I Present the Duggar Challenge

The Duggars are an American family that live in Arkansas and have 18 children. None of the children are fostered or adopted – nor are they a step-family. Jim Bob and Michelle have brought all 18 of these children into the world.

Jim Bob and Michelle worked hard when they were younger, made very wise choices and have always bought things with cash. They have no debt, nor have they ever required assistance from the state or Federal Aid for themselves or to raise their children.

What's even more amazing is that for many years and while the couple only had 14 children with one on the way – they lived in a relatively small house with only 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

See more on their story HERE

While many do not agree with the choices the Duggars have made, I do applaud them for raising happy, healthy, seemingly well-adjusted children.

On that note.......I present to you the Duggar Challenge.

*You will create a Sims couple (they do not have to be named Jim Bob and Michelle). You will move these Sims into a 3 x 3 lot. You can have any kind of house you want – but it has to be ONE level, have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a laundry/utility room, a pantry and 2 parking spaces. You can download an already built house or build your own. It doesn't matter HOW the house is configured as long as it has the above mentioned items AND fits on a 3 x 3 lot.

*Your Sims will need to work hard and save money.

*Your Sims will begin their adventure and start having children. Jim Bob and Michelle's children's names all start with the letter J - yours do not have to BUT they do have to all start with the same letter. The magic number is 14. Cheats can be used here to have 2 sets of twins (like the Duggars) or you can have them all one by one. A link will be posted later to a hack that allows you to control your Sims pregnancies in case you don't already have that hack. There will also be a link placed to a hack that allows for more Sims on your lot in case you don't have that one.

*Your Sims may NOT hire a maid or a nanny. Jim Bob and Michelle do not use them, so we will not either.

*Obviously cheats can be used with this challenge – but NOT the motherlode cheat. Your Sims must EARN their money. They can work, they can sell things, they can own their own business – but no money cheats may be used.

*The goal is to raise 14 happy, healthy, well-adjusted children with good grades.

*Start YOUR OWN thread in the Duggar Challenge to post updates of your Sims lives and progress.

*Good Luck, Have Fun - There is no due date on this challenge. It is for FUN.


---Listing of cheats you may need/want for this challenge:

Description of the Insimenator is HERE

The download is HERE - registration is required. The Insimenator allows you to control your Sims pregnancies.

AND this mod allows up to 50 family members @ Mod the Sims HERE - if you're not a member, you'll need to register.

I'm exhausted just thinking of a family with one quarter of the kids this fam has, let alone 18. Holy crap!
I can't get my mind wrapped around anyone wanting and/or having that many, but to each his own.

I'm printing the challenge guidelines out (thank goodness there aren't many, cause 14 freakin' kids is a challenge in itself for me, lol) and just may give this a try, Hunter.

Shall we each start a new thread for our Duggar Challenge?

Si Senorita!




I may actually take part in this too. The thought amuses me.

It'd be so much fun if we could participate in this challenge together, Hunter ... especially if some of the others here are up for it. In the past, group projects have been such a great way to all come together in a forum.

I don't know if there's a deadline to do and complete the Duggar Challenge, but I probably won't be able to do much of it (if at all) until after I return from vacation...perhaps early June.

Hey Sugah -

There's no expiration on this one. I think it can just remain in the challenges without anyone having to really compete. The competing part will be STICKING to the challenge and the rules. I don't know HOW I'll do this without nannies and maids!!!

I'm going to have to try this one when I get the chance.

It reminds me of our Passel of Moppets challenge, but with different rules. Our goal with that challenge was just to see how many kids we could get one couple to have. I just played through their natural adult life span and ended up with 9 kids and I think just 1 set of twins. I remember Sugah gave her sims the elixir of life and had a bunch more kids. How many did you end up with? Do you remember?

So all 14 kids still have to be living in the house at once (after the last one is born.)? I'm going to need the link to the hack that makes that possible.

I'm debating on which letter to choose. I wonder if I should make it easier or harder or just pick one at random. lol

Okay, good deal, Hunter. Thanks!

