Chess

Chess has been in the Sims universe from The Sims, through The Sims 2 and into The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. It also makes an appearance in The Sims Medieval.

It's one of the easiest ways for Sims to increase their Logic skill. It also provides Fun, and since two Sims can play, it can fulfill Social needs as well. Children can play, and in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, will gain Logic skill by playing. In The Sims 2: FreeTime, playing chess builds enthusiasm for the Games hobby.

Two Sims playing chess will play a game. If allowed to run its course, it will end when one of them wins. In The Sims 2, mean Sims may attempt to cheat by distracting the other player. If caught, the other player's relationship with the mean Sim will drop. In The Sims 2, chess is popular among Knowledge Sims. Chess tables are also available at most parks in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. In The Sims: Hot Date, some Downtown lots have chess tables.

In The Sims 3, a Sim can play a game of chess with the Grim Reaper to save another Sim's life.

In The Sims 3 the chess skill is a hidden skill. Practicing chess on a chess table will give chess skill as will playing chess on a computer. Chess skill is gained about 15% faster than logic skill when using the chess table, therefore the maximum chess skill level of 10 is obtained when about 8.5 logic skill has been gained from the chess table, if the chess table is the only logic gaining object that the Sim has used. It takes about 100 hours to obtain level 10 chess skill.

In The Sims 3, to attain Grand Master in the logic skill challenges, the Sim needs to reach Rank 5 in the chess circuit. To do this the Sim needs to beat 15 Chess Opponents. It is always 15 whether the Sim has a chess skill of 2 or 10 at the beginning. Playing against opponents increases chess skill. Rank 1 in the chess circuit is attained after beating 2 Chess Opponents, Rank 2 after beating a further 2 Chess Opponents, Rank 3 after beating a further 4 Chess Opponents, Rank 4 after beating a further 4 Chess Opponents, and Rank 5 (the highest rank) after beating a further 3 Chess Opponents. Sometimes the Sim will be defeated once or twice by the opponent before eventually beating them.

In The Sims 4, Sims can "ponder moves", at a chessboard in order to quickly gain the Focused emotion. Sims may also gain the Focused emotion during a chess game, especially with higher logic skill, and are more likely to win a chess game while Focused. Some aspirations require playing games of chess. Sims seem a lot more likely to cheat at chess in The Sims 4 than in The Sims 2 as most Sims will seemingly cheat.