Plumbob

The Plumbob is used in most titles of The Sims series (including the MySims series) to identify the character selected and to which the player can give commands. It is also used to show the mood of playable Sims. The PlumbBob has become an important symbol to the franchise, and it is widely recognized by players around the world as one of the game's identities. Several game covers, logos, and special products feature PlumbBobs in their designs.

Geometric Information
The PlumbBob is displayed as a hexagonal bipyramid, making it a dodecahedron, it has 12 iscosceles triangles, 18 edges, and 8 vertices.

The Sims
In The Sims, the Plumbob is a fairly accurate reflection of the Sim's mood. If the Sim is in a very good mood, the Plumbob will be a bright, deep green. As the Sim's mood gets lower, the green will become paler until it becomes a sort of neutral color. A Sim in a bad mood will have a red Plumbob, and the red will get brighter and deeper as the Sim's mood gets worse.

If the Sim has a date in Downtown or Old Town, or on Vacation Island, the date will have a small blue Plumbob, which will reflect their mood. The deeper the blue, the better their mood. (Some of the clips in the intro movie for The Sims show a larger Plumbob that is shaped differently from the one that appeared in the game.)

The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories
In The Sims 2, the Plumbob is white if the Sim is in platinum aspiration, which produces a very high mood regardless of the Sim's motives. Otherwise, it is bright green if the Sim's mood is high, and orange or bright red if it is low. If the Sim's mood is somewhere in between, it will be a shade of green-yellow reflecting the approximate level.

Perma-platinum can be achieved through completing the Sim's Lifetime Want if the player has The Sims 2: University through The Sims 2: Bon Voyage, however if the player has The Sims 2: FreeTime perma-platinum can be reached through completing the life achievement bar.

Also in The Sims 2, Sims who belong to the same active group as the selected Sim will have a smaller PlumbBob over their head. This Plumbob is blue, irrespective of mood.

In the Nightlife expansion pack, if your sim is on a date with another sim the other sim's Plumbob will be blue.

Note

 * If using the cheat plumbobtoggle, the Plumbob can be removed. This is often done when players are making movies/videos.

The Sims 3
In The Sims 3 with The Sims 3 World Adventures the Plumbob is green if everything's right, yellow if the Sim isn't good and red if the Sim is in bad humour and has bad moodlet or low needs. There is a new meaning of the yellow colour introduced by World Adventures. It is the subject of speculation, some think it means the Sim is in an "adventurous" mood, but most think that it is just the mood between green and red, as in The Sims 2.

The Sim icon background also change color depending on the mood. The colors are green (Good Mood), Yellow (Not very good) and red (Bad Mood).

The Sims 3: Pets (Console)
In The Sims 3: Pets (Console), If you are in debt with your karma, these words will appear on the screen: The Almighty Plumbob is deciding your fate.

If Plumbob is in a bad mood he will give you the following symptoms:
 * Cronic Flatulance
 * Projectile Vomiting
 * Random Grouchiness
 * Dogs Will Eat Your Vomit
 * You Will Smell Bad and showering won't help!

If Plumbob is in a good mood, you will be spared.

Controlling device
In the The Sims 2 for PlayStation Portable storyline, (events which occur after The Sims 2) the player's Sim will encounter Dr. Dominic Newlow aka Dr. Dominion (the antagonist) who created a device that can create the "Green Diamond" to control other people including the player's Sim. The ending of the game breaks the fourth wall, as he reveals that the "Green Diamond" is a mind control device used by an "Outside Force" (player).

During normal gameplay other than the storyline, there doesn't seem to be any Plumbob at the top of the playing Sim, but it is still controlled by the player. It seems that the player controls the sims using the Plumbob (selected sims will have a Plumbob over their heads and become controllable) which became the game mechanics until the revelation of an outside force at the end.

When the game ends, the character talks to Isaac Rossum about the "Green Diamond", but they end up agreeing that all these things about the "Outside Force" can't be true and that mad scientists can cause peoples' brains to blow up.