Em, I believe my Marylou and Moses Moppet had 14 kids total, but only 9 were born without using the Elixer of Life. I wrote about it here, on August 3, 2007. Geez! Does it seem THAT long ago to you that we did this challenge?
I enjoyed it, like so many other projects we've done together. It was fun, wasn't it, Emily?
It was the first time EVER in my Simming experience that I had twins ... and two sets, one right after the other, if you can believe that!

Another challenge I really enjoyed was The Starving Artist one. Ari did that one with me. It was my first experience with Romance Sims and I was totally lovin' it!

Hunter, I didn't realize that I was going to have to keep all 14 kids in the house, in which case I'd have to download a hack. I don't think I want to download anymore hacks than I already have (which is a very limited amount ... only the ones I can't live with).
Can I still participate, even though I will eventually move one kid out so another can be conceived?

Sugah -

I don't want anyone to download hacks that they're not comfortable with. I've also read this:

Try:

Open the cheat bar : Control Shift C

Type in: boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true

Then click on a sim while holding down the shift key...spawn, tombstone of L & D and a tombstone will pop up.

Click on it and there will be lots of options, you can keep adding people to your family of all ages from babys to elders.

Since this challenge is meant to be fun - you can absolutely do it that way.

The goal IS TO have 14 kids running around your house at the same time - but it simply WILL be a challenge enough to HAVE that many babies period.

For everyone - IF you want to download the hacks fine, if you want to try the cheat fine - but if you don't want to do either that is perfectly understood. Since I have Insimenator - I will use that.

I need to check out the Tombstone of L & D cheat, Hunter. Will look into that for sure!
If I can use that safely, and not worry about downloading another hack or it messing up my game, I will definitely give it a go! I DO realize the goal is to have 14 bambini in the abode at one time, so I will do my best to play it that way, if possible.
One of the things I am concerned about is on THIS puter, larger lots with lotsa Sim folks on it can often be a rather "slow play".
Anyone who knows me will tell you, I'd rather suck tongues with a baboon than have my game be tripped up ever!

Thank you for being laid back about the restrictions. That's normally the way we play our challenges ... we make a few changes that work for us, to insure we enjoy the experience as much as possible.

I am looking forward to it. If I can, I will at least get the couple created and their abode started BEFORE I leave on vacation later this week.
Like Em, I've been pondering WHICH letter I will start the fertile fam's names with. I'm thinking I might just go with M, like I did during the Moppet brood, as I still have them all written down.
They numbered 14, too, in the end!

Hopefully this will be fun for all who participate. I like the idea of challenges with no due dates and a more relaxed style of play.

I'm going to create my couple tomorrow I think and I'm toying with the letters M, L or C for the names of all the children. Should be fun.....a little crazy and most entertaining to read other's posts about the challenge.

If I get this other computer next month, I may join in.

As it stands now, I'm lucky I can handle four Sims on one lot. I lag something terrible. That's why I never go downtown.

I'll keep you posted.

We look forward to having you participate Ed!

I worry about the lagging too, but it sounds too interesting not to try. I'm going to start over though. I moved my couple out of their house and then back in and their bugginess seemed to go away, but these two are definitely not suited to have a ton of kids. They're way too into each other. As soon as I moved them back into the house. They dropped the baby on the lawn and went inside to woohoo on the couch (at least they were trying for baby number 2. lol) Then as I played them they would totally ignore their own needs and their infant son's, just to interact with each other. It just doesn't seem fair to tear them away from each other and make them care for kids instead, when they just don't seem interested. I'm going to try again sometime, hopefully with a couple that has lower chemistry and aren't so caught up in each other.

Good luck getting a new computer, Ed. I hope you can get one that will reduce lagging in your game. That will definitely make it more enjoyable.

That's hilarious Em.

Yes.....I do think you need to find some more paternal Sims. I think I'm going to get back to the Fuggars for a couple of hours now since I have the evening to myself.

Well, I'm not getting that computer. What happened was, the hard drive was fried in a power surge along with the DVD drive. So, in return, she gave me access to her digital download of the Sims 3.

I'm going to try it out and see what it looks like. When I went to that "Can You Run It" website, the thing that did me in was, memory. But, I was reading a post over at INSIM that this girl had the same amount as me and she was playing it. So, we shall see. If I can run it, I'll post pictures.