I never really got bowling until I reached the legal age to consume alcohol, so the new Sims 4 Stuff Pack, Bowling Night Stuff, wasn’t exactly up my alley (I’m sorry). When I dug into it, however, I found a few things I absolutely loved.
Bowling Night Stuff is a Stuff Pack that gives you a little over a dozen bowling themed assets. There’s new options in Create A Sim, and also a bowling alley you can add to Residential or Commercial lots. It’s the Build and Buy options that really shine, though, especially the furniture.
As a pretentious and precocious child I fell in love with movies from the 60s and the furniture found therein. When I grew up, I discovered that not only was my interest in Mid-Century Modern furniture not unique, but that I would never be able to own any because it’s all horrendously expensive. This new Sims 4 Stuff Pack lets me live out my dreams of hairpin legs and round-edged rectangles. I kid you not, when I found all the new Build and Buy options, I spent an hour making this bowling alley.
The furniture is not quite period accurate, but the tacky, over the top retroness not only looks amazing in my bowling alley (which I creatively named Bowling!), but meshes well with the other Stuff Packs and Expansion Packs I own. The Vintage Glamour Stuff Pack and the City Life Expansion pair particularly well with Bowling Night Stuff. I couldn’t help but wonder how awesome those coffee tables and couches would look in my sim’s apartment in San Muyshuno.
As for the actual bowling, it’s a nice excuse to get your sims out of the house, which is pretty much how I feel about it in real life. The animations are nice—especially the victory dances that sims do when they bowl a strike—but it’s not especially different from taking your sims out to the gym or to karaoke. In fact, it feels a little bit less interactive that either of those activities. You click the alley and watch them bowl. It was a good chance to grab a glass of water, at least.
Still, if you are even mildly interested in making a tacky bowling alley, Bowling Night Stuff comes with all the necessary bells and whistles. You can even set the lanes to “moonlight bowling” mode:
If you’re really interested in having you sims bowl, you were probably going to get this anyway. I can’t help but think you might be a little disappointed on that front if that’s the goal. If you’re really jazzed to watch your sims cycle through a few different bowling themed animations, go for it! However, the furniture, wallpaper and general clutter isn’t so bowling-centric that it won’t mesh well with your other packs. I can’t wholeheartedly recommend Bowling Night Stuff, but goddamn do I ever love the bowling alley I made.