GUIDE The Block Captains' Official Quickstart Guide

[ATA]Community · Jul 31, 2026

Tips, tricks and hacks from Single City’s Block Captains!

Acknowledgements

A Huge Thank You to Our Block Captains

This guide was made possible by our incredible Single City Block Captains, who took the time to share their best tips, tricks, strategies, and lessons learned with Citizens old and new!

Their advice comes from real experience within the City, and we’re incredibly grateful for the effort, thought, and care they put into helping our newest players get started. Whether you’re looking for guidance on Roomies, gathering, events, PFO, Crews, or general progression, we hope their collective wisdom helps make your journey through Single City a little smoother.

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

Tips are organized by topic so new players can quickly find what they need. The Captains’ original wording has been preserved to keep it real!

TOPICS

The Block Captain’s Quickstart Guide to Single City Welcome to Single City! Here are some tips I wish I knew when I first started.

Focus on balanced stats. Early on, don’t neglect one attribute. Fitness, Wits, Charm, Luck, and Style all contribute to your overall strength. As your account grows, you can specialize based on your goals.

Be patient. Single City is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistent daily progress will outperform trying to rush everything at once. Most importantly have fun! Ask questions in Crew chat, don’t be afraid to experiment, and remember that everyone started as a beginner.

— Stormrouge

Tutorial is user friendly and easy to follow. However ask questions if confused. Feel free to ask in crew chats as well as in city and world chat.

— xoLilith

Follow the tutorial, the tutorial is your best friend and will guide you on the basic principles on how the game works. Since people will be from pimd, I assume it may be similar mechanisms

— blueberry_xo

Focus on leveling up your Ramona early game (if you have her), she enables you to successfully hit higher level collabs a lot easier

— iViVi

So my personal first huge tip is something that not many captains (if not any) will probably mention As a complete starter, try your best not to upgrade every single roomie equally. In certain ways this could prevent starting players from progressing in the game. Instead, only upgrade your roomies just enough to defeat Evelyns, get 4-5 heart (or star) collabs, and boost your gathering speed. As a player who’s been playing the game since mid-late 2022, I’d focus on 1-2 roomies first. Upgrade them as much as you can to make them stronger. Then, once your first 1-2 roomies are solid you can then upgrade your next 1-2 roomies and so on. This might sound like a slow start, but progress will be much quicker in the long run.

— Virus

Upgrade your roomies. Your roomies are a huge part of your power. Level them, increase their talents, and pair them with allies that boost their strongest stats.

Learn what each roomie does best.
Different roomies excel at different activities:
Viola is excellent for attacking.
K-Bear is a strong rally leader.
Remi and Nikki are great defenders.
Aimee, Zoey, Iris, Sonny, and Opal shine as gatherers. Using the right roomie for the right job makes a noticeable difference.

— Stormrouge

Don’t overinvest in your first Roomies. New players often wonder which Roomies are worth investing in, especially after meeting Sofie, Kimberly, and other early Roomies. It’s usually better to only level them when progression quests require it and save most resources for their first Epic or Legendary Roomie. If they don’t get lucky with Roomie Boxes, they can still unlock Remi through the login rewards, making him a great first investment for House Defense, Drama, and early Collabs.

— BenBurdayim

Don’t spread your XP thin. The best PB&J is thick with PB. When leveling roomies.. focus on one defender, one gatherer, one collab, and one heavy hitter at a time.

— xoLilith

First tip I always give to my littles is:
Focus on growing 1 roomie from each category at first:
1 for gathering (Iris),
1 for drama & defense (Remi),
1 for collabs (Ramona) - the most common roomies every newbie has.

— Andrada

Pay attention to the roomies skills. Some roomies are better at drama, some are gatherers, others specialize in PVP. Read their descriptions and skills to find out their uses.

