The Sims 1 Deaths Guide: How To (And Not To) Lose Your Sims

Let's take a look at The Sims 1 deaths and how to avoid them or cause them.

Deepest sympathy! Though the body is gone, the spirit will always remain. That is the thing the game says when a Sim dies. But how can a Sim die? Or let's ask an even wider question: how can you lose a Sim permanently?

Let's take a look at how Sims can die and what happens afterwards. In addition, we'll look other ways Sims can be lost through gameplay.

Death by Starvation

The real challenge is keeping the needs up. Otherwise your Sims will wet themselves, fall asleep on the floor, be grumpy, and die.

Hunger need is one of 8 needs you'll have to keep an eye on. It can be raised by simply having your Sim eat something, even if it's a snack or some pizza ordered through a phone. Sims with higher Cooking skill prepare better meals, filling up more Hunger need. Pets need a food bowl filled for them.

If Sim or pet's Hunger need decays completely, your Sim or pet won't die immediately. However, finding something to eat should be an immediate priority, as when it stays so for some hours, the Sim or pet dies by Starvation if they're on a Residential lot. Even children can die by starvation. At this point, your only hope is pleading with the Grim Reaper.

Prevention:

While preventing this death is easy (simply eat something), do remember that having other needs low will make it harder to keep the Hunger need up. To have a happy Sim that able to live their life and climb the career ladder, a strict routine to keep the needs up is a must.
If things get too overwhelming, save the game (or the Sim loses progress), enter move_objects on cheat, delete your Sim in Buy/Build Mode, and after returning to Live Mode, click on your Sim's portrait to have them reappear with their needs full.

How To Cause It Easily:

Remove the fridge (unnecessary if you have no money), lock the Sim into a room, or block your Sim in a bed with an object so they'll be unable to leave. After that, simply wait. It'll take a lot of time.
Note. If you're blocking the bed, remove the object when you feel like they've had enough time. Otherwise they can't die.

Death by Drowning

Pools are fun! Until the Energy need is low.

Sims that swim in a pool for too long have a risk to die. The chance will increase drastically if their Energy need is low enough. If you see your Sim's Energy need low, it's best to have them exit the pool by using a pool ladder... if there is one... If you take the Sim out of the pool with move_objects on cheat, they'll still be considered to be swimming and can drown.

If Sim's Energy need is too low, they'll drown in the pools if on a Residential lot. You'll hear the Sim snoring for a moment until they'll float on the water as a corpse. The Grim Reaper will usually not come. However, if you move the Sim out of the pool before they disappear with move_objects on cheat, the Grim Reaper will arrive for a chance to plead with him.

Prevention:

If your Sim is swimming on their home lot, keep an eye on their Energy need. If it is getting low, get them out of the water. If not, it's all fun and Body skill then!
Sims cannot drown when swimming in a pool on a Community lot.

How To Cause It Easily:

Once a Sim is swimming in a pool, remove the pool ladder, and just wait. If you only include a diving board or water slide, Sims will refuse to enter it, so get a pool ladder first.

Death by Fire

Fire turns everything into ash... Except for urns and gravestones.

Fire can break out on Residential lots due to various reasons, be it cooking with low Cooking skill, having objects too close to a fireplace or having an oxygen bar in the same room as one, using rocket sets indoors, failed genie Fire or Leisure wishes, having a bored dragon, and charm backfires. A fire breaking out is announced with a stressful music and picture-in-picture of the event.

During fire, Sims will run near it and panic while it spreads. Sims can be told to extinguish it or call firefighters. If there's a smoke detector in the same room, a firefighter will automatically come to put it out. If a fire spreads on a Sim or a pet, they'll begin burning until they die. Extinguishing the fire won't save the burning Sim/pet from death, so your only hope will be pleading with the Grim Reaper.

Prevention:

Knowing what can cause fire really comes in handy here. Avoid rocket sets, Fire and Leisure wishes, and certain charms if the failure condition is met. Do not put oxygen bar in the same room as a fireplace. And never put objects too close to a fireplace, especially rugs. Put smoke detectors in rooms where fire can break out.
Do remember that cooking will not increase Sim's Cooking skill. Before using a grill or a stove, have your Sim study a few Cooking skill points from a bookcase. If not possible at the time, consider ordering a pizza.

How To Cause It Easily:

Lock a Sim in a room, fill it with rugs that will help to spread the fire, light the fireplace, and that's it. Or just have a newly created Sim cook something with a stove/grill. Sims with no Cooking skill almost always start a fire from it.

Death by Electrocution

Objects can break, giving your Sims three options: replacing them through Buy Mode, hiring a repairman, or trying to repair it themselves.

However, repairing electronic objects can get dangerous. The lower Sim's Mechanical skill is, the higher the chance is for them to get electrocuted. The chance is never zero, so even the master Mechanics have that risk. If the Sim is standing on a water puddle, they will always get electrocuted.

