The Sims 4 Blast from the Past event guide: How to complete every quest, claim all rewards, plus every retro Sims reference explained!

Update: We added details of every Week 2 quest and unlockable!

The Sims 4’s Blast from the Past event is a time-limited in-game event celebrating 25 years of The Sims franchise. Beginning on the big day itself, February 4th, 2025, the event is due to run for six weeks, with your final chance to finish all the quests and claim all the rewards being March 18th.

Like the Reaper’s Rewards event at Halloween, Blast from the Past is a lore-heavy questline that’ll see you helping out an NPC – in this cast Emit Relevart, who returns to the franchise over a decade after his debut appearance in The Sims 3: Into the Future.

Assist Emit with his time travel shenanigans and you’ll be richly rewarded with goodies including time-limited cosmetics, traits, decor, and collectibles. Retro Simmers in particular won’t want to miss out; so here’s our complete guide to The Sims 4 Blast from the Past event, including key dates, quest details and rewards!

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The Sims 4 Blast from the Past event details

TS4’s Blast from the Past event lasts for six weeks. The first three weeks will see new quests added every Tuesday, followed by another three-week period during which you’ll be able to complete any outstanding quests at a more leisurely pace.

The key dates for the Blast from the Past event are:

• February 4th, 2025: Blast from the Past event begins, Week 1 quests unlocked.
• February 11th, 2025: Week 2 quests unlocked.
• February 18th, 2025: Week 3 quests unlocked.
• February 25th, 2025: Week 4 quests unlocked.
• March 18th, 2025: Blast from the Past event ends.

New content unlocks at 5pm GMT / 12pm EST / 9am PST on the dates stated, all of which are Tuesdays. The event end will also occur at the time of day given (or the equivalent in your region).

The Sims 4 Blast from the Past quests and tasks list

Unlike the last few events in The Sims 4, quests in Blast from the Past unlock sequentially and need to be completed in order. Due to the story-heavy nature of the event, individual tasks within each quest also unlock one at a time.

Below are details of all the currently available Blast from the Past quests, as well as the individual steps required to complete them:

Quest 1 (Week 1): A Strange Visitor

1. Tune in to the news channel on a TV for 15 minutes.
2. Check Emit’s social media profile, found under the Social Networking category on any computer.
3. Ask three other Sims about Emit.
4. Travel to Magnolia Blossom Park in Willow Creek.
5. Introduce yourself to Emit Relevart.
6. Ask Emit Relevart about the missing items.
7. Ask three other Sims about the missing items.

Quest 2 (Week 1): Missing Clues

1. Refresh your memory in The Sims Archives, found under the Play Game category on any computer.
2. Find the special time capsule by digging in any rock mound or dirt pile.
3. Open the special time capsule in the active Sim’s inventory.
4. Read the IOU in the active Sim’s inventory.
5. Report back to Emit, who can be found in Magnolia Blossom Park or invited to your Sim’s home lot via the phone.
6. Accuse three Sims of being a time traveller.
7. Ponder time travel while using a shower, bath, or toilet.

Quest 3 (Week 2): Echoes of Time

1. Read The History of Time Travel at a library, available on any bookshelf on the lot. (Can be completed concurrently with Step 2.)
2. Study a historical display at a museum, available on any art piece on the lot. (Can be completed concurrently with Step 1.)
3. Experience the past by playing The Sims Archives Vol. 2, found under the Play Game category on any computer. (Unlocks after completing Step 1.)
4. Ask any elderly Sim about the Shard of Time. (Unlocks after completing Step 2.)
5. Research Shards of Time on any computer under the Web > Research category.
6. Search three objects for Shards of Time.
7. Show Emit the Shards of Time.

Quest 4 (Week 2): Inventing the Past

1. Read Theoretical Electronics at a library, available on any bookshelf on the lot. (Can be completed concurrently with Steps 2 & 3.)
2. Repair something with Handiness Lvl. 2 or higher. (Can be completed concurrently with Steps 1 & 3.)
3. Exercise your mind by participating in a logic-based activity with Logic Lvl. 2 or higher. (Can be completed concurrently with Steps 1 & 2.)
4. Collect Plathinum from a rock mound or dirt pile. (Unlocks after completing Step 1.)
5. Obtain an electronic upgrade part. (Unlocks after completing Step 2.)
6. Collect Ironyum from a rock mound or dirt pile. (Unlocks after completing Step 3.)
7. Build the time travel component.

Blast from the Past rewards list

Completing tasks and quests as part of the Blast from the Past event generates Event Points to unlock rewards. Rewards can be unlocked as soon as the EP requirement for them has been reached, so there’s no need to “spend” points to get rewards; it’s all cumulative, and you can just claim everything that you’ve unlocked from the event page.

