The Rules

This challenge that I am documenting is called an ISBI, aka I'm Surrounded By Idiots. The rules that follow are direct copy/paste from other sources, which I will link to accordingly.

While Lynnwood is not the original creator of this challenge, she sums up the rules beautifully. Everything that follows is copy/paste from her ISBI forum thread (any existing links are ones I've added for reference).

Getting Started :

Create a YA sim, give them whatever looks, traits and aspiration you’d like. (Some like to play with the Insane trait rule, I do not. If you do, then one of the traits given to your founding Torch Holder MUST be insane). They can be 'human' sims or aliens, your choice.

You will be playing on NORMAL lifespan.

Move your TH onto a lot. There is no restriction on which lot that can be. Build them a house, import a house from the gallery or let them live on the lawn for a while – whichever play-style you prefer is fine. This should be done with the standard 20,000 starting simoleons. Whatever you have left after purchasing property and house, that's your starting funds. If at any time you move in a single sim that brings an extra 20,000 simoleons into the household, it is PREFERRED that you use the money cheat to delete that (because it's kind've cheaty for the 100,000 simoleons point gain, but I'm not going to enforce that one strictly).

Find a spouse/baby-maker (human or alien). This can be anyone your sim can manage to woo; townies, premades, even sims you've placed into the neighborhood yourself just for this purpose. They must be asked to move in or married IN-GAME however, not placed into the household via Manage Households. Other than that, everybody's free game.

Once you've acquired your mate, have some kiddos. Adoption is fine, but they must be adopted as infants. Adopted children can be considered for the next Torch Holder. I do this for sims and/or simmers who'd like to have same-sex couples.

Once you receive the notification that it is the sim's birthday, you are then allowed to age them up via birthday cake (see Free Actions below).

Now let them live their lives and try your best not to reach through the computer screen and strangle them as they commence to peeing themselves/passing out all over the place.

The Goal :

The ultimate goal is to survive 10 generations of sims while only controlling one sim at a time, and keeping score throughout.

Each Torch-Holder must have at least two children. You don’t HAVE to get married, but doing so increases the chance for more points (and more failures). If playing with the Insane trait rule than each child MUST be given the Insane trait at some point. Otherwise all traits and aspirations should be randomized. Pinstar’s Legacy website or Platinum Simmers has a great randomizer for doing so.

Throughout the challenge, only ONE sim may be controlled by you, and that’s your current Torch Holder. All other sims must live on complete autonomy, to live (or fail) as they will. Obviously this means that sim autonomy should be turned on in your game settings at all times. When the child you’ve chosen as heir reaches YA, the ‘torch’ is passed to them and they become your controllable sim. Your former TH enters the land of autonomy and you are never allowed to control them again. There are some Free Action exceptions to this rule, see below for details.

Once a child reaches YA and they are not your heir, they must be moved out of the household. You can add them to the neighborhood or delete them, up to you.


The following is an updated scorecard, modified for changes in TS4 as opposed to its predecessors.

Self Wetting : -5
Pass Out : -5
Failing School : -5
Accidental Deaths : -10
Social Worker Visit : -15

Single Birth : +5
Twins : +10
Triplets : +15
Any sim in the household completing Any Aspiration Milestones (Child and Adult): +5
Any sim in the household completing Aspirations : +10
Skills maxed by NTH family members : +10
NTH children earning an A in school : +5
NTH sims reaching the top of a career : +10
Randomizing every trait and aspiration for an entire generation : +10
Not using spares' Satisfaction Reward points for an entire generation : +10
Every 100,000 simoleons earned* : +20
Immortalizing the Torch-Holder : +5 [This can be done in a number of ways. Write a biography (writing skill level 10), paint a painting from reference of the sim at 8+ painting skill, or take a picture with a 5+ photography skill in the Torch-Holder's honor. Done to remember your THs on through the generations. ].


*You can calculate total simoleons earned in 2 different ways. 1 - go to build mode, click on the info box and add the lot's total value to the family's simoleons on hand. OR 2 - go to your achievements and check the Rosebud achievement, which tracks how many simoleons have been earned over-all in that save file.


Free Actions

Every sim in the household has one free action per age category. (PLEASE NOTE : this is an EXTRA free action that can be ANYTHING in the game. This does not mean you can only use one of the following free actions per age-category. The actions listed below are ALWAYS allowed to be done whenever and however many times you need to).

You may choose "Go to Sleep" on every sim ONCE to assign specific beds to specific sims. This can only be done once. After that, they're on their own.

You may choose to quit job/retire for any sim you don't want working, and are allowed to assign sims to specific careers as needed.

You may choose to "Change Into..." out of sleepwear, (because I get tired of seeing them in their underwear/PJs ALL DAY).

You may change tones while at work/school as needed. Whether or not they actually attend or leave early is up to the sims themselves.

You may choose to take vacation days or family leave for NTHs via the phone.

When you get the notification for infants that it's their birthday, you are then allowed to select the bassinet (with your Torch Holder) to age them up. Also when all other sims' age bars reach 0, you are allowed to click on a birthday cake to age them up. Baking the actual cake and adding candles is up to your TH however.

You may choose to take a Pregnancy Test with NTH female spouses to determine if there is a pregnancy. This CAN be discovered without the test with time, but I can see how the wait would be a little annoying since there are no chimes anymore to tell you yay or nay.

Once a NTH spouse goes into labor, you are allowed to click on a bassinet to give birth or choose to go to the hospital to do so, whichever you prefer.

You are allowed to purchase and drink ONE youth elixir per sim, per lifetime.


Alternate Rules

The original challenge states that your original Torch-Holder and all descendants MUST have the insane trait. If you’d like to use this rule, feel free. I personally don’t like it, so I don’t include it in mine.