I apologize in advance if this sounds like anyone else's challenge; many of the variations I saw were old (created long before the first expansion pack was released), had restrictions that I didn't think were realistic for the challenge, were more of a "Mom and Pop adopting as many kids as they can" type challenge, or were specifically designed just so that an evil person was watching a bunch of homeless kids and the kids had to be mistreated and such. I will list a few at the end of this post in case that's more what you were looking for.

I was looking for something a little different, something where the kids might actually be cared for, but something that was definitely not an adoption type challenge. I wanted more of a "Disaster strikes, leaving many children orphaned." So I figured I'd make up my own challenge, adapting some rules from an asylum challenge I saw once. (Asylum Challenge) So here goes. (Oh, and I am personally using mods, but I am using them to make the game more realistic- I'll provide examples in a moment.)

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*Mylinda's Orphanage Challenge*

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*The Challenge*

Your sim has been called upon to help with a problem: 7 youths have been orphaned in a recent disaster/epidemic and now need a caretaker to guide them through to young adulthood. The city council will provide you with a house, the basic starting necessities (the furniture already in the house plus a few children's toys), and a small starting budget. It is your job to help these young people to recover from their horrible tragedy and grow into happy, productive members of society, restoring the house as you go. If your sim is successful, you will be gifted the house as a home for your own family. Will you prove to be a generous Miss Temple, or a tyrannical Miss Hannigan? (Bonus points if you understood both references without looking them up.)

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*General Rules*

• You must create an adult sim (of any adult age) who will be responsible for taking care of 7 youths of various ages. Your must then create your charges. Only 3 of your charges can be older than toddlers and only one can be a teen. The children can be related to each other, but none can be related to the adult. ONE child, your choice, can begin with adding a "Housemates" relationship when you are wrapping up in CAH. (Note: If you are playing with babies, you must adopt them, but you can remove the parent/child relationship if you'd like by using a mod like Twallan's Master Controller mod as I will be doing.)

• You may choose the traits for your caretaker to your heart's content, but you may choose no more than one trait for each child to start with: the rest must be random-rolled, since you have not really been involved in raising them. The chosen trait can also not be a "good" or "helpful" trait. (For example, in my story I am choosing to start Grayson off with the "Brooding" trait. This is a trait that will not be helpful in running the orphanage; in fact, I expect it will make the game a little bit harder to play.)

• Sim lifespans should be set to no longer than 150 days. (I like mine set to 4 days for babies, 7 for toddlers, 10 for children, 14 for teens, 42 each for young adult and adult, and 30 for elders. This gives me a total of 149 days.)

• You may not use cheats/mods to make the game easier, with the exception of using the "freerealestate" cheat to move yourself into the orphanage. (See House Rules below.) No money cheats may be used. An example of an acceptable use of cheats/mods: given their backstory, I will be using Twallan's Master Controller mod to add mourning moodlets to all those who live in my orphanage. (Except the two babies; they are too young to know what is going on.) This will make the first few days much harder to play.

• You cannot call a babysitter or hire a butler or a maid. You are the caretaker; take care of it yourself.

• Children and teens may help around the house with whatever they can (cleaning, cooking, repairs, etc.) but may NOT work outside the orphanage. (See Money Rules below.)

• The children MAY NOT miss school for ANY reason, with the exception of illness or field trips. Boarding school is an absolute no, but if you have Twallan's mod for special school careers, they can be homeschooled. If that is the case, they must complete at least one but no more than 3 assignments each day. None of his private schools are allowed unless the child can earn the money for the tuition.

• The orphans may go to college when they are old enough, but must either earn scholarships OR earn the money for tuition themselves. They may earn some money any way they like while at college. (Day jobs, roommates, or even crafting on weekends is totally fine.)

• No teen pregnancy. Seriously. Just no.

• Your sim may NOT marry the teen when the teen grows up. That would just be weird.

• Your sim may not begin a romantic relationship with anyone until there are no baby or toddler orphans left. Due to the number of orphans, your sim may not marry until at least one child has left the house, and you cannot start having children until at least three children have left.

• The orphans must move out once they reach young adulthood and either earn enough money for their own house or get married. If they marry, they must either move into their spouse's home if their spouse lives alone, or must be able to afford a house of their own.