There are 33 event rewards in total, including 21 event-exclusive unlocks that you can only get by playing Blast from the Past:

Missing Sim Milk Carton collectibles will be deposited in the inventory of whichever Sim is the active character when you claim them, as will rewards of common in-game items like books and potions; Satisfaction Points will likewise be added to the active Sim’s reward pool. Simoleon rewards will be added into the active household’s funds.

Rewards that grant new BB or CAS items, as well as the new music station and aspiration added with the event, will be unlocked for all saves in your game going forward once claimed. You can also purchase duplicate Missing Sim Milk Carton collectibles from the buy catalogue after unlocking them.

Do I need any DLC in order to complete the Blast from the Past event?

The Blast from the Past event is available to all players who have access to the fully-updated base game, and EA have confirmed in an FAQ that no additional packs will be required to participate.

(Previous events have sometimes included DLC-specific quest tasks, but these were always strictly optional, and it’s always possible to earn enough Event Points to claim all event rewards without any DLC.)

What are the retro Sims references in the Blast from the Past rewards?

All of the event-exclusive rewards in Blast from the Past reference older titles in The Sims series.

References to The Sims 1

The Retro Deco Phone Set and Get Up! Alarm Clock resemble items from The Sims 1, but mainly reference the fact that landline phones and alarm clocks didn’t appear in The Sims 4 up until now, having both been replaced by smart phone UI features. (Note that while the alarm clock is a working electronic, the phones are purely decorative.) The Yesterday Set recreates two of the most recognisable floor tile styles from The Sims 1 base game.

Both parts of the Fun-Fun Inflatable Set reference similarly-named items of inflatable furniture added in The Sims: House Party expansion pack, which was launched back in 2001 when inflatable seating was a bit of a fad. Three activity reward items are direct recreations of House Party furniture, too: the Bigger Gatherings Banquet based on the Elegant Chef Buffet Table, the Surprise Birthday Cake based on the Fancy Feet Cake Treat, and The ElectroDance Floor based on the Bounce My Booty Dancefloor.

References to The Sims 2

Dina Caliente’s LBD pretty straightforwardly recreates the little black dress sported by popular recurring character Dina Caliente during her debut appearance in The Sims 2.

References to The Sims 3

The Relevart Time Walkers, Future’s So Bright “Sun” Glasses, Relevart Neck Stabilizer, and Be “The Emit” CAS items are the pieces needed to re-create Emit Relevart’s outfit from this event, which is in turn heavily inspired by his original appearance in The Sims 3.

Franchise-wide references

The Sticky Fingers aspiration seems to be a tease towards the anticipated reintroduction of burglars, a popular NPC type from the first three generations of the franchise who are expected to be added into The Sims 4 very soon, following popular demand.

The New Retro Music Station will likely add more songs from earlier games, much like the existing Retro Station.

Most notably, of course, items from the new Missing Sim Milk Carton collectible set each feature a character from an earlier game:

• “Pit Beast, Dweller in the Dark” is a reference to the Pit Beast (a.k.a. Griselda) from The Sims Medieval.
• “Ginny, former Pirate and Sheriff” is a reference to Ginny from the MySims series, who was known as Cap’n Ginny in MySims and Sheriff Ginny in MySims Kingdom (the two games recently collected in the MySims Cozy Bundle).
• “Bella Goth, Starry-Eyed Stargazer” is a reference to Bella Goth’s (dis)appearance in The Sims 2, in which she was infamously abducted by aliens while stargazing through a telescope.
• “Skip Broke, Prolific Father” is a reference to Skip Broke from The Sims 2, the father of Brandi Broke’s three sons who died when the ladder mysteriously disappeared from his swimming pool (in reference to a popular method for killing off Sims in earlier generations of the franchise).
• The fifth milk carton shows a burglar from The Sims 2.
• The sixth milk carton shows Emit Relevart from The Sims 3: Into the Future.

How to fix the blank UI bug in the Blast from the Past event

Events in The Sims 4 don’t always run entirely smoothly, and the “blank UI” a.k.a. “no tasks” bug is a particular recurring nuisance. So much so, in fact, that we’ve got a whole separate guide dedicated to fixing it whenever it rears its ugly head as part of a new event.

And as ever, Sims community mainstay Crinrict has set up a helpful troubleshooting page for Blast from the Past, where they plan to once again dig down into known issues with the event as they occur.

Celebrations for The Sims’ 25th anniversary are in full swing, with a bunch of retro re-releases coming out to get you in the party mood! To that end, be sure to check out our The Sims 1 cheats and The Sims 2 cheats pages to help you get the most out of The Sims Legacy Collection, and we also have a list of all characters and their interests plus how to farm all Essences in the MySims Cozy Bundle!