Example: Zoey is great at gathering (even better in a bookstore)
Focus on leveling: 1 gatherer, 1 collaber, and/or 1 pvper depending on your play style, which is totally up to you. Remi is a great all-around roomie to level for starters.
Keep roomies working in the city shops

— Nyxii

How to quickly level your Roomie up:

(Obviously) Save up for the Events where you get Rewards for leveling up (Building a better roomie & Shopping Spree)
I'd suggest Newbies to focus on leveling up Remi since he is a well all-rounder
If you don't have enough xp to level up your strongest roomies / or Remi (reference to point 2) then level up another Roomie so you that you just reach 3 stars. If it says you get 3 stars at 48.000 points then choose a roomie who needs around that much xp. That way you will be able to save a ton of xp for the (maybe) xp to (maybe) level up your strongest roomie then. It will also result in reaching a higher place on the leaderboard. Also I personally do this and it is indeed a quick way. My Remi got strong real fast haha.

How to make Remi (or another Roomie) stronger:

Give the roomie your best furniture you have (yellow/epic or purple/legendary)
I do pay attention to the title of the furniture (however I don't even know myself how smart that is ) e. g. Musician furniture on Remi....
Try to upgrade the roomies furniture every time you can (obviously during the events).
Home Decor: Focus on getting pops for Remi (and maybe billie... that's what I do at least) to increase their talents
Don't make the same mistake as I did. Players should choose wisely which Roomie to tier up. I'd say keep e. g. other epic roomies then Remi at level 15 to 30 it depends how good those roomies are. Cuz you won't want to be stuck on missing stars when you got all that xp

– _Ani_

Roomies Guide for Beginners

Roomie Categories Roomies are divided into four rarities:

Common (Gray)
Rare (Blue)
Epic (Orange/Gold)
Legendary (Purple)

Generally, the higher the rarity, the stronger the Roomie.

⸻

Priority #1: Remi
If you’re unsure where to invest your resources, the answer is simple: focus on Remi first.

Remi is the most versatile Roomie in the game and is useful in almost every activity, including Attacks, Home Defense, Drama, PFO, Collaborations, and Chad Rallies. Invest your XP and Room Upgrades into Remi before anyone else.

For now, I’d recommend ignoring most Common Roomies and the majority of Rare Roomies. You’ll gradually unlock much stronger Roomies that are a much better investment.

⸻

Roomie Skill Categories

Different Roomies excel at different activities.

Drama Roomies
These are mainly used for Drama, PFO activities, and attacking Evelyn to spawn Chad in the shop.

Some examples include:

Remi
Viola
Samir
Billie
Henry
Morgan
Riley
Cynthia
…and many more depending on which Roomies you’ve unlocked.

Collaboration (Collab) Roomies
These increase the Hearts earned during Collaborations, giving better rewards.

Examples include:

Common: Sophie
Rare: Kimberly, Luna
Epic: Emily, Ramona, Tay
Legendary: Liam, Imogen, Cherie

Home Defense Roomies
These provide better defensive stats when protecting your home during Drama and PFO. Some examples include:

Best Overall: Remi

Sebastian
Scotty
Kara
Nikki
Billie
And several Legendary Roomies

Rad Rival Roomies
These are stronger when fighting Rad Rivals.
Morgan is the standout choice because she saves energy per hit. You’ll use her more once Rad events become available, so don’t worry about building her immediately.

Gathering Roomies
These are your resource gatherers and become very important as you progress.

Examples include:

Common: Iris
Epic: Zoe, Fern
Legendary: Sunny, Opal, Elle, Aimee

Specialties:

Sunny & Opal – Faster Cash gathering
Elle & Aimee – Faster Reputation gathering
Iris, Zoe & Fern – Great all-round gatherers for resources, nodes, and loot.

Pro Tip: Check the Roomie Hashtags
Every Roomie has hashtags listed under their profile. Tap on each Roomie to see them.

These hashtags tell you:

What role they specialize in (Drama, Collaboration, Home Defense, Gathering, etc.).
Which shops they perform best in (such as Cafe, Vintage, Gym, Arcade, and others).

Using a Roomie in their preferred shop gives them better performance, including higher chances of forming colored bolts, along with better attack and defense stats. It’s worth checking these hashtags whenever you unlock a new Roomie.

