty ones.
- Aspiration rewards are fair game, if you do manage to earn them.
- If the social worker takes any kids, or your parent dies - you lose. Either reload or start over.
- You can use any services you can afford. Dying nannies are OK. You are not allowed to use a cheat to kill them but you are allowed to trap them within walls and such like. No points for dead nannies.
- You can sell broken objects only if you can afford to replace them.
- You may not sell Mr Humble's computer, but you may freely use it in the challenge house.
- Coffee and espresso is allowed. This goes for both sims and humans. ;)
- Cribs only, toddler blankets and pet beds are not allowed.
- You may not use the gypsy lamp (if you are lucky enough to get it) but you are allowed to sell it.
- You are allowed to make the parent dig for treasure, garden and fish.
- Free Networking gifts from the social groups (Gearheads, Bohemians, Socialites, Techies and Jocks) are fair game and can be sold to raise money.
- No birthday cakes or clicking "Grow Up. The toddlers must grow up autonomously.
- At the start of the challenge you may use moveobjects to place the toddlers inside the house to avoid initial congestion. This is the ONLY time you may move the toddlers in this manner.**
- The season must, before the start of the challenge, be set to the beginning of either Spring, Summer or Winter. Autumn(Fall) is not allowed as it will make the toddlers skill faster.**
- You are allowed to use the hand tool to move toddlers' drawings from the activity table on to the walls. We want to see the wee tots' creations.
- CC walls covers and flooring are allowed, but if what you want to use is set as 0 simoleons in the catalogue then first cover the wall/floor with a Maxis one so that you have at least paid something for it.
- CC furniture is only allowed if it DOES NOT have higher comfort or/and energy rating than Maxis furniture of similar price.
- CC toys are only allowed if they DO NOT make the toddler skill faster then it would with Maxis toys of similar price.
- You must play with freewill on
- Pet food is not allowed
- You are allowed to use a butler but while he is there you must not call the nanny. If you need a nanny during the night it will cost you the usual 2 points for every time you hire her, and you MUST dismiss her before 7am when the butler arrives. If you find you simply have to have the nanny there as well as the butler it will cost you 5 points.
SCORING
+10 points for NOT using any money cheats
+3 points for each toddler skill (potty, walk, talk, nursery rhyme) each toddler learns (max 84 points)
+3 points for every hobby membership given to a toddler**
+3 points for each toddler that grows up well
+1 point for each skill point earned by a toddler
+1 point each time a nanny pees him/herself
+1 point for every child the parent is Best Friends with
+1 point for each time a toddler gets a visitor (not a nanny) to give them a bottle
+1 point for each time a toddler sicks up on a visitor or the nanny
+1 point for each time a toddler climbs out of their crib
+1 point for every child who has more than 5.000 aspiration points just after growing up
+1 point for every time the nanny takes a bath
+1 point for every time the nanny goes to bed
-1 point for each toddler that passes out on the floor
-1 point for each nappy(diaper) changed
-1 point for each social worker warning message you get, this includes warnings of toddlers getting too hungry (X is skin and bones), too cold/hot, needs social interaction etc.
-1 point each time a toddler drinks spoilt milk
-1 point each time the parent pees him/herself
-2 points each time you hire a nanny
-2 points each time the maid comes
-5 points if the butler and the nanny are in the challenge house at the same time
-5 points each time your parent passes out from exhaustion
-5 points each time your parent has a visit from the Therapist
-5 points if you use maxmotives
-5 points each time you reload after bad event
COMMENTS
The foundation of this challenge is house design. A well designed 'Toddler-Rearing Institute' will make things much easier. To get a good score, you will need to decide what penalties you are willing to take, in order to be able to score points. You will have to strategize. Your score may well be in the negative until the very end. Think carefully about everything you know about sim traffic congestion, toddler behavior, nanny quirks, etc. Have a notebook beside you while you play the challenge, it is all too easy to lose track of things.
Remember you can control the toddlers too. Keep them away from under the mum's feet, make them "go here" when they are starting to jam up doorways or "trap" the mum or the nanny, cancel undesirable actions, make them "Ask attention/food/influence" from visitors/nannies, make them skill skill skill to earn you points instead of wasting time playing in puddles.
HELPFUL TIPS
- Putting the toilets in sunken or raised floors nicely prevents toddlers from playing in the toilet. Don't put a bathtub there though, visitors and nannies who might bathe toddlers will most likely leave them by the bathtub, thus making them stuck in the sunken/raised area till your parent fetches them.
- Making the parent sim high in active points means that he/she is able to "run here" which can save quite a bit of time and also means he/she will need less sleep.
- Have the parent sim take the bottles out of the fridge but then cancel the action so he/she drops it on the floor and make the toddler go fetch it himself/herself. This frees up time spent trying to get into the right position to give the toddler the darn bottle.
- To save the parent having to go all the way to the toilet with the potty contents, simply cancel the "Empty Potty" action once the parent has lifted the poo bag out of the potty and he/she will simply drop it on the floor where it will become rubbish which can thrown into the trash by anyone.
- When the parent sits a toddler on the potty it is possible to cancel the "Potty Train X" action without the toddler stopping, thus leaving the parent free to do other things while the toddler trains himself/herself. I found that it worked if I canceled the action just when the person-person++ icon appeared above the parent.
- Ignore the bills while you are playing the challenge, it'll save you time and money. You'll get the usual bills on the Tuesday and Thursday, but won't get your first warning till Friday while the children are at school.
- To avoid doorways jamming up with tots it might be a good idea to give each room at least two doors.
- Floor dividers are great for dividing up the rooms inside the house. Sims can't see or hear, or feel bad environment through them, and there are no doorways to get jammed up because sims can freely more across the floor dividers. Also, they are cheaper than walls.
- Be aware that there seems to be an increased risk of getting the bin kicked over by townies when you have a butler. This is not completely certain and needs further testing.
- Toddlers who are low in hygiene will refuse to be potty trained.
*May be amended at a later stage.
**Added after my first challenge attempt
Rules thread at Boolprop.com
I have of course played this challenge myself and here it is:
Toddler Mania Challenge #1.
Toddler Mania Challenge #1
View more presentations from mountainshade1.
Edit: Toddler Mania Challenge #2