SimCity BuildItHow to Get the Most Free SimCash in SimCity BuildIt
In SimCity BuildIt SimCash is not produced in your city: it is earned by competing. The Contest of Mayors concentrates most of the free income, and the rest arrives through achievements, chests and seasonal events.
What is the fastest and most efficient way to get SimCash in SimCity BuildIt?
SimCity BuildIt runs two central currencies. Simoleons are your working cash: they pay for roads, services and residential upgrades, and they are generated by selling items and collecting at city hall. SimCash is the premium currency, you start with 50 of it, and it is used for exclusive buildings, speeding up production, adding factory and storage slots and refreshing shops. Since it is not produced passively, all free SimCash comes from rewards: the weekly contest, the Mayor's Pass, city achievements, ads, club wars and event tracks.
Every day
- Continuous income depending on your production rate and the advisors' offers
Manufacture and sell to fill your Simoleon coffers
Simoleons come in through city hall, through cargo ship and airport deliveries, through gift bubbles and, above all, through selling items. Manufacturing finished products and selling them at the Trade Depot pays considerably more than selling raw materials, because the margin is in the transformation. The advisors make occasional offers for specific items at prices well above market: it is worth knowing the reference price of the ones you produce so you can tell when an offer is worth taking and when it is not.
Every week
- From 5 to 200 SimCash a week in Metropolis league and from 25 to 2,000 in Megalopolis
Climb leagues in the Contest of Mayors
The contest pits a hundred mayors of similar level against each other over seven days and hands out prizes by final position within your league. The low leagues pay only Simoleons and keys; SimCash appears from Metropolis onwards and shoots up in Megalopolis. That is why the real goal is not winning one stray week, but climbing a league without dropping back down. You score by completing daily tasks, weekly milestones and extra tasks activated with golden tickets; the daily tasks need no activation and expire if you do not claim them.
- One guaranteed chest a week plus small amounts per video
Collect the weekly golden chest and the ads
The golden chest is claimed once a week and is one of the few SimCash intakes that does not depend on competing with anyone. On top of that come the optional videos scattered around the interface, which besides currency let you shorten the refresh time on a contest task or extend the deadline on an extra task about to expire. The amounts are small, but since they are recurring and free it is worth folding them into your login routine.
- War keys, materials and SimCash depending on the collective result
Take part in club wars and design challenges
Club wars hand out rewards for participation and result, and the club challenge runs in parallel to the contest: the more points all the members add up between them, the higher the chest that opens for the group. Design challenges work separately, with their own leagues and their own redemption currency. Neither demands spending: they demand showing up. Joining an active club multiplies what you get out of the same actions you already perform in your city during the week.
One time only
- One-time SimCash payouts for population, building and production milestones
Sweep up your outstanding city achievements
City achievements pay out once and usually sit half finished because nobody checks them. Many reward things you are already doing: hitting population bands, placing a certain number of services, producing a running total of items. Before starting a round of upgrades it is worth opening the list and checking which one is closest, because sometimes two or three different planning decisions close several achievements at once. For a young city it is the fastest route to your first SimCash cushion.
Events only
- Tiered seasonal rewards, with SimCash and keys at several stages
Progress through the Mayor's Pass
The Mayor's Pass advances with the points generated by the same contest tasks, with a weekly cap that depends on your league. Every season includes a double points week that lets you make up lost tiers, so it is worth saving the longer tasks for that window. The free version hands out less than the paid one, but the basic track delivers SimCash, golden tickets and speed-ups without spending anything. It is worth checking the weekly cap before pushing tasks that are no longer going to score.
- Tiers with SimCash, platinum keys and golden tickets during each campaign
Follow the event tracks and limited-time shops
Event tracks add a third class of points to the contest tasks while they are active, so the same task pays into three scoreboards at once. The calendar rotates between pass seasons, double points weeks, 48 to 72 hour flash contests and limited-time shops. Since the value of each action changes depending on what is live, checking the calendar before emptying your storage keeps you from wasting production on a weak week.
What does not work
No generator can add SimCash to your SimCity BuildIt account: the balance is handled on the game’s servers and there is no way to touch it from outside. If you arrived looking for one, we explain in detail how they work on the inside and why they always end the same way.
See why SimCash generators are a scam →Frequently asked questions
How do you get SimCash consistently without paying?
The Contest of Mayors is by far the main source, but it only pays SimCash in the upper leagues. The free strategy is to climb to Metropolis or Megalopolis and hold your place, completing the daily tasks, milestones and extra tasks every week. Around that, the weekly golden chest, your outstanding achievements and the event tracks round out the income.
How much SimCash does the contest pay depending on the league you are in?
The difference is very large. In the lower leagues the prizes are Simoleons, golden keys and speed-ups, with no premium currency at all. In Metropolis the prizes run from around 5 SimCash for the small tier to around 200 for the grand prize. In Megalopolis the scale jumps to 25 for the small tier and up to 2,000 at the top, alongside hundreds of platinum keys.
What should you do with the SimCash you have saved?
The most profitable use is whatever expands permanent capacity: extra slots in factories and stores and more room in the Trade Depot, because they increase how many items you can produce and sell each day. Speeding up individual productions or buying Simoleons turns scarce currency into something you recover by playing. Exclusive buildings are an aesthetic decision, not an economic one.
Why does manufacturing items pay more than selling raw materials?
Because the value comes from the transformation time. Raw materials come out of your factories in minutes and sell cheap; finished items need several ingredients and a much longer wait, and they sell for far more. On top of that, the advisors make specific offers for particular products at high prices, and those offers only appear if you have the finished item in storage.
