BitLife is now two years old, and the challenges keep coming along. Candywriter introduced the Challenges feature several months ago as one of the many ways they’ve come up with so far to shake things up in the popular life simulator game, and every Sunday, a new challenge goes live for the next four days or so. Whether it’s having children or owning dogs whose names match every letter of the alphabet, living the rock star, movie star, or stoner life in a certain way, or earning a fortune exclusively through divorce settlements, these challenges up the ante and test how well you could follow the instructions and complete the requirements.
To paraphrase the lyrics of the song that partly shares a name with this new challenge, you’ll need to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. We’re referring to the recently launched Gambler Challenge, which will require you to earn millions in the casino, win a good number of bets on the Horse Races, and leave quite a few things up to chance when living your virtual life.
In terms of difficulty, we’d put this at slightly harder than the usual challenge, but if you follow the tips in this BitLife mini-strategy guide, you may end up completing it sooner rather than later while having quite a lot of money in the bank…and a good chance of getting the High Roller ribbon if you haven’t collected it yet.
Your Early Life – Be Born In Las Vegas, Choose ‘Surprise Me’ Frequently, But Wisely
As you’ll notice, the last requirement of BitLife’s Gambler Challenge is to leave Las Vegas, just like the Nicolas Cage film. But instead of moving there as he did in the movie — if you’re born outside of the U.S. and move there, you’ll end up in a random city — you can avoid all that randomness by choosing Las Vegas as your birthplace. You can choose to be male or female and if you don’t have God Mode, there’s no urgent need to re-roll repeatedly to get someone with good Looks and/or Smarts. (If you have God Mode, though, you can reduce Will Power sufficiently to ensure your character easily gets addicted to gambling.)
However, we would actually recommend starting with a character who has high Looks — as money is involved in this challenge, it’s easier to complete it if you have a job that pays you a ton of money, so you may only want to push forward once you get a character whose Looks are at least at 70. (Or get plastic surgery after a couple years working a full-time job/take advantage of the random opportunities to improve your Looks.)
Of course, we’re suggesting high Looks so you could get a job as an Actor, a Singer, or other celebrity jobs that could ultimately pay you millions per year. But before you get there, you’ll need to choose “Surprise Me” at least 15 times to fulfill the first listed requirement. This is quite simple and straightforward, though you probably wouldn’t want to choose Surprise Me during situations that could potentially boost your stats (e.g. when wearing a BitLife shirt is among the available options for your playdate attire) or affect your employment prospects (job interviews). Otherwise, most players should reach their 15 Surprise Me’s quota before they reach adulthood.
Related: BitLife Casino & Horse Racing Guide: How to Cheat in the Casino and Gamble on Horse Races
Lastly, it’s best to stay unmarried for the duration of this challenge — you don’t want your spouse raging at you for losing a lot of money on the races or in the casino! That can affect your Happiness, especially if your spouse ultimately divorces you because of your gambling. (Let’s not forget about the money you may lose in the settlement!)
How To Win More Frequently And Lose Less Money On The Horse Races
Back in the day, there was a loophole in BitLife, if you could call it that, allowing players to go to the Horse Races under Activities, bet on a horse, quit the game if the horse loses, and keep their bet. That has long been nerfed, as quitting BitLife after losing on the Horse Races would now result in your bet getting deducted from your bank balance.
If it’s any consolation, your Happiness will not be affected, so you can still do this when shooting for the second requirement, which is to win at least 10 times on the Horse Races. You will need to watch your Happiness, after all, to maintain your good job performance and therefore improve your chances of getting promoted while playing the Gambler Challenge.
Assuming you chose to work as an Actor, Singer, etc., there’s no need to bet big on the Horse Races. With the new slider system, there’s no longer a need to bet a fixed amount of money, so you can move the slider to the far left side to keep your bets low. And while there is, in theory, a 20 percent chance that the horse you picked would win the race, we’ve noticed that horses with punny and/or pop culture-inspired names tend to do better than horses that don’t. The likes of Jon Bon Pony, Pony Soprano, BoJockey Horseman, Adam Saddler, and others are oftentimes reliable choices, though it’s not like their chances of winning are well over the 50 percent mark.