⸻

Roomie Furniture
Furniture also comes in four rarities:

Common (Gray)
Rare (Blue)
Epic (Orange/Gold)
Legendary (Purple)

As you play daily events and mini-events, you’ll gradually collect better furniture through Roomie Furniture Boxes.

During Research Day or Spend Cash events, prioritize upgrading furniture in this order:

Legendary
Epic
Rare (only if you don’t have enough Epic or Legendary)

Avoid investing heavily in Common furniture.

Always equip your best furniture on Remi first.

⸻

Recommended Progression
If you’re wondering where to invest your resources, here’s the general recommendation:
1.

Remi (always your first priority)
2.

Zoe (to strengthen one of your main gatherers)
3.

A strong Collaboration Roomie

Epic: Ramona or Emily (recommended)
Rare: Kimberly or Luna

Ultimately, your priorities will depend on which Roomies you’ve unlocked. If you’re ever unsure who to build next, just ask in chat and we’ll be happy to help!
— Zzen

Roomies Tip

Focus on leveling up one strong attacker and one strong defender first and put all your best furnitures on them

Gatherers 🪎
Overall fastest Gatherer: Zoey (at lvl 10 is enough)
Second fastest gatherer: Fern (fastest at lvl 40)

Bolts/Glues: Zoey, Fern

Cash: Zoey, Sunny, Opal

Reps: Fern, Aimee, Elle 🪎
Pizza: Zoey, Iris, Sunny

Best Places for each Roomie to gather:

Zoey: Bookstore (general)Vintage (zone 6/7 bolts/glues)
Fern: Gym
Aimee: Vintage (general), Arcade (zone 6/7 bolts/glues)
Sunny: Bookstore (general), Cafe (zone 6/7 bolts/ glues)
Elle: Cafe
Opal: Vintage
Iris: Gym (general), Bookstore (zone 6/7 bolts/glues)
Selena: Gym

Collabers

Vintage: Imogen, Henry
Arcade: Drago, Ramona
Cafe: Anita, Emily, Kimberly
Gym: Liam
Bookstore: Cherie

FYI: Anita eats so much pizza and takes so long to destress. So only use if you have lots of resources

Drama on Evelyn

Best to use: K-Bear
Others you can use: Remi, Billie, Samir, Henry

Chad Rally

Best to use: Morgan (reduced energy cost at lvl 30)
Others you can use: any of your roomie that has the highest attack power

Defenders

Best Defenders: Sebastian (more powerful if at home), Nerissa
Easiest to use and well-rounded: Remi

Attackers

Best for Attacking houses: Viola, Yuting (best when you max all her talents)
Best for attacking at Shop: Cynthia, Billie, Samir

– _Ani_

Focus on leveling up your gathering level to at least lvl 4. Lvl 4 gathering is unlocked with living room 10, so it should be doable from the beginning.

Afterwards unlock rally joiner, as rallies give a lot of reputation and materials to upgrade your home furniture. Level 5 gathering also gives one of the biggest boosts, so I would recommend focusing on this afterwards.

Remember to completely finish collecting from cash/Rep/Pizza nodes, since they give rss tokens only once you finish it.

— iViVi

Gather resources constantly.
Don’t let your roomies sit idle. Keep them gathering whenever you’re offline. Those resources become incredibly valuable later.

— Stormrouge

Learn where upgrade materials come from. New players often struggle to find specific upgrade materials like cushions, umbrellas, cutting boards, glasses, or Rare/Epic/Legendary bolts and nails.

Unlocking Rival Rally Joiner early is a big help since rallies provide a reliable source of materials for house progression. It’s also worth explaining how material nodes work, because many players don’t realize that after fully gathering a node, the next one has a chance to refresh as a different tier, from Common all the way up to Legendary.

— BenBurdayim

Early game, besides running chad rallies, the most important part of the research tree is increasing the gathering level (aka “Life in the City” in the City Slicker section). Gathering is the easiest way to accumulate resources!

Bonus tip, when gathering, make sure you read the roomies talents - certain roomies perform better in certain shops and certain resource nodes.

