'The Sims 4': "Working" From Home Quiz

Answer: Cowplant

Sims can get started on gardening by buying planters and ordering seed packets, or simply by going for a walk round the neighbourhood and harvesting the plants they find to bring home and cultivate. Searching through the different neighbourhoods to find different or more valuable species (for example lilies and roses rather than daisies or vegetables) can also be a good tactic if your sim is intending to earn their fortune in this way, as they won't be able to order more valuable seeds until they've built up some gardening skills. Sims will then need to plant, water, weed, fertilise and otherwise care for their plants as required, while remembering to harvest their produce each day - luckily doing this work will increase gardening skill and open up options to make the process less time consuming. Alternatively there is always the option of hiring a professional gardener to do the work for them!

Rarer plants can also be obtained by grafting (cross-breeding) different plants together. This is one way of obtaining cowplant berries, which when planted grow up to become giant cow-shaped plants. If they are not fed regularly, cowplants will use slices of cake to lure in and gobble up unsuspecting sims - though how cowplants obtain said cake is a mystery!

Answer: Art Deco

Investing in an easel and some canvases gives sims the opportunity to build painting skill and sell their handiwork. A poor quality picture might not even recoup the cost of its blank canvas, but if your sim has the skill and is in the right mood to paint a rare masterpiece then they could sell it for thousands of simoleons. There is also the option of joining the freelance painting career, but while most of their work can be done from home some of their gigs will require going out to various work-related events.

Increasing painting skill opens up the option for sims to paint different types of artwork at increasing levels of quality. Initially sims will only be able to paint "classic" artwork at low quality level, but as they move up the scale, pop art, realism, abstract, surrealism and impressionistic paintings become available - but not art deco ones. Sims also gain the option to "paint from reference" (take a photo and then reproduce it on canvas) and create "emotional paintings" (angry, confident, flirty, focused, playful and sad) if they happen to be in that mood.

Answer: Sturgeon

While fishing cannot exactly be done from home, sims generally won't have to go far from their front door to find one of the designated fishing points located on the rivers, lakes and other bodies of water of the various neighbourhoods. Once there they can spend as much time as they wish patiently waiting for fish to bite or, in the meantime, hooking out random unexpected items that can be worth quite a bit when sold (violins, cowplant berries and digital cameras are a just a few examples of the odd things my sims have 'fished' out in the past).

As your sims improve their skill at fishing they will gain the ability to catch rarer and more valuable types of fish, learn about the best spots to find them and gain the ability to use different types of bait to catch them. While small, common fish like minnows, goldfish, guppies and tetras aren't worth much, sturgeon are classed as large and rare and can be sold for a few hundred simoleons each, depending on their weight and quality.

Answer: Daily royalties

While writing is a career option available to sims in 'The Sims 4', it is also possible for them to dispense with formal employment, stay at home and simply make money by publishing books. Author sims are then paid daily royalties with the amount received for each book being highly dependent on the level of writing skill the sim had while working on it, the book's quality and the method by which it was published. To begin with sims can only write children's books and can begin to self-publish them once they reach skill level 2; by skill level 5 they gain the option to sell their book to a publisher (and write short stories, romance and non-fiction); and by skill level 9 they will have screenplays, fantasies, sci-fi and mysteries added to their repertoire, as well as the ability to submit one book per week to the 'Literary Digest'. Once they have maximised their skill they also get the option to write biographies.

Sims can earn daily royalties for as many books as they are able to write and publish, although older books eventually stop generating any income after around 20 sim days in circulation.

Answer: Trumpet

The three instruments available to sims in 'The Sims 4' base game are the guitar, piano and violin and sims build skill in each of these separate instruments rather than musical ability in general. Once they get to skill level 8 they can write a song for that instrument (which is admittedly a lengthy and time-consuming project) and then at skill level 9 they can license that song for a week in return for daily royalty payments. The downside is that only one song can be licensed in a given week, although if they manage to reach these lofty skill levels in all three instruments then they can have one song for each licensed at the same time. Sims can also supplement their musical income by spending time writing jingles that can be produced much more quickly and, if accepted, earn a one-off payment.

If they're prepared to leave the house then musical sims can also earn smaller amounts by busking - violins and guitars can be packed into their personal inventory and played anywhere, but piano players can also head to any of the public lots with a piano to try their luck.