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*House Rules*

• The game can start on any lot. If the lot has an existing house, the house should be remodeled to suit the needs of the challenge without making too many changes. Everything that you start with in the house should be cheap and made to look old and dilapidated. The walls and flooring should be the free items so the house isn't super expensive. The yard should be fenced in. You may NOT move to another lot during the course of the challenge, but once it has been completed, you may do whatever you like.

• There should be only enough bedrooms to make one bedroom for each age group. (One room for the sole caretaker, if you have a teen, he/she gets his/her own room, one for children, one for toddlers, and one for babies.) The beds and cribs should be the cheapest available. The caregiver and teen (if you have one) may have double beds to begin with, but these again should be the cheapest ones. There should only be one cheap dresser in each bedroom, but if you have one tile dressers, the rooms with more than one child can have one small dresser per child. The toddler room can have 2 beds AND 2 cribs; after all, they are going to grow VERY fast! Double beds get two end tables with lamps, single beds get one end table with lamps.

• You may add some children's toys, one of each, with two exceptions; you can have two activity tables, one in the toddler room and one in the children's room, and one teddy bear for each child. You MAY use the changing table and baby monitors from the Sims 3 store. You may NOT use the Solace Snugabunny Deluxe Baby Swing, the Head Start Playpen, or the Local Motion Walkers. That would make the challenge too easy. The teen's room should have a desk where he/she can work on his/her homework. The adult can have a desk with an old computer in his/her bedroom.

• There should be no more than 3 bathrooms: One for the caregiver's room/guest bathroom, one for the boy children, and one for the girl children. The bathrooms can be as large as you want, but should be just one room (no enclosed toilets or showers, and should have one cheap shower, one cheap tub, the cheapest toilet you can buy, a cheap hamper, and two cheap sinks with cheap mirrors hanging over them, and doors should be locked to the appropriate sims.

• The dining table should seat 8, even though some of your children will not yet be able to sit there to eat; after all, it was left over from the original owners. Get the cheapest one you can make to look old and rundown. The chairs shouldn't cost more than $100 apiece. You MUST include hampers and the cheapest washer/dryer set (if you have laundry capabilities).

• The kitchen should be ramshackle, run down looking like the rest of the house: cheap counters, cheap stove, cheap fridge, and a cheap large-looking sink. (After all, there will be tons of dishes to wash!) You may add a cheap grill, as kids will want hot dogs from time to time, but all other kitchen appliances must be added later.

• The living room should also have seating for 8. It can include a cheap TV, cheap radio, and the cheapest bookshelf. You get two end tables with lamps and a coffee table. These again should be cheap.

• You may have one bonus room. This room again should be furnished as cheaply as possible. For instance, the house I am starting with had a fireplace already, so I turned it into a small seating area with a loveseat and two living chairs, two end tables with lamps, and a coffee table.

• No inside decor may be used aside from mirrors, because those serve a purpose.

• Outside, you may have the cheap treehouse (if you have Generations installed) and one small outside toy for the kids to play with. You MAY start with a car, but the only acceptable car is the 4-Everything Van. It is really the only van that would be large enough to contain all of you without costing a fortune. You may also have 2 strollers for taking walks, and no more than 3 skill building items to start with. (My house will start with a guitar, an easel, and a chess table. Computers, stoves, and repairable items don't count toward the 3 items. However, the 3 items cannot be expensive; i.e, your home should not have a grand piano as a starter item.)

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*Money Rules*

There are basically two options for how you make money to run your orphanage. You may do one or the other, but not both. Since everyone's possessions were destroyed in the fire, the children should not have access to their cameras, if they are given cameras at the start of the game. ONE camera may be sold and profits used ONLY if you have babies joining your game later. Otherwise, you should sell the cameras and then reduce your money back to the original amount you were given using "testingcheatsenabled true" and "familyfunds".

Remember, your sim may NOT take a job outside the orphanage. If your sim marries, their spouse may work outside the orphanage, but their funds may not be used to improve the orphanage UNLESS they have the "Good" trait.

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Option 1:
You may take your starting funds, minus $1000, and use those to buy partnerships in as many businesses as you can afford to. These weekly donations will provide part of the running funds. You may supplement with crafting, selling excess garden produce and collecting wild items like flowers and rocks, and live off of what you earn that way.