— Moon

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When gathering spread your roomies on resources. And pay attention to what type of shops a roomie is best in. (Hashtags are key)

— xoLilith

Always have roomies gathering to have as many resources when needed. This contributes to crew gig as well and it’s good to have those resources when needed in the future. Beware of being oc and potentially getting resources stolen

— blueberry_xo

Gather Rep and cash in the highest tier nodes possible. Don't worry too much about collecting glue or Pizza at lower levels until you need them.

Send roomies home after finishing to bank your resources then send them out again.

— Nyxii

Focus on having Rally joiner lesson finished as soon as possible for best growth.

— Quinnsational

Invest in the right studies early. Home Grown studies are extremely important for long-term progression. Prioritizing Daily Contest and H2H Contest studies early can provide much better rewards over time, especially since H2H Contest study rewards improve significantly with each level.

— BenBurdayim

When doing research, do the minimum needed to move onto the next research. Some research will “x/10” and you may think you need to finish all 10 to move onto the next, but in reality you may only need to do one to move on. This saves a lot of time when you’re trying to get through the research tree (mainly to unlock the gold parts, such as “Life in the City” or “Multitasking.”

— Moon

Choose SC academies that help with protection!

— _Ani_

Focus on the part of academy that lets you unlock higher city zone - gathering will be easier & faster.

— Andrada

Always have something upgrading in the SC Academy and/or be working towards the next upgrade.

— Nyxii

Recycling specific roomie furniture can be a quick and easy way to earn cash when you’re desperately short on money.

— iViVi

Upgrade your house wisely.
Some furniture upgrades require other rooms or furniture pieces to reach certain levels first. Check the requirements before spending materials so you don’t get stuck.

— Stormrouge

Be careful what furniture you upgrade.
One of the easiest ways to get stuck early is upgrading random furniture instead of the pieces needed for house progression. Following a furniture upgrade priority list can help players spend their materials wisely and avoid slowing down their own progress.

Don’t rush to recycle furniture.
If you have furniture you don’t need, it’s often better to keep it instead of recycling it right away. You may be able to trade it later for pieces you are missing.

Be careful when recycling Roomie furniture.
Recycling Roomie furniture doesn’t return all materials. You only get a portion back, especially nails. However, materials like table knobs, desk planks, bookends, plant soil, and bed springs can be partially recovered, and the amount increases as the furniture tier goes up. Upgrading Common Roomie furniture to T5 before recycling can be a surprisingly efficient way to recover more materials, just not nails.

There are already some helpful lists on the SC forums and Discord, and many crew leaders share them with new players as well.

— BenBurdayim

It's best to focus on leveling up the home rooms that protect resources (like dining room).

— _Ani_

Don’t put all your resources in tiering up your basic furni. Wait for a trading event and reach out to the crew to help you renovate - after this you can tier up everything.

— Andrada

You can put furni in your roomies rooms! The only thing you need to keep in mind is the rarity of the furniture. It's recommended that you equip legendary or epic furniture because they give better stats. Common furniture can all be recycled.

— Nyxii

Refrain from spending experience on roommates unless there’s an exp spending event happening. This allows you to get more speed-ups.

— iViVi

Save resources for events.
Avoid spending Rep, materials, and speedups the moment you get them. Many events reward you much more for saving and spending strategically.

— Stormrouge

Don’t skip your dailies- they all have a purpose. Collabs help you grow with XP, Drama helps you grow home furni.

— Quinnsational

Plan around events. Understanding the event cycle is a huge advantage for new players. Many players initially think H2H contests happen randomly, but once they learn there is a pattern, they can start planning ahead. For example, saving XP until an XP spending event overlaps with an H2H XP spending contest allows players to get rewards from both by spending the same XP once instead of using resources separately.

Don’t skip your daily tasks. Completing daily tasks and finishing the Daily To-Do List is one of the most consistent ways for new players to earn Gems and useful resources.

— BenBurdayim

How Long (10–11 Day) Events Work In Single City
Big events (like Heart Full of Song) last around 10–11 days. Inside them, there are daily rotating events that help you earn points, tickets, drinks, and boosts.

