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Complete Beginner's Guide to inZOI: How to Play

Wondering how to play inZOI but feeling overwhelmed by the options and features? Fear not—this comprehensive inZOI beginner guide covers everything from creating your first character (Zoi) and managing their daily needs, to earning money, building relationships, customizing your game world, and mastering advanced game mechanics.

Creating Your First Zoi​

Your journey in inZOI begins with creating your first Zoi or a family of up to eight characters. You have extensive customization options:

  • Appearance: Adjust face, hair, skin, makeup, outfits, and even tattoos or piercings.
  • Traits: Choose from various personality traits that affect emotions, relationships, career opportunities, and daily needs.
  • Desired Life Direction: Set your Zoi's ambitions, lifestyle, and overarching life goals, or keep it flexible and open-ended initially.

Don't stress over perfection—you can always add more Zois later. However, certain attributes like gender, detailed facial features, and traits are permanent after creation, so choose these aspects carefully! For a comprehensive walkthrough of the Zoi creation process, check out our How to Create Your First Zoi guide.

When you first enter the world of inZOI, the interface might seem complicated. Here's a quick breakdown:

  • Zoi Card: Tracks your Zoi's overall progress, current ambitions, urges, mood, skills, and preferences.
  • Relationships: Manages interactions and tracks statuses with family, friends, romantic interests, coworkers, and other acquaintances.

Teenagers have limited ambition options until adulthood. Completing ambitions unlocks new goals, opportunities, skills, and experiences, so keep an eye on this!

Managing Your Zoi's Needs​

Just like real people, Zois have essential daily needs—food, sleep, hygiene, fun, social interaction, and more. These appear as clear, easily identifiable icons next to your Zoi's profile:

  • Quick Fulfillment: Double-click a need icon to have your Zoi automatically locate and fulfill it.
  • Manual Fulfillment: Direct your Zoi to perform specific tasks (like clicking a refrigerator for food).
  • Autonomy Feature: Enable autonomy, allowing Zois to fulfill their needs automatically without constant intervention—ideal for new players!

Beware—neglecting your Zoi's needs can lead to severe consequences such as starvation, exhaustion, or fatal accidents. For a detailed guide on managing your Zoi's needs effectively, visit our How to Manage Zoi Needs guide.

Pro Tip

Enable the autonomy feature when you're first starting out! This allows your Zoi to automatically fulfill their basic needs while you learn the game mechanics. You can always disable it later when you're more comfortable with manual control.

Building Relationships​

Healthy relationships enrich your Zoi's life, affecting their mood and opportunities. Categories include family, friends, romantic partners, and colleagues:

  • Engage in conversations with other Zois, choosing dialogue options carefully to nurture relationships.
  • Positive interactions strengthen bonds, while conflicts or negative interactions can damage relationships.
  • Unlock deeper relationship details through trust-building conversations labeled with a special "key" icon.

Consistent interactions gradually build stronger connections, unlocking unique scenarios and emotional rewards.

How to Earn Money in inZOI​

Earning and managing money (called Meow) is crucial in inZOI. Here's how to build wealth:

  • Jobs: Use your smartphone's career app to find and automatically perform jobs for daily wages.
  • Selling Creations: Sell paintings, crafts, and digital services online via the Pocket Market app or a computer.
  • Secondhand Selling: Sell unwanted books, furniture, and other household items by setting up market stalls.
  • Alternative Methods: Obtain money through loans, participating in lotteries, or taking risky actions like stealing from ATMs.

If you're desperate, the "Scycat" cheat instantly provides extra funds.

Customizing Your Zoi's Home​

Tailor your home environment using Build Mode:

  • Presets: Quickly transform your space with pre-designed rooms and themes.
  • Furniture and Craft Mode: Purchase or create furniture items yourself using the in-game 3D printer, which transforms AI-generated images into playable objects.

You have the freedom to customize walls, floors, furniture layouts, decor items, and even garden spaces to create your ideal living environment.

Exploring & Editing Your City​

Your city is fully editable, allowing you to shape your perfect community:

  • City Appearance: Control weather conditions, add unique animals (pandas, crocodiles), plants, decorations, and special events like fireworks displays.
  • City Management: Set the frequency of emotions, health standards, safety levels, and romantic success rates.

Public areas like parks can be edited at no extra cost, enabling you to personalize community spaces easily.

Understanding Desired Life, Ambitions, and Urges​

Your Zoi's existence revolves around three core concepts:

  • Desired Life: The overarching life ambition influencing your Zoi's choices and daily tasks, like creativity or wisdom.
  • Ambitions: Specific short-term goals, which when achieved, boost happiness, unlock skills, and improve overall life satisfaction.
  • Urges: Spontaneous, immediate desires that your Zoi must fulfill within a set timeframe to earn emotional and monetary rewards.

Regularly consult your Zoi Card to manage and fulfill these vital life aspects.

Handling Karma and Death in inZOI​

Every action impacts your Zoi's Karma. Positive interactions and fulfillment of ambitions maintain good Karma, whereas negative actions diminish it. Poor Karma can lead to your Zoi becoming a ghost after death, negatively impacting your city's atmosphere. Monitor your Karma through city reports, intervening when necessary to prevent negative outcomes.

Advanced Gameplay Tips​

  • Regularly enable autonomy for hassle-free management.
  • Frequently check your smartphone for career opportunities, community events, and social messages.
  • Explore creative gameplay strategies—there's no single "right" way to play.
  • Experiment with advanced customization options to enhance your gameplay experience further.

With this enhanced beginner's guide, you're now equipped to dive confidently into the rich and immersive world of inZOI. Create unforgettable stories, manage thriving communities, and enjoy every unique moment with your Zois!