I was inspired by these two challenges... Harsh Weather Challenge and The Board Game Challenge. I meshed the two together and added details of my own so this challenge is not the same in the end but wanted to give the creator a nod for their creativity.

BACKSTORY
your sim is an adult who mooched off of his mother. she did his laundry, cooked his meals and paid the bills, while he played video games all night long. one day, his uncle died and left him a plot of land in northern alaska and his mother said enough is enough, she is selling the house and moving into a retirement community and he was not welcome. (due the age restriction.. yup, that is totally the reason.. 🙄). she agreed to pay for his airfare to get to the land and that was it. it was time for him to make it on his own.

your sim didn't know much about the land before making his decision, having never gone there himself, but his uncle did talk to him about his dream of retiring and building a cabin there, a dream that died with him... (or does it?) your sim took quick stock of his life, with no job prospects and the crazy rental costs in sim city, he decided to put all his hope on the land. (yup, he's not that smart...)

he flew there and found out that the land was really small. even worse, the land had been fenced off with a tax notification stapled to the post. turns out the land that he owns has $400 in property tax owing and until he pays it off, a portion at a time (with points) he will not be able to develop the land. (build or put items down)

lucky for him, there is a refuge building in the small community, where he can spend time taking care of his needs. however, there are not many job opportunities, but he was able to find work at the cafe as a dishwasher. (or whatever you decide) life has gone down hill for him but he has no choice but to work his way up. (will he make his momma proud or will he freeze to death?)


MODS
you can tweak this challenge if you don't wish to play with mods, however, for the below setup to work, you will need mods to be able to sleep and skill at community lots. I got my mods a long time ago but a quick search provided... Sleep and Skill (by no means have I checked these out. they are just examples)


SETUP

#1. create a new hood. (I called mine IcePeak but feel free to call it whatever you like.)

#2. set it to winter for every season.

#3. make a single adult sim in CAS.

#4. create the smallest residential plot possible (I used the 1x1 lots) found here

#5. fence off the entire plot of land so no one can gain access to the land, they can only stand on the sidewalk. (photo below)

#6. move in your sim and get them a job. (feel free to match their job with their life time aspiration by using cheats (boolprop testingcheatsenabled true - now press the shift key and right click with mouse on newspaper to select career) but make sure to start at level 1.

#7. create a small community lot that has a twin bed, toilet, shower, table with 2 chairs, chess board with 2 chairs, easel, mirror, bookcase and some way to eat a meal. basically everything that is necessary to fill the needs of a sim and to skill up. should cost no more than $8,000 simoleans. (use the phone on a residential lot to call about purchasing community lot and it will tell you how much it is)


GAMEPLAY

+ your sim earns 1 point for each day of work they complete and points for their career level. so for instance, a dishwasher in the culinary career, is at level 1 in that career field, so they complete a day of work, means they earn 2 points. If they are promoted to drive through clerk, well then the next time they complete a day of work, they would earn 1 point (for the day) plus 2 points (level 2) which equals a total of 3 points.

+ the points are collected to unlock tiles (the squares you see on the land when in build mode). once you unlock a tile, you can remove the fence around the tile and reset it. since the 1x1 lot costs $400 and there are 100 tiles in the lot, it costs 4 points to unlock 1 tile. So if you do a bigger lot, then just do the math. (cost / tiles = points per tile)


RULES

#1. you can marry and points are collected for your spouse's work days.

#2. you can adopt 1 pet and points are collected for their work days.

#3. you can have offspring and when they become teenagers, points are collected for their work days. (if they remain at home once adult, points are still collected)

#4. your sims can only earn money from their job. (no money from the sky from selling things, no business, etc.)

#5. the cost of building the fence during gameplay is just part of the cost of living. (when you gain a tile, you destroy and rebuild the fence so the tile is available to use)

#6. use the moveobjects true cheat if you don't want to have to build walls to put down items. (my suggestion for your first three tiles, is a toilet stall, shower and a phone. photo below for visual)



GOAL

a rags to riches challenge

unlock enough tiles to be able to have a 3x3 plot of land, fully useable, to build a family home. however, you need to work your way up, starting with a 1x1, then 1x2, 1x3, 2x2, 2x3, 3x3... each time you move, you keep the tiles you have unlocked and only fence off the new tiles.

count how many years (4 seasons in game, per year) it takes you to unlock the 3x3 plot of land.

1 year = Legendary Gamer
3 years = Skilled Gamer
5 years = Tried and True Gamer

(above just a guesstamit... look below for reason)


NOTES

I just started doing this challenge. Ask questions if you need clarification. It's supposed to be a struggle (ie. a challenge) so try not to allow easy money or cheat to level up in a career field. but you do you and have fun! :D

If you want to have a place to warm up, really consider how you count your tiles. It is not locked in which tiles you unlocked, feel free to change placement at any time. However, paying for walls and fencing is costly so some preplanning might be a good idea.

photos show different setup ideas.