Vending machine
Vending Machines provide a quick snack for people moving about in your Tower.
Place them in high traffic areas to generate a small amount of additional revenue.
Vending Machines require restocking by either Loading Dock or Delivery Dock workers.
Temporary stops
A Vending Machine can be an impromptu stop for a sim walking past it. The game makes one temporary-stop roll for each horizontal walking segment; a machine is eligible only when it is constructed, open for business, and its entrance lies strictly between the segment's start and end points. Sims with a room assignment, no destination, an existing temporary stop, or an active disaster do not make this roll.
The roll is based on the horizontal distance d travelled: 1 - (1 - r)^(d / 100), where r depends on economy difficulty. It is 10% per 100 tiles on Easy, 7.5% on Normal, and 5% on Hard.
| Horizontal distance | Easy | Normal | Hard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 tiles | 1.05% | 0.78% | 0.51% |
| 50 tiles | 5.13% | 3.82% | 2.53% |
| 100 tiles | 10% | 7.5% | 5% |
After a successful roll, the game chooses uniformly from all eligible temporary-stop rooms on that segment (such as Vending Machines and Washrooms). A Vending Machine always accepts the visit once chosen, so if N eligible rooms lie on the route, the chance that a particular Vending Machine receives the stop is the distance-based chance divided by N. Its price does not change this chance. A visiting sim remains for a random 5–15 simulation minutes, then continues its original trip.
Strategy
Place Vending Machines along long, busy horizontal routes where sims pass their entrance. They compete with other eligible temporary-stop rooms on the same walking segment, so avoid clustering too many of them together. Keep inventory stocked: an empty machine closes and cannot receive temporary-stop visits.