Sims that get electrocuted never survive it. It'll take some time, with the sound of your Sim screaming and their skeleton visible, but it all ends with death. Should this happen, your only hope is to plead with the Grim Reaper.

Prevention:

If an electronic object breaks, hire a repairman or replace it. Dishwashers will be especially dangerous as they cause a flood in the room. Mop all the puddles up first if you decide to have your Sim repair it.
Do remember that repairing broken objects will not increase Sim's Mechanical skill. To raise the skill, have your Sim study it from a bookcase.

How To Cause It Easily:

If you want some broken objects now, consider getting some The "Concoctanation Station" chemistry sets. While the potion they make is random, if they make a purple potion, have your Sim drink it. This will turn them into a monster for some time which will go around breaking the objects. Get a puddle in front of an electronic object for a guaranteed death. Broken dishwashers are incredibly efficient at that.

Death by an Unknown Illness

Also known as Guinea pig disease, brought back to The Sims 4 as Rabid Rodent Fever, this is the very first illness in The Sims series. And would you guess it, it came from the very first Expansion Pack: Livin' Large (or Livin' It Up outside US).

You can buy your very own Guinea Pig cage from the Buy Mode. Sims can feed it, play with it, and keep the cage clean. Now keeping the cage clean is very important as should a guinea pig from a dirty cage bite your Sim, they'll become sick. Sims will have a fever and cough and sneeze, bringing down their Comfort and Energy needs. This disease can easily spread to other family members, putting them in danger too.

Sims can be cured by either having them loot at the Forgotten Guinea Pig painting or drinking a white potion from the chemistry set (which can be made by the Sim with this disease). If you keep Comfort and Energy needs high, they can recover on their own. The sickness will stay at home though, so going to a Community lot will have your Sim be healthy until they return home again.

However, you'll have 24 hours to get your Sim cured. If they get bitten by a guinea pig from a dirty again, they will have less time to find a cure. If not cured, the infected Sim will die. If a Sim successfully pleads to Grim Reaper and revives them, they'll immediately die again. So in short, their fate is sealed once the time is up.

Prevention:

Keep the cage clean. Should your Sim get sick, buy Forgotten Guinea Pig painting and have your Sim view it. In addition, you can also have your Sim use a chemistry set to hopefully make a white potion. Do it as soon as your Sim gets the disease, as should your Sim die by that, they will simply die again if resurrected by the Grim Reaper.

How To Cause It Easily:

Feed the guinea pig over and over again to make the cage dirtier faster (4 times should be enough). Afterwards, play with the animal to have it bite your Sim. Have your Sim get bitten over and over again to cause a faster death.

Death by Skydiving Simulator

It's all fun, games, and Body skill until the exit is blocked.

Galileo's Free-for-All is a skydiving simulator originating from Superstar. It can be bought on your home lot from Buy Mode for §16,999. Sims can use it for fun and to gain Body skill. However, once Sim's mood is low, they will stop using it and will refuse if told to use by the player.

In normal circumstances, this death won't happen 99% of the time. However, the game does not block players from placing objects in front of the door (unlike with the aquatic playhouse), even when a Sim is in there. If an object is blocking the door, Sims using it won't be able to exit it. And once their Energy need is completely depleted, the machine will just eject the Sim high up in the sky, killing them without causing the Grim Reaper to visit.

Prevention:

Don't worry, it will not be threat if you don't block the door.

How To Cause It Easily:

If your Sim is in there, block the door before they get out!

Death by Being Eaten as a Toad

Most of the Sims' first spell is Toadification. But most of the time, the victim will go on about their life as a Sim afterwards.

In Makin' Magic, Toadification is a spell obtained through a Wand Charger when mixing together 1x Butter, 1x Toadstools, and 1x Toad Sweat. When your Sims first move in, the Mystery Man will visit your Sim to give them a MagiCo Magical Starter Kit, including some objects to get started with spellcasting and ingredients for a Toadification spell. When cast, it'll turn the target into a toad for some time. If the target also has a wand, the caster will be turned into one instead. Afterwards, the toad will turn back into a human Sim.

Now let's say your Sim has a dragon, hatched from an egg bought from Magic Town for 49 MagiCoins. Dragons eat spoiled food, trash, pet food, flowers, and toads. And if that toad eaten by the hungry dragon happens to be a Sim turned into one, then they will die without Grim Reaper's visit.

Prevention:

Let's be honest: who needs dragons anyway? If they don't eat toads, they can set things on fire. If you really insist on one, interact with the egg at least 14 times before it hatches to get a Purple Dragon. Purple Dragons are the friendliest and will rarely cause a fire. You can also get some tulips for the dragon to eat.

How To Cause It Easily:

If you have a dragon, it's the perfect time to use the Toadification spell on non-magical Sims. If you cast it on a magical Sim (any Sim with a wand), your Sim gets turned into a toad instead! And dragons won't differentiate between toads of the strangers and toads of the family!

