Hogwarts Challenge
This is the first challenge I have written for any of the Sims games, so I apologize if I have overlooked massive details!
The idea of this challenge is to create a Hogwarts-like environment for play. You will start off with four families (I am choosing to do the four houses: Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor. You may do whatever you choose, but at some point you will have to give the children houses.)

Set-up
• This challenge is going to require quite a bit of set-up, but I am sure if this challenge becomes popular enough, you will be able to skip a few steps by borrowing characters from the Gallery. I will upload my characters and lots under the hashtag “HogwartsChallenge” if you would like to use them!
• To start off, you will build four homes for each of your families. I will be building four manors themed around each house, but again it is up to you. You can also have more or less families, but you will need at least two. Alternatively, you may create one manor for all four families, but in this case your children will need to be born from NPCs because the max household is 8.
• There is no money limit and you may use any cheats you wish for your houses, the more elaborate the better, in my opinion! You will be using these homes frequently, so you can always add on anything you need.
• You will also need to build Hogwarts. Create four distinct living quarters (common rooms) for the children themed after the houses. Make sure to have at least two beds in each dormitory. I am going to do girls and boys dormitories, resulting in eight bedrooms total. You may put these wherever in the building you like, including staying true to their locations. (Hufflepuff by the kitchens, Gryffindor on the top floor, Slytherin in the dungeons. Ravenclaw’s location is never specified in the books, so you may choose to put it near the library to symbolize intelligence, or wherever you want.)
• Include at least one “classroom” for the children to finish their homework. Fill this room with desks for everyone to work at.
• You will also need the Great Hall. This is where the children will eat (obviously) and will also be a room for socialization.
• Make sure to include bathrooms and a kitchen.
• You can add any other rooms you’d like. Examples would be an astronomy tower, a library, Mrytle’s abandoned bathroom (a chamber that opens underneath?) A Quidditch pitch (ten points to anyone who can figure that one out), Hagrid’s hut (interesting if HE were headmaster…), Firenze’s outdoor-charmed classroom, a potions room, Umbridge’s office (if you hate your sims), prefects' bathroom, the owlery, a Herbology greenhouse, you get the picture.
• Create an office/bedroom for your headmaster/headmistress.
• You will now create your four families. Create a husband and wife (I’m not being close-minded, this is just the simplest way to have children) for each house. Their characteristics and looks do not matter. I am choosing to name mine after the Hogwarts founders and then their spouses after other famous wizards or, if provided, their actual spouses.
• Also create your headmaster/headmistress. You can base them off anyone (Dumbledore, McGonagall, Umbridge even, or a completely new person.) They can be any age, but elders look more authentic. Dress them in important looking clothes, showing their status. This person is in charge of all the children, and until the students are teenagers, will be solely responsible for cooking. You may optionally make this person immortal through milking the cowplant. Move the headmaster/headmistress into Hogwarts.
• Settle each family into their respective homes, then have children!
• Remember, the maximum household limit is 8, and you need an adult, so Hogwarts can have only 7 students at a time, less if you include more professors. Each family can send one child, then three may send another. Any children consequently left at home can be considered squibs, and may live their lives as such.
• Another option would be to have children “invite” their siblings over for constant sleepovers at Hogwarts to up the population. This could become tedious, and you would have no control over these children, so I am choosing not to do so.
• You may also download a mod to allow more sims per household. I prefer not to use mods or custom content in my games.
• Once the children of the founders have reached the child life-stage, move them into Hogwarts.

Gameplay
• Change the active household to Hogwarts. The children will live here until they become “Young Adults”.
• If you haven’t done so already, assign each child a house. Keep track of who belongs to which house. Their everyday clothing should be a uniform that bears their colors. All other clothes are completely up to you.
• The children can go to school as normal. When they return from school, have all of them sit in the classroom and finish their homework together.
• All meal times are held in the Great Hall. The headmaster/mistress can cook, or a teenager may try their hand at it.
• Houses may mingle with each other, but ARE NOT ALLOWED IN EACH OTHER’S COMMON ROOMS. If they add locks to the Sims 4, go ahead and lock the doors from everyone not in that house.
• You may choose to have a set bedtime for the children, at which point they must be in bed. You can turn all the lights out at this point.
• Romantic relationships are encouraged between houses. I’m sure at some point the four families will be completely intermarried, at which point you should throw a foreign wizard or a muggle-born (adopted) into the mix.
• Students may go home on weekends, or may take class trips to Magnolia Promenade (*cough* Hogsmeade *cough*).

House Points
• You can also keep track of house points. For example, earning an A brings 50 points to that student’s house, the income brought in by a teenager with a job adds that many points to their house, a painting earns so many based on its skill level, etc.

Graduation
• When a student becomes a young adult, they will graduate and return to their homes. Because younger siblings can be sent to Hogwarts, they will not all leave on the same day. If two sweethearts are both graduated, choose which will be the heir of their house, marry them, and continue the cycle. Make sure you will end up with an heir to each house.
• This heir should marry a non-heir from another house. The non-heir will move in with the heir, and the entire cycle will repeat. Their children will go to Hogwarts, and may become either parents’ house.

Once you get past the daunting set-up, this challenge requires relatively few rules, and could be lots of fun! If you have any ideas, please comment below and I’ll see if I can incorporate them. Let me know if you have questions or if I left something major out. As soon as I finish them, I’ll post my families and lots to the Gallery for you! I'd like to add some sort of daily task, or create a more structured schedule for the children. I’d never seen a Harry Potter themed sims challenge before, so I thought I’d take a crack at it! I am going to play test it, and will add anything new I come across. Happy Simming!