The Sims Spark’d Episode 1 Recap: Team Gnome Crushes Competition In Two Challenges

7.0
  • OS X
  • Windows
  • Simulator
2014-09-02
A strong start.
A strong start. Electronic Arts

The first episode of The Sims Spark’d was off to a good start as Team Gnome managed to crush the competition and win the first two challenges. However, it also meant the some of the players had to go home as the second challenge was an elimination one. So how exactly did it go for everyone?

If you’re new to this competition, we suggest you read our first coverage of that here. Hopefully that’s going to give you a short background on what The Sims Spark’d is all about.

You can watch the first episode below or just read our recap.

Introductions & Team Selections

The competition based around The Sims 4 has 12 players divided into three types:

  • Stylist
    • These are players that center around CAS mode along with Sims creation, fashion, and styling.
    • The players are:
      • Little Siha
      • Plumbella
      • xMiraMira
      • xUrbanSimx
  • Builders
    • These are players that center on Build mode and lot creation.
    • The players are:
      • Doctor Ashley
      • SimLicy
      • Simproved
      • SpringSims
  • Storytellers
    • These are players the center on Live Mode and bring the stories of the Sims to life.
    • The players are:
      • DeeSims
      • DrGluon
      • StephOsims
      • The English Simmer

The competition is hosted by Rayvon Owen and the judges are:

  • Kelsey Impicciche
    • YouTuber, streamer, actress, and producer at Buzzfeed Multiplayer.
  • David Miotke
    • Producer at Electronic Arts and a videogame developer for almost 15 years.
  • Tayla Parx
    • 2019 GRAMMY Award nominee and does voiceovers for the game.

While The Sims 4 is usually played solo, everyone was in for a surprise as Rayvon announced that they would be divided randomly into teams that were then going to compete in the challenges. Each team had a stylist, builder, and storyteller. The teams were:

  • Cowplant
    • Little Siha
    • Doctor Ashley
    • StephOsims
  • Freezer Bunny
    • xUrbanSimsx
    • SpringSims
    • DeeSims
  • Gnome
    • Plumbella
    • Simproved
    • The English Simmer
  • Llama
    • xMiraMira
    • SimLicy
    • DrGloun

It Gets a Little Dark

For the Skills Challenge, teams were shown to two tables in a room that was filled with items. Each team member had to pick one item and the three items then served as the inspiration for their creations. Teams were then given 90 minutes to finish the challenge with the winning team getting an advantage in the Elimination Challenge.

The first team to present was Cowplant, whose three items were a radio, a mirror, and a bed. Their story focused on a former pageant queen and now self-tanning mom Karen Christie that now lives vicariously through her rather rebellious daughter. The build focused on an ornate trailer park.

Next was Llama, who chose the guitar, fishing pole, and bubbles. The characters created by Llama were a poor fisherman father whose young daughter loves music. Making their life difficult is Mrs. Crumplebum, the landlord of their somewhat tattered fishing shack.

Third was Freezer Bunny, whose objects were the microphone, camera, and books. Their story focused on Natasha, who actually has an alter ego named Tash. This music genius is being pressured by her parents to focus more on her studies. The build offers four sets, which included her room and a music studio.

Finally, it was Gnome who surprised everyone with a rather dark turn. Their three objects were an urn, a cherry blossom, and a voodoo doll. The story Gnome created was about a widowed woman who, while mourning his husband, uses a voodoo doll to terrorize the town. The build puts focus on a Victorian mansion with a giant cherry tree and the mansion itself having a cobweb-filled room with a crib in it.

A creepy tale.
A creepy tale. The Sims Spark'd YouTube

The judges had a choice between Cowplant or Gnome and eventually went for Gnome with Judge Tayla herself praising the way Gnome managed to incorporate the voodoo dolls.

Simply Being Nice

In the Elimination Challenge, the teams had to create a new family of four Sims with a home in the Willow Creek neighborhood. There also needed to be a backstory that explained their relationship with each other. Each team was also going to work with an editor to create a short video presentation. Teams were given five hours to complete everything.

There were two things going for this challenge. A team was going to be eliminated, meaning three players were going to go home. Additionally, the winning team got to have their family featured in The Sims 4 for all players to experience.

As the challenge reached the one-hour mark, host Rayvon announced that teams needed to incorporate a rival family into their storylines that hailed from a different neighborhood. Since Gnome won the Skills Challenge, they got to choose from what neighborhood their rivalry family came from. Not only that, they also got to choose for the other teams.

Gnome selected San Myshuno for their own. Gnome surprised everyone as well as they made the decision to give towns that would help the other teams. Freezer Bunny had Brindleton Bay, Cowplant had Del Sol Valley, and Llama got Windenburg.

So how did the teams fare?

Cowplant went for a town with secrets and it appears someone was putting those secrets out in the open. Think Gossip Girl and you pretty much have an idea what they wanted to do. Llama, meanwhile, went for a family versus family story, but with an interesting ending. Gnome, for its part, focused on a conventional family with an unconventional twist. Finally, Freezer Bunny’s turn had what appeared to be a good story, but it looked as if they weren’t able to finish the video.

Presenting their neighborhood to the judges.
Presenting their neighborhood to the judges. The Sims Spark'd YouTube

Eventually the choice was between Gnome and Cowplant with the judges choosing Gnome, giving them the first two victories. For the elimination, it was a choice between Llama and Freezer Bunny. In the end it was Freezer Bunny that got the ax with xUrbanSimsx, SpringSims, and DeeSims being eliminated.

Episode Highlights

Watching the episode, you get the idea that Team Gnome is likely the team to beat. During the Skills Challenge, for example, Gnome's The English Simmer stated that she wanted to use voodoo dolls as she can weave it into her story. That pretty much tells you how fast she already was into the challenge.

The second time Gnome flexed its skills was in the Elimination Challenge. Given a chance to select the neighborhood of their competition, most teams would probably choose to give opponents a hard one. In fact, this appeared to be what many were thinking. To the surprise of everyone, Gnome gave their opponents neighborhoods that would help them. We say this is a flex because for one, Gnome knew they could have easily integrated this additional challenge. Second is that they were looking at what their opponents were doing and knew what they were up against.

The question now is if the same teams are going to be used in the next episode, will it still be Gnome that comes out ahead? What about you? What did you think of the competition so far?

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