This may take some patience, but just keep betting, don’t exit the game too often, and if you’re having a hard time getting a win to boost your Happiness back up to 100 percent (it almost always drops to zero after losing), use the Spend Time with All feature under Relationships for a quick boost.
Winning $10 Million In The Casino – Have A Big Balance, Hit Or Stand Smartly
Up to now, there’s only one game available in the Casino (under Activities, as always), and it’s blackjack. The rules, of course, are as simple as they always have been — keep drawing cards while avoiding going over a total value of 21 for all your cards. If you get a blackjack (21), you automatically win unless the dealer also draws a 21 (in which case it’s a draw), and if you get a higher score than the dealer, you win. Naturally, you lose your bet if you go bust, or go over 21.
We would recommend starting your quest to making $10 million in the casino across all visits once you’ve got a bank balance in the millions — if you’re a Famous Actor or singer or work most other celebrity occupations, you should get there in your late 30s or early 40s, thus allowing you to replenish your bank balance quickly if you ever go broke in one year while gambling. It also helps to appear in commercials — you can earn up to $2 million-plus per commercial once your Fame is at 100 percent!
However, there also may be times where you won’t quite become famous in your celebrity line of work. Don’t worry about this, as you’ll still get that 5,000-plus percent salary increase and $3 million-plus salary in your late 30s or early 40s — you just won’t have the option to star in commercials, write books, or do sexy photoshoots.
Going back to the blackjack table, there’s theoretically a 50 percent chance of winning against the dealer, but realistically, it won’t look that way, especially if you’re playing at BitLife’s virtual casinos. While it may seem that you’ve got a fairly good chance of drawing a 6 or lower while at 15, most of the time you’ll end up with a 7 or higher. Even if you’re at 14, the game will seemingly find ways to give you an 8 or higher the next time you draw — or a 2 or 3 that will only result in a 16 or 17, a losing hand in most cases unless the dealer busts.
With that in mind, it’s best to stand at 15 to 17 unless the dealer’s got a better hand than yours. You should absolutely stand at 18 and above, because the chances of getting an ace, a 2, or a 3 will be very low compared to your odds of a bust. Use your best judgment and take stock of the dealer’s hand at 14, and if you’re at 13 or below, you can feel confident enough to hit.
When it comes to betting, we would advise you to bet big and not worry too much about losing money, provided you did as advised and found work as a celebrity. If you’re a Famous celeb and have your Fame at 98 percent and above, you can use the old quit-and-restart trick to star in as many commercials as possible per year and replenish your gambling balance. As long as you’re playing blackjack as smartly as possible, even a negative balance could turn into $10 million in just a couple years’ time!
Completing The Gambler Challenge – Getting Cured Of Your Gambling Addiction And Leaving Las Vegas
The final two requirements are to get a gambling addiction and get cured of it, and to leave Las Vegas. Depending on your Willpower stat, which you can see and edit before the start of a new life in God Mode but is hidden otherwise, it may take a few trips to the Casino or the Horse Races, or it may take several before you get an addiction. We suggest visiting as many casinos as possible and continuing to frequent the races even after you’ve gotten your 10 wins at the track until the game notifies you that you’ve got a gambling addiction.
You can cure this via Hypnotherapy or by going to a Rehab Center. Hypnotherapy is cheap, but largely ineffective, and while Rehab mostly works, especially if you choose the Luxury option, you’re going to have to quit your job in most cases in order to spend one month in the facility! Don’t let that get you down, though — you’re going to have to start fresh with a new job anyway in order to complete the final requirement.
At this point, you’ll likely be eligible to retire, so choose that option if your employer won’t allow you to take a month off. Head to Luxury Rehab (you’ll be able to afford it anyway), and you’ll be cured of your gambling addiction in most cases.
As for the part where you need to leave Las Vegas, choose Emigrate under Activities and pick any one of the available countries. Provided you didn’t commit any previous crimes, you should be all set, and that shall officially complete the Gambler Challenge, thus allowing you to choose one out of four prize chests and get new eyewear or headwear to add to your list of Accessories.