MAIN DAILY EVENTS TO PAY ATTENTION TO

Building a Better Roomie (BBR)
- Focus on Upgrading/leveling up roomies
- Don’t waste upgrades/XP outside this event if you can wait
Hitting the Town (HTT)
- Focus on collabs, hustles
- Works best when you’re active and coordinating
Study Hall (SH)
- Focus on doing research & academic upgrades
- Good day to push long-term progress
Shopping Spree (SS)
- Focus on spending Gems and leveling up roomies
- Important tip Save Gems and XP for this event
Gembrace the Moment (GTM)
- Focuses on using Gems
- Important tip Save Gems for this event
No Time to Waste (NTW)
- Focuses on speed-ups
- Don’t burn speed-ups randomly outside this
Same Day Delivery (SDD)
- Focuses on upgrading home level and furniture
- Best to:
  - Hustle cash
  - Prepare cash before this event starts
  - We help each other time upgrades and spending so free-to-play and low spenders can still progress well.
  - If you’re unsure whether to spend something —> ask in crew chat first

— Maya

DO YOUR DAILIES!!! The daily rewards are beneficial as you’re collabing and building XP, gathering resources give you the necessities to grow, and drama gives you the chance to spawn Chads for loot to level furniture.

— xoLilith

Do the “daily to do list” everyday for great rewards! You can earn the daily stars by completing the daily tasks (collab, drama, gather, use speedups)

*Note: There are 3 stars per daily tasks totalling 12 stars, only 9 stars are needed to complete “the daily to do list” for those rewards Adding on the dailies ^, collab during H2H comps in the right shop (gym, cafe, bookstore, vintage, arcade), gather during Pizza prep for the max rewards.

— blueberry_xo

Complete daily objectives every day (great way to get resources)
Contests (top right corner):

Check the daily to-do list (collab, drama, gather, speedups)
Every 4 hours, a new head-to-head contest takes place.
Save your Gems, XP, cash, and Rep and spend them during the ongoing contests (see below for full list).
Place on leaderboard for better prizes.

Upgrade correspondingly with the daily H2H schedule for the most rewards possible.

Save:

Roomie XP/stars for Building A Better Roomie & Shopping Spree
Gems for Gembrace The Moment
Speed-ups for No Time To Waste
Home upgrades or upgrading home furni for Same Day Delivery (can use speed-ups here too if necessary)
Expensive research or upgrading roomie furni for Study Hall

— Nyxii

━━✧ USUAL META SCHEDULE ✧━━
Building A Better Roomie (less tickets)
Public Freak Out
Gembrace The Moment AND/OR No Time To Waste
Hittin' The Town
Same Day Delivery Building
A Better Roomie
Hittin' The Town OR No Time To Waste
Study Hall
Shopping Spree
Hittin' The Town & No Time To Waste
Gembrace The Moment
Same Day Delivery Study Hall (no tickets)

━━✧ DAILY H2H CYCLES ✧━━
[each h2h lasts 4 hours total]

♡ SET 1

Hot Squats - COLLAB GYM

Treat Yo’self - UG room and furni

️The Daily Grind - COLLAB CAFE

The Friendzone - UG roomies, use xp

Nerd Alert - COLLAB BOOKSTORE

Virtual Reality - COLLAB ARCADE

♡ SET 2

Study Hall - Academy Research

Fashion Influencer - COLLAB VINTAGE

Party Prep - Side hustles

Hot Squats - COLLAB GYM

Treat Yo’self - UG room and furni

️The Daily Grind - COLLAB CAFE

♡ SET 3

The Friendzone - UPGRADE roomies

Nerd Alert - COLLAB BOOKSTORE

Virtual Reality - COLLAB ARCADE

Study Hall - Academy Research

Fashion Influencer - COLLAB VINTAGE

Party Prep - Side hustles

– iViVi

There is an Event called 24-h Event PFO (Public Freak out)

It can happen on every second Friday (I hope I'm right!)
Players are basically allowed to do everything in the Event that would normally break the Rules.
Everyone gets stars

for attacking Roomies. No matter if they are Home

(only first floor

can be attacked) or if you have them outside in e.g. a shop

.

