Summer

The arrival of summer is almost always welcome. What Sim doesn’t like a sunny afternoon, a warm breeze on the back of the neck, and a leisurely sip on a fruit drink while waves lap their toes? Summer brings with it so much potential for fun and frivolity that Sims should definitely take advantage of everything on offer. After all, it won’t be long before the sun retreats behind clouds and the leaves turn, signs that the transition to fall is most certainly underway.

Summer Holiday

Toward the end of summer, Sims celebrate Leisure Day. On this day, nobody has to go to work or school—but at least working Sims still receive their daily wages. The town essentially focuses on the fine art of relaxing and having fun. Every Sim gets the Summer Fun moodlet and is encouraged to do outdoor activities such as swimming, attend the Summer Festival, and more.

Summer Party Suggestion: Pool Party

Whether you have a pool on your home lot or decide to convene on a community pool, there is a new party type for Sims who like to splish-splash: pool party. The pool party is built around swimming, so everybody will typically arrive in their swimwear. (As you might imagine, this party is not thrown at an outdoor pool during winter.) Once the pool party is underway, Sims will find great pleasure out of diving from a diving board, so make sure your home pool has one installed. And it never hurts to have at least one of the new Inflato Aqualounges, a floating pool chair, handy. Sims love these inflatable chairs! A grill is also a good object to have on-hand because though any food is enjoyable, Sims at a pool party tend to gravitate toward BBQ-style cooking.

When you set off a ground-based firework, such as a fountain or smoke bomb, every Sim around you has Fun and you can enjoy the cool, colorful effect.

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Sparklers are good fun for children!

If you have World Adventures installed, you may actually buy fireworks all year. Fireworks purchased in Seasons can also be used in the big fireworks extravaganzas in China.

Summer Festival

Welcome to the Summer Festival, where the sun (almost) always shines over frolicking Sims enjoying all the celebration has to offer. Saddle up and try your hand (and tummy) at a hot dog eating contest of epic proportions. And when you’re done, work it all off with a few spins around the roller rink or runs along the soccer pitch. Should you get a little too toasty out in the sun, cool off with a snow cone, ice cream, or other delicious frosty treats!

• Hours of Operation: 8 AM–9 PM

Festival Food

Festival Ticket Prices

Hot Dog Eating Contest

Whether you are a glutton for punishment or just a plain ol’ glutton, there’s just something so “summer” about hunching over a towering plate of hot dogs and stuffing them in as fast as you can. You know, for fun!

During the Summer Festival, you may enter the hot dog eating contest at the long table and compete against up to three other Sims for the coveted title of fastest eater. You may either Enter by yourself or Challenge other Sims to the contest.

When the contest begins, everybody puts their head down and starts shoveling. The contest ends when the first player cleans their plate. That Sim banks Festival Tickets and gets the Winner moodlet! The winner can also use the Brag about Winning Eating Competition social while enjoying the Winner moodlet. Second place and third place get smaller ticket awards.

Five factors help determine who wins the contest:

• Low Hunger need prior to the start of the contest. An empty stomach always helps!
• If the Sim has eaten hot dogs a day or two before the event, that counts as training, and increases the odds of winning.
• The Sim hasn’t entered an eating contest for at least three days.
• If the Sim’s favorite food is the hot dog, they have a natural advantage.
• Ghosts, SimBots, Mummies, Vampires, and Imaginary Friends have nearly bottomless pits in their guts, giving them an edge in this contest.

Every competitor in the contest gets the Stuffed moodlet. However, some competitors may also get the Nauseous moodlet. If that happens, they may retreat to the bushes and vomit. At least this lowers the Hunger need, right?

Soccer

The Summer Festival grounds has two soccer goals so that you may play soccer with other Sims for Fun and to boost your Athletic skill. By having two goals on-hand, multiple Sims can get in there and practice or challenge other Sims to shootouts.

When a shootout challenge is accepted, one Sim heads to the goal while the other walks opposite of the net and releases a ball. This Sim is the shooter. The shooter starts making kicks. The goalie moves from side to side, diving to block balls from entering the net. The Athletic skill is used to determine performance during a shootout. The player with the higher skill often comes out on top in the showdown.

After several shots, the Sims switch places and the former goalie is now the kicker. While playing with another Sim like this, both Sims satisfy the Fun need, build the Athletic skill, and build LTR.

Face Painting

What festival is complete without a face painting booth? Every festival has a small tent where you can get a sweet little design painted on your mug. Designs include not only those found in the Make-Up tab of Create a Sim, but also some seasonal options:

• Sun
• Surfer

When you choose the Get Face Painted interaction, your Sim slips into the tent for a moment. When they emerge, they have a little splash of color on their face. Getting your face painted satisfies the Fun need. Face painting costs §50.

