As the moment the madness will begin draws near, let's take a moment to see the place where our contestants will live, shall we? This luxurious residence was built entirely by myself especially for this challenge, and I'm quite pleased with how it came out. Click on any picture in this or any other post in this blog for a larger view. First, let's take a look at the outside.
Outside of the house are many fun activities for our contestants to amuse themselves with. Starting in the backyard is a large pool and a couple pieces of martial arts equipment, while on the right is a swingset, a soccer goal, a snowboarding half-pipe, a trampoline, a small driving range for golfers, and a sprinkler to run through. To the left is a Gnubb set, a water slide, a sandbox, a seesaw, a treehouse, fire pit, mechanical bull, juice bar, some picnic tables, and a grill. Whenever the weather is nice enough for outdoor activities, our residents will have plenty of things to keep them occupied. Now for the interior! But let's leave the bedrooms for last - they're special...
The front entrance area contains a few items of primary interest to the canine contestant - a bed is provided here for him as well as a box of toys in hopes that he'll neither use nor abuse the other furniture in the house.
It's conveniently located right next to the Kitchen, which has all the latest gadgets and gizmos for the most daring of chefs. But it's a bit on the small side even so, which should prove interesting for the first few weeks especially when we'll have a very, very full house. Hopefully the large archways will help keep the room uncongested in the event of a cooking mishap. A bowl for the canine member of the household is provided here as well, in the hopes that our residents will keep him well fed.
But the rest of our contestants will probably be dining here in the large and luxurious Dining room. Keep an eye on this room as its contents will change in accordance with the size of the household so that there is one seat for each of them. It's unlikely that they'll all actually end up sitting here at the same time, but it will give you a good visual indication of just how many Sims we have residing here.
The last room on the main floor (aside from some bedrooms, which I'll get to later), is this large Living room. It contains a television that takes up an entire wall, some video games, a cozy fireplace, a domino set, and a radio. An excellent room for Sims who enjoy activities of the less active variety.
Directly above the living room is the Arcade, which contains amusements of another kind. Game machines line one wall, along with a photo booth, while a pool table dominates the other corner of the room. The space on the lower left is the lower portion of the hot tub, on the balcony, but we'll get to that when we're on the top floor.
Next door to the arcade is this humble Gym. With so many athletically inclined residents they'll probably have to wait in line to use it until the ranks thin out a bit.
For those more interested in mental pursuits, the hallway on this floor features a few items that might be of interest. Here there is a chess set.
And further down the hallway there is a bookcase and telescope. Perhaps those who enjoy a quiet corner to themselves may find one here, unless several of them have the same idea at the same time.
On the top floor there is this small Balcony with a hottub, which may be of interest to some of our more socially inclined residents.
It's just off of the large Art and Music room, which features several musical instruments, a chemistry set, drafting table, easel, alchemy table, sculpting wheel, and inventing table. Some might question the sanity of providing some of our more... "creative" residents some of these things, but I never claimed sanity...
Also on the top floor is a couple of computers for the technology lovers. Again, probably not enough to keep up with demand at first, but hopefully there are enough distractions for everyone.
Now, as I said before, the bedrooms in this house are special. There are 11 of them in total, and each of them comes in a particular color. None of them are created equally, and as the weeks go by their doors will be locked and the residents will have to make do without them. So, starting with the worst and working our way to the best, here is where our residents will be sleeping.
This is the Black room, and obviously it lives up to its name. On the top floor, it has three bunkbeds for six Sims in the main room, and connects to two full bathrooms and one half-bath. It's cramped for that number of Sims, and the amenities are terrible. Oh, and I may have planted a small radio on the dresser - I'm sure that will bother nobody who is trying to sleep... This room will be locked after Week 1.
Also on the top floor is the only slightly better White room. With five beds it's still not the most attractive prospect, though at least it's less cramped than the Black room. It has an attached full bathroom and half-bath. This room will be locked after Week 2.
The last bedroom on the top floor is the Purple room, which is also connected to a full bathroom and a half-bath, but with only two bunk-beds at least you have fewer roommates to deal with. This room will be locked after Week 3.
Down one floor are these two bedrooms. On the left is the Orange room, which features three single beds as well as an attached full bathroom and half-bath. This room will be locked after Week 4. To the right is the Blue room which is similar, except the beds are a hair nicer but it only has a single full bathroom. This room will be locked after Week 5.
Here are another pair of similar bedrooms. At the bottom is the Brown room, which is small but with only a single bunk bed it's the least crowded room so far. It has an attached half-bath. This room will be locked after Week 6. At the top is the Pink room, which similarly has one bunk bed, but the attached bathroom includes a shower/tub. This room will be locked after Week 7.
For those who simply must be alone, the Green room is for you. Its single bed is quite comfy, though you'll have to go elsewhere if you want a shower. This room will be locked after Week 8.
The last bedroom on this floor is the Yellow room, and while it's not the must luxurious room in the house, it's certainly the best on this floor and has convenient access to the staircases. It has a double bed for two Sims to like each other very much, as well as a full bathroom. This room will be locked after Week 10.
On the main floor is where the best bedrooms are found, and the Red room gets second place. Having another luxurious double bed, the only real down side to it is that the bathroom lacks a shower. This room will be locked after Week 12.
But the last is the best of all the game, and the Rainbow room takes the grand prize for sheer opulence. If the colors don't mess with your head, anyway... Unlike the rest of the bedrooms, this one will never be locked - we want our last few contestants to be rewarded for their success, don't we?
And that's the entire house! I hope you enjoyed your tour. So... Wait a minute, there's something amiss here... A quick count of the beds reveal that we're eight sleeping places short, and that's assuming the double beds are shared and the dog sleeps where he's supposed to. In fact the schedule for locking the rooms seems to indicate that there will never quite be enough beds for everyone. Huh. Well, that's what happens when the person running the show has a slightly sadistic streak, isn't it?
