HOME PLUS - PLAYER GUIDE (27 September update)

Where to find it

Open the game menu, choose Life plus, then Home plus. You can also type /homeplus or /hp in chat; it opens the same menu. Most things work while you stand inside a home you own (or your spouse owns). The land and house board, the sprinkler timer, direct debit, the guest list and the barbecue work from anywhere. Escape or Back always takes you one step back.

Home security

Home alarm, 3000 points. When someone who is not you, your spouse, a housemate with front door permission, or a guest on your party list walks in, a siren sounds inside the home and you are told at once, wherever you are. For two minutes you can send them straight back outside from the Home security menu, and for an hour you can call the police, which sends the report to the staff on duty and keeps it on file. During your own party everybody is welcome, so the alarm stays quiet.

Guard dog, 1500 points. It barks at strangers who come in, so they know the house is watched.

Home insurance, 1500 points for 14 days. If someone breaks in while you are insured, file one claim and the premium comes back to you.

Recycling bin, 500 points. Household waste builds up by one unit a day, up to ten. Sort it from the menu for 15 points a unit. Your lifetime recycling score unlocks the titles Tidy Household (50) and Green Homekeeper (200).

Rooms and comfort

Ambience packs, 800 points each: a crackling fireplace, rain on the window, or a bubbling aquarium. Anyone who walks into your home hears it, and you can listen any time from the menu.

Potted plants, 600 points. Water them twice a day at most; cared for plants add to your garden score.

Tend the garden: every 12 hours. Your garden score grows by 10, plus extra for potted plants, a greenhouse, a pool and a watered field. At the start of each month the prettiest garden wins 2000 points and a trophy, and the winner is announced (you can turn that announcement off in your notification settings).

Home upgrades, each a one time purchase with its own activity and a trophy for your cabinet: Hobby room (3500, paint or play a tune), Library room (3000, read), Home cinema (4000, watch a film), Tree house (3500, climb up and listen to the wind), Pool and jacuzzi (6000, swim), Greenhouse (4000, pick a small basket of fruit every 8 hours), Home elevator (5000, takes you to the floor above or below where you stand, if your home has one there). The activities pay a small number of points and each has a rest time. Your wine and cheese cellar is where it always was: see the cellar help page.

Power, water and garden tools

Solar panel, 4000 points. If your electricity is cut off for unpaid bills, the sun keeps the house running from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening.

Home battery, 2500 points. The panel charges it by day, and it keeps the lights on at night for about eight hours. Check the panel and battery from the menu to hear the charge.

Extension water tank, 2000 points. Holds 120 litres; pour stored water or water bottles into it (4 litres each). It is used when the taps are cut off and the main tank is dry.

Wood stove, 1800 points. Stack up to 40 pieces of wood from your bag by the stove. Light it to warm up: it burns one log and takes all the cold out of you. Fill the store to earn the title Ready for Winter.

Sprinkler timer. Switch on a spoken program for all your sprinklers: at 7 in the morning and 7 in the evening you hear them start and are told how many are watering.

Direct debit. Switch paying every home's bills from your points on or off, and hear roughly what a month costs.

Parties

Start the party itself from your home menu (Throw a party). Then, in Home plus, Parties:

Guest list: up to 12 names. People on it are always welcome in your home: your alarm and dog let them in.

Send invitations to everyone on your list who is online.

While your party is on, put on music for everyone in the house, and at the end hand out party keepsakes to everybody who came. Using a keepsake brings the party back; ten of them earn the title Life of the Party. Hosting five parties with guests earns Host with the Most.

Garden barbecue: carry raw chicken, boar, bear, wolf, rabbit meat or raw fish and one piece of wood. You grill one piece for yourself and one for each player standing within ten squares of you, up to eight people. Once every half hour.

Property and family

Housemate permissions: give a named player the run of your closet, your kitchen fridge, your car, or your front door, each one separately.

The land and house board: post a notice (for sale, wanted or swap) of up to 140 characters. Three notices each; they come down after 14 days.

Neighbours: if your land claim is next to someone else's, propose a shared border wall and well. Once they accept, each of you may draw two containers of water from the well once a day, free.

Moving service: stand in the home you are moving into. For 500 points plus 300 a piece, the movers bring your fridges and cabinets (with everything inside), your generator and your water tank from another home of yours and set them down on empty squares around you.

Your estate: name an heir for a home. You can pass it to them at once, or switch on automatic pass on: if you do not log in for 90 days, the home and the furniture in it go to your heir.

How much room is left: from the top of Home plus, or automatically after you place furniture, you hear how many empty floor squares are left around you.

In the kitchen

Opening a fridge now warns you about anything close to spoiling, for example "The milk will spoil tomorrow", and the fridge menu has Check what will spoil soon.

The microwave remembers the last five things you cooked in it: pick Cook again from its menu instead of fetching the raw food by hand.