Now, there is a chance that face painting doesn’t exactly work out. If the activity fails, your Sim emerges with a mess o’ make-up on their face, such as big smudges. This doesn’t ruin your day with a negative moodlet, but you definitely do not gain any Fun.

Face painting naturally fades after a few hours. If you want to remove it manually, you can hop in the shower, remove it via a mirror, or change your outfit.

Tanning Booth

Now, sure. You could lie out in the sun and soak up some rays. But that takes time and maybe you have a busy summer planned. If you just want to nab a quick tan, head to the Summer Festival and slide into the Golden Glow Tanning Booth for a breezy §90.

The main interaction on the Golden Glow Tanning Booth is Get a Spray Tan. Sims enter the booth and after a few moments, step out with their tan. They check themselves out and, if happy, go on about their day. However, there is a chance the spray tan fails and ends up giving the Sim a strange hue. The three fails are:

• Uneven Tan: Stepping out of the booth, the Sim realizes only one half of them is tan! The Sim is dinged with the Got an Uneven Tan moodlet.
• Discolored Tan: The Sim emerges from the machine and realizes that—wait a second—they’re purple! (Or green! Or pink!) This results in the Got a Discolored Tan moodlet.
• Bad Tan: The Sim emerges either totally charred or carrot orange. The Sim freaks out at the sight and gets the Went Too Far moodlet.

After any failed tan, Sims can either get back in the booth and try again or just wait for the effects to wear off.

Snow Cones!

The sun’s high in the sky—what a perfect time for a delicious, and refreshingly chilly, snow cone! Snow Cone Machine Carts at the festival grounds work exactly like the counter-based model you can buy through Buy Mode. (You can also score a cart by redeeming Festival Tickets.) Best of all, snow cones are free!

When you select Make Snow Cone on a Snow Cone Machine, you choose the flavor from a list of options. Then your Sim approaches the unit, removes a cone, and starts scooping up the good stuff. Now, the flavor you choose matters because it results in a moodlet. And there is a flavor, Blizzard, that only young adult or older Sims can make because, well, it’s a flavor that’s only appropriate for grown-ups. Here are the different flavors, plus the moodlets they inspire:

• Cherry—Cheery Cherry: During duration of the moodlet, the Sim enjoys the same benefits of a Sim with the Charismatic trait, such as charisma-specific socials.
• Lime—Lucky Lime: The Sim gets the same benefits of the Lucky trait, such as a higher chance of receiving a promotion at work or a shot at the Feeling Lucky moodlet following four contiguous hours of sleep.
• Lemon—Laidback Lemon: This moodlet immediately dispels any stress-related moodlets and slows any stress gain by the Sim’s current activity.
• Grape—Gleeful Grape: During the duration of the Gleeful Grape moodlet, the Sim enjoys the benefits of the Easily Impressed trait, such as enjoying boasting socials.
• Blue Raspberry—Raspberry Romance: This moodlet unlocks the benefits of the Hopeless Romantic trait, such as being more receptive to romantic socials and having more fun when reading romance novels.
• Blizzard—Blizzard: Hey hey hey! Sims with this moodlet get the benefits of both the Daredevil and Party Animal moodlets, which includes not burning to death if on fire or the Life of the Party moodlet when going Wooo! at a party.

Roller Skating

Unless Sims are lazy or hate being outdoors, roller skating is wonderful activity at the Summer Festival. There is a large roller rink situated on the festival grounds, which can accommodate several Sims. This gives you plenty of room for slipping and falling when first trying out this semi-hidden skill.

Skating is a great social activity, too, allowing you to not only build LTR with existing friends, but also meet new Sims. Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet the love of your life on the boards?

Water Balloon Fight

While Sims can enjoy water balloon fights anywhere in town, there is a designated arena at the festival grounds, perfect for team play or a more organized match. Winners of matches bank Festival Tickets! Sims may get Soaked while playing, but they have so much Fun and these contests build LTR with other Sims. Both are very worthy pursuits, and getting splooshed with water on a hot summer’s day is a side benefit that can’t be beat!

Fireworks!

As mentioned earlier, fireworks are only available during the summer. Buy them at the market or with tickets at one of the concession stands. During Leisure Day, fireworks blast off over the skies of the festival grounds. But that’s no reason why you can’t put on a little show of your own during the summer, too. Sims love to watch fireworks, kids love playing with sparklers, and everybody has a good time when things go boom.