Revival

Most of the deaths will cause the Grim Reaper to visit (if Livin' Large Expansion Pack is installed), who will take a while to reap the Sim/pet. During this time, other Sims nearby can plead with him to try to revive the dead Sim/pet. When a Sim does it, the following things can happen:

If Livin' Large is not installed or the Sim dies in a way that doesn't summon the Grim Reaper, the dead Sim will immediately turn into a gravestone.

Once the Grim Reaper has finished his job and the only a gravestone remains of the deceased Sim, it's too late at this point. There are no ways to resurrect Sims after that.

Aftermath

After a Sim or pet dies, they'll leave behind a gravestone outdoors and an urn indoors. Moving an urn outdoors will turn it into a gravestone and vice versa. Usually when a Sim dies, they randomly get one of three gravestones. Pets get their own urns and gravestones (with the latter's appearance depending on the pet's species). Sims in the Fame career (those with at least two and a half stars) also get their own urns and gravestones (as long they die by a cause that summons the Grim Reaper, including drowning).

Type	Regular	Pets	Celebrity
Name	Urn/Tombstone	Another Tomorrow Pet Preservation	The Mark of Fame Memorial
Gravestone
Urn

Gravestones can be sold or put somewhere on the lot. Sims can mourn the dead and will tend to do so often, especially if the Sim died recently.

At 12:00 am, there's a chance that the ghost of the Sim will haunt the lot until daybreak. They are always green and see-through, and will walk around the lot (on the same floor the gravestone is on), making spooky noises, walking through walls, lowering Sims' Room need, and waking Sims up if in the same room. Sometimes they decide to scare nearby Sims, decreasing their needs. Ghost pets can still be pet.

Magical Sims can make Shed Your Skin charm (2x Beeswax, 1x Sands of Time). Casting it at nighttime will temporarily turn your Sim into a ghost (at daytime it'll summon snakes). Magic Nectar (2x Grapes, 1x Toad Sweat) will have a same effect but also works during the daytime. When a Sim is a temporary ghost, they can walk through walls and objects and can even talk to the ghosts currently haunting the lot.

Other Ways To Lose Sims

Death is but one of the ways to lose a Sim permanently. These following methods leave no ghosts behind and essentially delete the Sim from the neighborhood, with the game implying that they're alive somewhere else. Though how to drive a Sim away depends on their life stage.

If your Sims have a baby, it is important to take care of them. If left crying for some time, you'll get a warning only once. Babies that cry for too long will be taken away by Sylvia the Social Worker. To avoid it, keep an eye on the baby as it'll cry every 6 hours. If both parents have a job, consider having them take turns missing the carpool. After 3 days, a baby will grow up to childhood.

Once a Sim is a Child, the social services will no longer threaten to take them away. This allows children to live alone without adults and die by Starvation. However, they now have to go to school to keep their grades up. The grade is very important. Letting it fall to F will have them sent to the Military School. If you wish to not lose a child, have them go to school every day. If they miss a day, use a computer, bookcase, or a telescope to raise their grade. Do not let it fall to F.
Children will never become an adult unless they use Age of Instant Charm (low grade or Hunger may cause them to become a baby again), so this threat will never go away.

Military School pose no problems for adults anymore. For them, establishing a career and their place in the neighborhood is important. Try not to make enemies, as when Sims hate each other and are in bad mood, they might start fighting. Sims with higher Body skill is more likely to win fights, but if your Sim loses a fight, they might to leave the neighborhood permanently. The higher the Body skill difference, the more likely is the adult Sim to leave for good. Sometimes even announcing they're leaving and holding a bindle (red sack tied on a stick) if they have resided in the house long enough or moved in through gameplay.

Pets however follow different rules. Kittens and puppies will be taken away by animal control if the mother isn't cared for, and when they grow up, you can choose to sell them. Adult pets can run away if left neglected (mood too low due to many low needs), causing them to become a stray pet and have reduced relationships with the previous owners. Stray pets can be found hanging out near home lots (unless there is a The Stray Away Pet Prevention System sign on the lot) can can be adopted by other households.

When a Sim/pet is banished, they will leave the lot by walking away. While you can still access Buy/Build Mode and try to block them, this will cause them to instantly teleport away. The only way to recover these Sims are by exiting without saving. Pets, however, can be adopted by any family like any other stray pet.

Conclusion

While compared to the next games The Sims 1 doesn't have a lot of deaths, the base game deaths have become a staple in The Sims series, appearing in every game. Still, as keeping up the needs in The Sims 1 can be really difficult, it should be kept in mind what can cause deaths or a Sim to permanently go away. Sims can only die at home though, so sending them to a Community lot is a strategy though (especially to Vacation Island).

And that's all! What do you think about The Sims 1 deaths? Or have a chaotic story to share about it? Feel free to comment those below! Also check out deaths in The Sims 2!