Makin' Magic is an expansion package for The Sims. With the package, the sims will be able to use a spellbook to cast spells and forge charms. The sims will also be able to bake cakes and pies with a special baker's oven, as well as making and serving nectar. Makin' Magic also delivers a new community area called Magic Town, with new characters and games.
Basics
After Makin' Magic is installed, a character called Mystery Man will deliver a box to any house or lot with a front door. Inside the box is a spellbook, a wand, some ingredients, 35 MagiCoins, a wand charger and "a hole in the ground."
Have a sim open the spellbook while holding the wand. The spellbook gives ingredients for spells (but not information on what the spells do). Put the ingredients for a spell into the spell charger, then charge the wand. The wand will then be able to do the spell one time. Information on the spell will also appear in the spellbook.
The sim will need an EverAfter Crafter to make charms. Go into Buy Mode to buy this item. When the ingredients for a charm (found in the spellbook) are put into the crafter, a charm will appear. Unlike the spells, charms can be used several times.
To cast a spell, click on the character the spell will be used on. To use a charm, click on the rotating diamond above the charm. As long as there is a rotating diamond, the charm can be used. When the diamond disappears, the charm will have to be made again.
Ingredients
Much of the Makin' Magic gameplay involves getting ingredients for the spells and charms. In Magic Town, some of these ingredients can be bought, some can be bartered for and some are given as rewards for completing quests. Some ingredients can also be made at home.
To get to Magic Town, a sim can use a phone to call a balloon taxi or travel through the "hole in the ground" once it is placed outside. In Magic Town, check in with the apothecaries, vampires, gypsy clerks and the snake charmer to buy and trade ingredients and to get assigned quests. After a quest, check back in with the character who assigned it to get the reward. It will appear in the sim's inventory.
In Buy Mode, there is a spinning wheel available to make gold thread, a churn to make butter, a press to make nectar and a bee hive to make honey. It's cheaper to make ingredients than to buy them.
To get more MagiCoins (the Magic Town currency), the sim character will need to perform magic acts on one of the three stages in Magic Town. Some acts depend on the sim's mechanical skill and some depend on the sim's logic skill. Build these up to do the acts successfully and earn more coins.
Sims can also earn MagiCoins by winning duels. To have a duel, click on one of the Magic Town dueling platforms. A list of players the sim may duel with will come up. The opponent chosen isn't a factor in winning a duel. The skill of the player determines the outcome. Each duel requires performing five spells. Each color of spell will beat two other spells and be defeated by two other spells. Pay attention to how the colors beat one another to improve dueling skills.
Kids
Sim kids can do magic too, but they need a different spellbook than adult sims. In Buy Mode, buy MagiCo NeoMagical Newt to get kid sims started. There are only four ingredients in the spells that kids can do: toadstools, pixie dust, dragon tears and dragon scales.
Kids can't get the ingredients for spells the same way adults can. If the family has a Magical Cabinet (available for download at the official Sims site), the kids can use the ingredients the adult characters have put inside.
Alternately, a kid can groom a dragon to get dragon scales and tickle a dragon to death to get dragon tears. To get a dragon, an adult sim needs to buy a dragon nest from the character Vicki in Magic Town.
To get toadstools, a kid sim needs to have two toadstool chairs (available in Buy Mode). The kid needs to alternate sitting on the chairs multiple times, and then toadstools will appear. Click on the toadstools to harvest them.
For pixie dust, the kid sim needs to play with a Visions of Sugarplums toy chest (available in Buy Mode). If the kid plays enough, a bag of pixie dust will appear.
Using Magic
A sim can use magic with no restrictions in Magic Town. When not in Magic Town, a sim will be fined if he uses magic in front of more than one sim who isn't part of the household.
When a sim uses magic repeatedly (about fifteen times), a magic crystal will appear. When the crystal is finished growing (about two days) a sim with magic can touch it and gain a new power.
Magic can backfire. To prevent this, the sim should be in a good mood when practicing magic, and have strong logic and mechanical skills.
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