The Sims 4 Bowling Night Stuff was announced just days ago and is releasing on March 29, 2017 worldwide! As the title suggests, this stuff pack is themed around the activity of taking your Sims bowling, presumably at night, but I’m sure it’s OK if they go in the mid-afternoon too. This pack boasts a variety of new Create A Sim items, Build/Buy objects, and of course the new bowling gameplay.

Let’s take a deeper look at this stuff pack to see what it has and whether it’s worth your money. If you prefer videos, you can also check our exclusive video overview.

Create A Sim Boasts Nice Hairstyles and Average Attire

Create A Sim boasts a balanced amount of items in this stuff pack, and immediately that is nice to see as sometimes in the past The Sims team have gone too crazy with CAS items and have been too relaxed with the number of objects. As this pack focuses around bowling, it’s clear the focus was around build/buy content, although there are some impressive items here.

For feminine Sims, there are two new hairstyles as well as a variety of new tops, trousers, outfit, and a pair of shoes. I love the new hairstyles and think they’re some of the best feminine styles in-game! For masculine Sims, there’s another great hairstyle which again is one of my new favourites in-game as well as similar items such as bowling tops, and a good pair of ripped jeans.

There are no new items for children or toddlers in this stuff pack, so the only new items will only work with teens, adults, and elders. There are also no new accessories, hats, or other various things to glam your Sims up ready for their big bowling match. While the hairstyles are nice, and I like the ripped jeans, the majority of things in Create a Sim are not necessities or anything too special.

Decent Additions to the Buy/Build Catalogues

This is where things start to get interesting as there’s a nice variety of different objects in this stuff pack. Funnily enough, because of how colourful these are, it reminds me a lot of The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff.

The objects included range from new chairs, tables, decorative items, and of course bowling essentials such as bowling ball stands, and the bowling alley (more on this later).

You can see from the image above that a lot of the items are focused around the theme of bowling, as you’d expect, with displays showcasing memorabilia, wall decorations, and more. These are perfect for building your own bowling lot for your Sims! One item I particularly like is the new bar which is modern and has some nice recolours too. Another thing to mention is that there are a few new items in build mode, such as the (PRE)Fab wall slab wallpaper, which is nice to see.

The stuff pack team have focused around objects this time, and I am always very cautious of this after the release of Cool Kitchen Stuff which went too far in the opposite direction focusing on clothing. But that’s an entirely different topic. Overall, the new build/buy items clearly fit the theme of this stuff pack and I like most of them. You can probably use about half of these items in any build, whereas the others are probably best left for bowling-specific lots.

Stylised Rooms Pop With Colour

You all know how much I love stylised rooms in The Sims 4, as I frequently say how this is one of my favourite features in build mode! Seriously, how did we survive 14 years without them?!

The Sims 4 Bowling Night Stuff introduces 2 new stylised rooms – one which is more of a hangout that utilises new objects from this pack, and the other is a room dedicated to bowling. They’re both very colourful, and all recolours of the room are very nice too. If you’re looking to quickly add bowling lanes to a lot then you can do this, or at least get inspiration on how you can use the objects from this pack.

I think these rooms explain why I get Family Fun Stuff vibes from this pack – so much colour! Although, they are relatively basic rooms – it would have been nice to see a bigger stylised room for bowling so that it’s even quicker to get started with it.

Quickly Get Started with the Bowling Alley

A nice addition to this is a new bowling alley lot within “My Library” in the gallery. It’s important to note that you can add a bowling lane to any lot within the game and Sims will come there to play bowling, as well as other activities. There isn’t a new lot type for bowling as SimGuru’s noted on Twitter that they understand space in worlds is an issue for some players, so this removes the need to have a bowling lot type to take advantage of it.

The new bowling alley is perfect for Oasis Springs and is a nice, quick, and easy way to get started with what this pack has to offer! Simply pop it into an empty lot within one of the worlds and send your Sims to visit – perhaps you could even turn it into a business with Get to Work?

You can see from the images in the slideshow above that this is a great place for your Sims to hangout and take advantage of the new bowling gameplay. I also feel like this venue may be perfect if you have the Get Together expansion pack so that you can have a hangout dedicated to your bowling fanatics! I’m happy to see a new lot come with the stuff pack, although I don’t feel like this is an obvious addition – perhaps we could get prompts to place it like we do with the Day Spa?

New Bowling Gameplay Requires Skill

I’m glad to see bowling finally return to The Sims 4, as it’s a great activity for your Sims to do to socialise with others. Although, I can’t help but point out how this seems like it’d have been a perfect fit for the City Living expansion pack, and it was absent from this. I’m not suggesting this was kept out for a stuff pack, but rather questioning whether we needed a stuff pack dedicated to it. But that’s diverting.

Yes, bowling is back! Your Sims can now use the new bowling lane object to play by themselves and with others. As your Sims play, they’ll work on their bowling skill – which is new with this stuff pack – and gradually get better as they progress. To begin with, your Sims will be pretty bad. They’ll be falling over, doing bad animations, and not getting many strikes. As they continue bowling, they’ll start to get better and eventually be able to play a perfect game. When your Sim does play a perfect game, they’ll unlock a golden bowling ball decoration in buy mode.

Another fun addition is that you can select the colour of your bowling ball and the higher skill you have, the more colours you can select from! I thought this was a nice touch to the game and allows you to add that extra layer of customisation for your Sims.

The other awesome thing about the bowling lane is that you can change it to “Moonlight Bowling” mode when playing at community lots, and upgrade your one at home too with a certain level of handiness!

I can’t fault the addition of the bowling gameplay, it’s great and adds a lot of value to this stuff pack and for £7.99, this whole pack is probably cheaper than what The Sims 3 Store would have charged for JUST this object. And as mentioned, I love how the small touches such as animations for when Sims are awful at bowling as well as the ability to customise the colour of the bowling ball.

Fun Tidbit – New Radio Station

Fun fact – if you’re feeling nostalgic you can check out the new radio station. This features many classics from The Sims House Party disco radio station, so it’s great to see them make a return to the game! Funky Sim is my personal favourite.

Review Summary