We’ve said it many times before and in many ways, but if not for the challenge feature of BitLife, the iOS and Android life simulator probably wouldn’t have had the shelf life it currently has. Now approaching its fifth year since its original release, BitLife continues attracting new players and retaining old ones through its weekly challenges, which, for those still unfamiliar, are limited-time events that require you to complete certain tasks based on the week’s given theme. Sometimes, these challenges may be steeped in pop culture, but other times, developer Candywriter does away with the fan service and keeps things simple with what we like to call “classic” challenges.
After weeks of mostly pop culture-inspired challenges, BitLife is returning to its roots for this week’s special event — the Snowbird Challenge. This is a challenge that truly fits the bill of those classic challenges that don’t have any basis in pop culture and are mostly rooted in grinding, as the only real basis here is the snowbird concept — people who migrate to warmer countries during the winter months.
Compared to your average BitLife “classic,” this challenge is quite easy to complete, but if you need some additional assistance along the way with some of the tasks, this BitLife mini-strategy guide should have you covered with everything you need to know about the Snowbird Challenge.
Get a High-Paying Job Before Emigrating
When creating a character for the BitLife Snowbird Challenge, you don’t need to keep any particular stat in mind — your character can be male or female and doesn’t need exceptional Smarts or Looks, and the only thing you really need to pay attention to is their birthplace. The character has to be born in Canada, and once you’ve gotten that out of the way, you should be good to go.
But one thing you should also be doing early on in the challenge is taking the necessary steps to get a high-paying job. That means you might want to choose a Special Talent such as Sports, as an athletic career could give you the money you need to afford all the items you’ll need to purchase later on in the challenge.
We would suggest Sports as a Special Talent, as this could help you complete the Snowbird Challenge well before you reach the age of the average snowbird. But regardless of the high-paying and/or celebrity job you take, you will need to eventually emigrate to Aruba for the rest of the challenge, and the first thing you’ll need to do after getting approved is to purchase a houseboat.
Aside from Aruba showing up far less frequently among the emigration options, this should be quite easy, and emigration won’t set you back by that much. Neither would your houseboat purchase, as houseboats are among the cheaper house types in the BitLife universe.
Oh, and as a bonus tip, make sure to stay out of any potential legal trouble and keep your nose clean while still based in Canada — a criminal record will certainly make it harder for you to emigrate legally!
Buying and Upgrading a Villa — Choose Your Contractors Carefully
The next thing you’ll need to do in the Snowbird Challenge is to purchase and fully upgrade a villa once you’re in Aruba. On the surface, this may sound like one of the easier requirements. But you know the deal with BitLife challenges — if they’re included among the requirements, certain occurrences seemingly won’t take place as often as they should. That means you might not see Villa among the available housing options when shopping for real estate that often, and that means this is the task that might require the most grinding — unless you get lucky like we did and see a Villa immediately in our price range.
While not as expensive as Mansions, Villas can easily set you back by a few million dollars in the BitLife universe, so getting a high-paying job as we suggested earlier will come in handy here. And we haven’t even gotten to the part with the upgrades, which, for most Bitizens, won’t come cheap.
You may be able to afford it on all the money you’ve saved so far, but in any event, it’s a good practice to be picky with contractors and choose the ones with the best reputation when making all eight upgrades to your Villa. Not only will this save you money; a contractor with a poor reputation might end up decreasing the value of your home and adding to the wear and tear and worsening its Condition, which, in turn, might make it less appealing to potential tenants!
There’s No Real Need to Be Picky With Properties and Tenants
Let’s move on to the last requirement of the BitLife Snowbird Challenge, which is to fully upgrade a total of five properties and rent them out. Of course, if you’re planning to push forward with your save game, you should disregard this tip and do the necessary background checks for each of your tenants. But if you’re trying to save time and complete the challenge at the soonest possible time, then you should skip the research process and go right ahead to renting out your properties to the first interested tenant at the default rate per month. And when it comes to the properties themselves, you shouldn’t get too picky either.
Aside from renting out the villa you had purchased and upgraded, you can simply buy four cheap properties, spruce them up as required (cheaper properties only have two slots for upgrades, which shouldn’t cost you that much), and rent them out once they’re fully upgraded.
Again, this should only be done if you’re not planning on playing the save game on a long-term basis and simply trying to complete the Snowbird Challenge as quickly as possible. But once you’ve completed that last requirement, you can do as you usually do and claim a new accessory (a hat or eyewear) from one of the four prize chests.