How to properly place a sprinkler?

[Thalassicus]

How do I place a sprinkler so sims can reach it? My sims repeatedly try to play with the sprinkler, complain they cannot reach it, and get stuck for hours until I intervene or a need becomes critical.

[ZapKid]

You probably have to move either the sprinkler out of the garden or move the plants over, the plants are currently in the way.

[Jancy]

My plants are even closer than that to the sprinkler and my sims have no problem using it.  My sprinkler is usually on. Do you have the sprinkler going so the Sim can go in it?  Maybe it has to be on for them to use it which mine usually is (I don't remember if they can turn it on themselves)  If that doesn't work I would replace it with another to see if the new one works.

[Thalassicus]

After some further experimentation, I discovered these spots are where sims attempt to play in the sprinkler, in addition to the 6th spot following the pattern. I'd guess the 7th and 8th spots appear to the left and right of the sprinkler to complete the circle.

[Jancy]

Glad you figured it out

[Hosfac]

That's very helpful to know, for those of us who don't want our Sims obsessing over the sprinklers!  I've been looking for a way to reliably block them.

Here's a day in the life of my Sims and their sprinklers:

Wake up.  Play in the sprinklers until ride comes for work/school.  Go to work/school.  Come home and immediately play in the sprinkler.  Continue until nearly starved to death or close to peeing your pants.  Eat/pee.  Play in sprinkler until you nearly collapse from exhaustion.  Go to bed.

[Thalassicus]

Blocking wouldn't work perfectly. They try to play, get stuck, try, stuck, etc... endlessly until something else takes higher priority. The good thing is they make a loud vocal complaint, so you can at least notice they're idling and give them some other task to do. The sprinklers just have too high a priority.

[Hosfac]

The good thing is they make a loud vocal complaint, so you can at least notice they're idling and give them some other task to do.

Yep, and when I hear that, I do so!  It's so much better than going "Ok, where is this guy now.  Oh duh...sprinklers."

The sprinklers just have too high a priority.

"...And the Oscar winner in the category of "Best Understatement in Relation to a Video Game" goes to...OH!  It's Thalassicus!"  (cue thunderous applause)   

Yeah, that's a fact, isn't it lol.

[WickedSimmer87]

The sim with the outdoor trait will go straight for the sprinklers whenever they can (which annoys me a great deal) To prevent them from it, i place a rock on top of the sprinkler which still works !

Anyway glad you found out what the issue was



//Wickedsimmer

[Hosfac]

The sim with the outdoor trait will go straight for the sprinklers whenever they can

Even for Sims who hate the outdoors, sprinklers appear to top the list of "fun things to do."

I've played in sprinklers before, and I didn't find it all that amusing.  In fact, the water is typically cold.  And when I say cold, I don't mean "Ah, nice and refreshing"...I mean cold, as in "HOLY COW!  This water is being pumped from directly beneath the polar ice cap!"   

[Thalassicus]

It's especially amusing how they favor playing in $50 sprinklers more than a $5000 hot tub right next to the sprinkler.

[bshag]

I have another solution to the "play in the sprinkler" vice...get a water slide.