During this Event it's best to get rid of your oc (overcap) Resources (cash

, Pizza

(this one is not that important tbh) and Reps

) or else they will get stolen

.

You can do that by spending them on SC Academy

(Cash

/Reps

) or upgrading your Rooms/Roomie Furniture/Home Furniture (cash

). The Pizza

is only for destressing your Roomies.

How to survive during PFO:

Evict all your Roomies in your first floor (once you do you might be oc cuz the Roomies protect your Resources as well). This way they players will most likely not attack you because they won't get stars and just attack you to get your oc.
Send all your Roomies Home, so they won't get attacked and loose your gathered Resources.
Put on a Shield so no one can attack you. But be careful which Shield you use cuz they have different Durations (you can use the channel ⁠unknown to set a reminder for a new shield if you choose a shield that doesn't last 24 h). You can not shield up immediately after attacking other players or their home, so please keep that in mind.

Of course you can also participate in this Event and get the Stars but I suggest to wait until you have better Roomies or leveled them up so they are not an easy target for others.

Crew members can help protect houses (send defense) but beware others will probably rally that house. Strong enough roomies as defenders can get us points during PFO if we win the drama/attack. (Some forget this.)

— _Ani_

Send your strongest roommate to join rallies — the stronger they are, the more reps you get.

— iViVi

Join an active Crew.
A helpful Crew makes the game much more enjoyable. Ask questions, join rallies, participate in events, and learn from experienced players.

— Stormrouge

Joining a crew early can make a huge difference for new players. Crews provide extra ways to progress and can help you move forward faster through crew helps, rallies, and the experience of more advanced players.

— BenBurdayim

Teamwork makes the dream work. Hit that help button and assist your crewmates when they’re leveling their rooms and working in academy.

— xoLilith

Don’t spend all your REP on the first allies you see.
It’s tempting to buy the first expensive ally, but focus on better stat percentages, not just higher prices. A lower priced ally with stronger percentages can be a much better long-term investment.
Replace your weakest allies over time.
Instead of trying to buy the most expensive ally possible, keep replacing your lowest stat allies with stronger versions. Small upgrades add up quickly.

— Stormrouge

Don't just buy any ally.
Try to look for allies first with maybe 500 Rep and choose 2-3+ stats. Only buy back if that ally is worth the rep (when it's expensive).
Allies who have great stats and are not yet allied to any player are a dream

– _Ani_

For smaller accounts Pizza is king. You will run out of Pizza before you have to worry about cash and eventually Rep for an upgrade.

— Quinnsational

Spend your Gems wisely. Using Gems to speed-up upgrades is generally not recommended. It might feel tempting early on, but Gems become much more valuable when saved for bigger purchases later. Speedups are already a core part of the game, so there’s rarely a reason to spend Gems to speed-up upgrades unless it’s really necessary.

Save your resource tokens. Cash, Pizza, and Rep Tokens cannot be stolen when your house gets attacked, unlike resources stored in your house. Try not to use them unless you really need to, and save them for situations where they can help you progress more efficiently.

Don’t rush to relocate. Relocation Tokens are worth saving until players have a good reason to move. It can be tempting to use them early, but choosing the right neighborhood is important since getting another token may take time.

— BenBurdayim

Be sure you open the free roomie boxes as often as they appear. But build up your roomie powerup boxes doing the head to head contests. Trust.. the rewards are richer with a larger number.

— xoLilith

Roomies: Store > Roomies > Power Up Box. These are available every 4 hours for free! Open them as much as you can, you can receive a variety of roomie items such as roomie pops, stars, XP, tokens and speedups

— blueberry_xo

You can watch ads daily for free items in the following Store tabs:

Deals (25 Gems)

Furniture (50 Home Decor Tokens)

Roomies (Power Up Box)

— Nyxii

Everyone’s play style is different and some people are prickly lil cacti. Don’t take it personal in bigger public chats if people come off rude. Don’t take minor hits to heart as we’re all navigating the tutorial and roomie stories.

— xoLilith

GUIDE The Block Captains' Official Quickstart Guide

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Acknowledgements

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