How to start
This page summarizes Pinstar's rules and FAQ on simslegacychallenge.com. The story: a power plant meltdown has ruined a city, and your family repairs it one career at a time.
- Founder: one Sim, young adult or older. A skilled Sim from your library or the Gallery is allowed.
- Lot: move alone onto an empty lot in any world. Pinstar suggests Oasis Springs.
- Job: quit any career first. Earlier promotions don't count.
- Day one: start a new save on a Sunday. Until the Retail restriction is lifted, Sunday is the only day you can buy objects.
Always in force: Normal lifespan; no cheats, mods or custom content that give an advantage; no aging Sims up early; no adopting infants or children; the family never moves, and you play no other household.
The 25 restrictions and what lifts them
Get a Sim to the top level of the branch and its row is lifted for the whole household, permanently, even if that Sim quits later.
| Career branch | Until it is lifted |
|---|---|
| Tech Guru: Start-up | Only the lowest-stat object of each type may be bought or used. |
| Tech Guru: eSport Gamer | Computers only for a job's daily task. Phones only to take or quit a job. No TVs or tablets. |
| Business: Investor | No selling Build/Buy objects, collectibles or harvests. No publishing books, songs or jingles (self-publishing is fine). |
| Business: Management | No days off. A Sim who is late, absent or leaves early must quit that career for good. Elders can't retire. At work, only the normal or Work Hard tone. |
| Culinary: Chef | No fridges, stoves, ovens, microwaves or coolers. Fire pits may cook only fish. Without Outdoor Retreat you may grill other food, but each meal costs a fish moved to the household inventory. |
| Culinary: Mixologist | No bar drinks, reward potions or drinks from a fridge. No brushing teeth. No bottle-feeding newborns. |
| Astronaut: Space Ranger | Every object needs four walls and a roof (mailbox, outdoor trash can and rocket excepted). No sleeping outside, tents, stargazing, cloud watching, telescopes, Granite Falls or switched-on mood auras. |
| Astronaut: Interstellar Smuggler | No career reward objects. No upgrading anything but rockets. |
| Painter: Master of the Real | No emotional paintings, woodworking or books. |
| Painter: Patron of the Arts | No selling anything your Sims make. No self-publishing. |
| Writer: Author | No ordering books. No library visits. |
| Writer: Journalist | No showers or bathtubs. Choose Try for Baby whenever it is offered. No pregnancy tests. |
| Secret Agent: Diamond Agent | No visits to community lots or other homes (work is fine). Nobody may move out. |
| Secret Agent: Villain | Build only inside one 8×8 square chosen at the start. No selling or deleting urns and gravestones. |
| Entertainer: Musician | Instruments: Practice only. No radios or stereos. No changing aspirations or cancelling whims. |
| Entertainer: Comedian | No parties, dates, invited guests or mirrors. Only one Sim may join the household per generation. |
| Criminal: Boss | Each time bills arrive, pay them, then set funds to §0 with money 0. No spending while a bill is unpaid. |
| Criminal: Oracle | No move-objects cheat. No Gallery Sims. Cheat away any money a spouse brings. Once lifted, kaching is allowed once per Sim day. |
| Athlete: Professional Athlete | No buying reward traits. |
| Athlete: Bodybuilder | Objects bigger than 1×1 can't be moved or sold once placed. One item stack in a Sim's inventory. Nothing comes out of the household inventory. |
| Teen: Babysitter | Roll every new trait and aspiration on the random trait generator. No influencing a baby's gender. |
| Teen: Fast Food Employee | No quick meals, no chips from a bar, no pizza delivery. |
| Teen: Manual Laborer | No planting or tending plants (wild harvests are fine). No maids. |
| Teen: Retail Employee | Buy, build and replace objects on Sundays only. No Plan Outfit. |
| Teen: Barista | No coffee or tea items. No lump of clay. |
How you win and score
- One set per Sim. Only the first career a Sim tops counts, and a teen job uses up that Sim's turn.
- The end: all 25 sets lifted.
- Score: the number of Sim days it took. Lower is better.
- Slips: if a Sim breaks a rule on their own, cancel the action. You don't lose.
- Tracking: copy Pinstar's score card and cross off each restriction.
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Start over in a half-empty city
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Packs and updated versions
Pinstar's rules cover base game careers only and work with or without Outdoor Retreat. In the page comments he says he won't rewrite them for each new pack: restrict new objects by the theme of the matching restriction.
- The poopsiesims update (March 2020, revised March 2021) keeps Pinstar's text and adds restrictions for pack careers such as Actor, Detective, Doctor, Scientist, Military and Engineering. It also has shorter variants: Two Birds, where either branch lifts both branches of a career, and It Takes a Village, with three founder households.
- Raerei's modified unlocks (August 2020) group the locks by theme and add unlocks for 57 careers, plus university.
Pinstar also wrote the Legacy Challenge. For a start-from-nothing run with fewer rules, see Rags to Riches or the main challenge list.
FAQ
Can one Sim lift more than one restriction?
No. Only the first career a Sim reaches the top of counts, and that includes a teen job. Every other restriction needs a different Sim.
Do you need packs for the Sims 4 Apocalypse Challenge?
No. Pinstar's rules use base game careers, and his FAQ says the challenge is no harder or easier with Outdoor Retreat. The poopsiesims and Raerei versions add pack careers.
Does it count if my founder already topped a career?
No. The founder must quit before the challenge begins and climb the ladder again for it to count.
Can I build a second floor inside the 8×8 square?
Yes, Pinstar's FAQ allows upper floors. The mailbox and outdoor trash can also have to sit inside the square.