Option 2:
If you have it installed, Twallan's homemaker career is also acceptable. However, if you use the homemaker career, you must begin by reducing your family funds to $1000, and your sim may NOT earn money any other way, whether by partnering with businesses, crafting, or collecting, until all the original orphans left in the house are teen and up.
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With either option, teens may NOT work outside the house. Children and teens can earn money by crafting, gardening, collecting/selling things, etc, but any money they earn must be tracked separately for each child and may NOT be used for upgrading the house. You can use the money to buy things for THEIR rooms or books/equipment for skills THEY are interested in learning. Children can pool their earnings to buy something they can all use if they want to, but those contributing must be able to split the cost equally.

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*The Points*

You get NO points for:
Skills learned by your sim
Each teen you start with
The orphans learning to walk, talk, use the potty chair, or drive (these are essential skills you are expected to teach the children)
An orphan's purchase of food or decorations under $100 does NOT count toward points for orphan purchases.
Age-ups where you are NOT given the option to choose traits and the game assigns a good/okay trait
Renovating an existing home for the orphanage OR downloading an existing perfect home

You may add:
10 points for each child you start with
20 points for each toddler you start with
30 points for each baby you start with (The babies must be added into the house within 3 days of opening the orphanage, else the points don't count.)
10 points for each skill point learned (Learning to Drive, walk, talk, or use the potty chair does not count)
50 point bonus for each skill mastered as a young adult before moving out
100 point bonus for each skill a teen masters (Learning to Drive does not count)
200 point bonus for each skill a child masters
50 points for each age-up IF you get the option to choose traits
100 point bonus for each child who ages up with an A average
200 point bonus for each teen who graduates with an A average
500 point bonus for each child who goes to college and earns an A average
250 point bonus for each orphan who goes to college and earns a B average
250 point bonus for each orphan who can buy their own car (can be combined with below if you buy them the fixer-upper car from the Sims 3 store)
100 points every time an orphan can buy something for themselves that fulfills motives or teaches them a skill (books, furniture, etc.)
25 points for an orphan purchasing a decorative item worth $100+
100 points if your sim marries.
10 points for each child your sim gives birth to before all the orphans move out
10 point bonus if your sim gives birth to twins before all the orphans move out
20 point bonus if your sim gives birth to triplets before all the orphans move out
500 point bonus for each orphan who marries before moving out.
2500 point bonus if an orphan fulfills their lifetime wish before they move out
2500 point bonus if you fulfill your lifetime wish before the orphans are all gone

Every time a child moves out, you get a 100 point bonus. You can also earn 100 bonus points by building the orphanage yourself.

Add yourself 50 points if you are well-read enough to understand BOTH of the references in the introduction.

You must subtract:
250 points every time a child or teen misses a day of school for a reason other than illness. (Field trips are okay too.)
200 points if a child misses curfew
50 points for every fire that starts
50 points every time a child fails to do their homework
50 points each time a child starts failing school
100 points every time you fail to teach walking, talking, potty training, or driving to a child
500 points if the game assigns a child a BAD trait on age-up (Evil, mean-spirited, insane, neurotic, etc
500 points every time the repoman is called
50 points every time a babysitter is called to watch the orphans
500 points every time you use a helpful cheat
500 points if your sim gets caught cheating on his/her spouse
2014 points if you choose to ignore the rule regarding child/teen earnings and use their funds to upgrade the house
10000 points if you hold an orphan in the house so that you can earn extra points- how selfish of you! :P

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You win the challenge when all 7 orphans have grown to young adult, have a job and/or family of their own, and have moved out to begin their own lives.

You lose the game if a child dies, if a social worker comes to take away the children, or if the entire house were to burn down.

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I think I have covered everything; if I think of anything else I will add it, and if you have any questions/suggestions, please let me know.

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Other Orphanage Challenges:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=513415
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=474055
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=439461

Thanks for this, I've set up the female and kids and just about to make them a house, should be fun!

Great! I'd love to see pictures and stories of anyone doing this, so if you post anything, please share a link here so I can see! It's fun seeing what other people come up with!

Sounds fun! Going to get TS3 started up. I might create a blogspot for the challenge!

Awesome! If you do, please share it here!

Im doing this i may send pics!
Im starting with
*1 teen
*2 children
*2 toddlers
*2 babies

=7 orphans