Events
A tower full of people is never quiet for long. Most days nothing much happens beyond the newspaper saying something nice about your building. But once your tower has a couple of stars, things start to go wrong now and then, and how well you’ve prepared decides whether they cost you a little or a lot.
From two stars, any day may bring a fire. A Security office makes one less than half as likely, and a Medical Center halves the chance again.
When a fire breaks out, the game offers a fire rescue for a fee: $150,000 at two stars, rising with each star to at most $500,000. Pay, and the crews put the fire out at once; the rooms already burning are gutted, but it spreads no further. Decline, and your own people fight it the slow way. Each day, a burning room either burns out or spreads, to the room beside it and the room above. A Security office within 8 floors and a Medical Center within 12 make it much more likely that a fire is contained before it spreads. While anything is burning, everyone in the tower gets a little more nervous every day.
A burned-out room is a gutted shell. Bulldoze it and build again.
Bomb threats
Section titled “Bomb threats”From four stars, a caller may demand $300,000 or they will set off a bomb. Pay, and the threat passes quietly.
Refuse, and the bomb is hidden somewhere in the tower, set to go off at 1 PM. Every Security office sends out six guards. They search floor by floor, climbing the fire escapes on the outside of the tower (never the elevators), each guard sweeping one floor at a time. A small tower is usually searched in time; a big, wide one may not be. If they find it, it is defused, and you pay only for the evacuation. If not, it guts the rooms on its floor and the two floors above and below, and you pay a fine as well.
While the guards search, the rest of the tower stands still. The elevators stop, nobody comes or goes, and everyone waits where they are until the bomb is found or goes off. The clock keeps running, so a long search costs you a busy morning. You can’t build, bulldoze, sell, change an elevator, or undo and redo while the guards are out. With no Security at all, nobody searches, and the tower carries on as usual until 1 PM; you can still build, and Security built in time joins the search in Modern.
Classic As in the 1994 game, terrorists only threaten a tower that has Security. The guards who search are the ones on duty when the call comes.
Modern The threat can come with or without Security. A Security office that opens during the search sends its guards to join it, so you can still answer the threat by building.
Thieves
Section titled “Thieves”From two stars, a thief may slip into the tower. If you have any Security, they’re caught. If not, they get away with up to $25,000.
Cockroaches
Section titled “Cockroaches”Hotel rooms left dirty for three days become infested, and the cockroaches spread to neighboring rooms every night. See Hotels for how to keep Housekeeping ahead, and what to do once they’re in.
The VIP
Section titled “The VIP”From three stars, a VIP may come to stay in one of your hotel suites. A good stay earns the favorable review that four stars needs. A VIP who finds no parking, or a suite they don’t like, tries again a few days later.
Once you build the Wedding Hall, another VIP comes to inspect the whole tower and decide whether it’s a TOWER.
Tenants moving out
Section titled “Tenants moving out”Not exactly an event, but the message log will tell you each time a tenant gives notice and why. A notice gives you two days to fix the cause. See Tenant ratings.
Modern Now and then a condo family moves away for work. You buy the condo back and sell it again.
Nicer surprises
Section titled “Nicer surprises”The local paper may praise your tower’s design, tenants may simply be happy with the place, and late in the year a tower of three stars or more might catch Santa flying past.
Buried treasure
Section titled “Buried treasure”Digging down can pay. When you build a room on basement ground nobody has dug before, the crews may strike something valuable. The dig site sparkles, the message log tells you what they found, and the money goes straight into your funds. Ground you’ve already dug has nothing left to give, and Undo won’t buy a second try either. Once the crews have searched, the game won’t undo that build; you can still bulldoze the room, but the ground stays dug.
| Buried treasure | |
|---|---|
| Where | A room built on fresh basement ground |
| Chance | A little under one in five, each time you dig new ground |
| Worth | $400,000 to $600,000 |
| How often | Three finds at most in each tower |
| Modes | Classic and Modern alike |