Answer: Make mobile phone app

Computer programming skills open up lots of money making opportunities for sims, although some of those couldn't be recommended as options for any human sim controllers looking to translate them into real-life ways of making money from home - making viruses and hacking to steal money would be generally considered both unethical and against the law! In addition to making viruses, plugins, mobile phone apps and hacking a range of servers (with the supercomputer being the most difficult and daring option), sims can also make and mod video games (although the mods just make your sims happier rather than earning any simoleons).

Making both mobile phone apps and video games provide sims with ongoing daily royalties - with mobile phone apps taking considerably less time to complete but generating a significantly lower level of income. Plugins and viruses earn one-off payments, while a successful hack results in your sim stealing a one-off amount of money.

Answer: Elements

Admittedly stretching the definition of "working from home" a bit, sims can earn quick cash by going round the various neighbourhoods and digging up rocks and piles of earth. These hide a range of different items, including crystals, fossils, metals and time capsules containing "MySims" trophies, as well as other random things such as upgrade parts, small household items, treasure maps and foul fish - all of which have a monetary value if sold. An extra "element" of the game is that crystals and metals can be submitted to the Geological Council to be separated into their component elements, which are then mailed back to their owner. While useful for sims who want to collect these elements, doing this is not a very good commercial decision as the elements are often worth less than the crystal or metal they came from and the Geological Council charge a fee for their services. As a result, any extra profit margins from elements are likely to be very small.

While out wandering the neighbourhoods in search of things to dig up, sims can also harvest the various plants they find along the way and make money by selling what they collect without having to go to all the effort of cultivating the plants themselves.

Answer: Whipped Dream Cupcake Factory

The Whipped Dream Cupcake Factory takes up quite a bit of space in your sim's kitchen (although there's no rule that stops you from locating it in another room, or even outdoors) and its industrial appearance certainly won't fit into a sleek, modern kitchen design. However, it does give a sim the chance to have fun while gaining cooking skill and earn an income from the results. The only issues are the purchase price of 1200 simoleons and that the cupcakes need to be of excellent quality for the local bakery to be prepared to buy them.

As sims gain cooking skill they expand their cupcake recipe repertoire, moving up from cheap basic "Classic Vanilla" at level 1 to much more valuable cakes named "The Baconing" at level 8. Personally though, I'm not sure about bacon-flavoured cupcakes...

Answer: True

Frogs are one of the collectable things that can be found around the neighbourhoods of 'The Sims 4'. Each one comes complete with a tank to sit in and there are a total of 25 different breeds, with some rarer examples being worth over 100 simoleons each. Once a sim has found at least two frogs by inspecting logs and water pumps or catching them with their bare hands from neighbourhood ponds, they can breed them to generate a regular supply of cash. Obviously, it is best to try and breed the rarer, more valuable specimens and for that a rudimentary understanding of sim frog genetics is a distinct benefit. Every frog belongs to one of five different types (leaf, dirt, eggplant, heart or sunflower) and can, but not necessarily, have one of four additional attributes (striped, spotted, surf or whirl). Rare frogs include the whirlyflower (sunflower and whirl combination), heartsurfer (heart and surf) and bullseye (heart and whirl). As frogs randomly inherit their type and potential attribute from either of their parents, breeding two rare frogs together is much more likely to produce another rare one.

The restriction on how much sims can earn from a frog-breeding enterprise comes from the fact that a sim can only breed frogs once every four hours or so - because apparently frog-breeding is tiring for the sims rather than the frogs!

Answer: Hillock II

Sims gain the ability to enter novice video game tournaments once their reach level 3 video gaming skill and can enter professional tournaments once they hit level 6. Cash prizes are paid out for finishing first, second or third, while sims finishing lower than that will gain a sad moodlet due to being labelled a "loser". Sims can increase their chances of winning or placing in tournaments by practicing the relevant game and being in a focused (or very focused) mood. Playing in video game tournaments does require some investment though as sims will need to purchase a computer or gaming rig to play on and pay tournament entry fees, which can considerably reduce profits from winning some of the lower skilled games.

Different games are unlocked as sims increase their video gaming skill level - Blicblock and Sims Forever are available to novices at level 1, MySims Go! unlocks at level 4 and Hillock II doesn't become available until sims maximise their skill at level 10.