What are the rules of the Off the Grid Challenge?

Off the Grid Challenge: the rules

The Off the Grid Challenge by SnarkyWitch is a Sims 4 challenge. It lasts one Sim's life. No bought groceries, no tech, no indoor plumbing, and no careers or businesses that use them. The goal: Every household has a finished off-the-grid home that meets the house checklist and every Sim has mastered a listed skill.

At a glance

Creator: SnarkyWitch
Length: One life
Packs: Base game. Outdoor Retreat, Get Together, City Living and Cats & Dogs add optional helpful items or rules.
Rules: The creator's page, read on October 28, 2026

How to start

Bulldoze one of these worlds: Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Windenburg, Forgotten Hollow or Brindleton Bay.
Pick community lots: up to three in worlds with more than five lots, one in smaller worlds.
Community lots may have no tech or plumbing at all.
Every other lot becomes a home; make one household per home lot.
Settings: auto-age only the active household, Normal lifespan, and turn off filling empty homes.
Each household starts with 2,000 simoleons, plus 500 per toddler, 300 per child and 100 per pet.
Silence every phone; it is never used.

The rules

No bought groceries, no tech, no indoor plumbing, and no careers or businesses that use them.
Food comes from gardening and fishing, cooked only on a charcoal grill, wood stove or campfire.
Meals need all their ingredients; no quick meals or processed foods.
Toilets and baths must be built at the woodworking bench (Handiness).
Sleep in wooden beds or tents; light with candles only.
Only talk in person; no phone or computer for social.
Sims stay in their home world and only visit the chosen community lots (Granite Falls campgrounds are the one exception).
Play households in rotation; one week each is suggested.
Children must attend school; teens may skip.
Doing or buying anything banned on purpose fails the challenge; autonomous slips don't.

How you win

Every household has a finished off-the-grid home that meets the house checklist and every Sim has mastered a listed skill.

Tips

Rush the Handiness skill on the woodworking bench: it unlocks the homemade toilet and tub, which fix the two motives you can't otherwise meet.
Plant fruit and vegetables on day one; they are both food and income until a craft skill pays.
Teens and up must max one of Gardening, Handiness, Cooking, Gourmet Cooking, Baking, Herbalism, Painting, Violin, Piano or Pipe Organ, so pick each Sim's skill early.

Free tools for the challenge

More one-life challenges

Questions

How do you win the Sims 4 Off the Grid Challenge?

Every household must finish a home that meets the checklist, and every Sim must max a listed skill for their age.

Can Sims use a toilet in the Off the Grid Challenge?

Only one they build at the woodworking bench. Store-bought plumbing is banned.

Which worlds can you use for the Off the Grid Challenge?

Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Newcrest, Windenburg, Forgotten Hollow or Brindleton Bay. San Myshuno and Magnolia Promenade are excluded.