On the island during season one, there were three types of dwellings:

Shacks - Constructable after 1 drive kill, don't have keys, so anyone can come in. Sleeps one.

Cottages - Constructable after 10 drive kills, have 5 keys, and sleeps two.

Mansions - Constructable after 20 drive kills, have 15 keys, and sleep four to five. ¹⁾²⁾³⁾

Additional keys can be cut, but they cost donor points. One can build 3 dwellings. And only one in a city, but you can purchase a second in a city, if you don't already own three dwellings.

Also see Housing. For a guide to Season Two dwellings, read on.

So, you've been traveling around the island, and stumbled across various houses, stores, and wildlife preserves on map squares. And you're thinking that maybe you'd like a place to call your own, too. Problem is, you have no idea how to get yourself a sweet little dwelling to play with. LOOK NO FURTHER!⁴⁾

There's a handy building called Suzie's Hardware. Enter the store.

This will cost you 100 cigarettes. If you don't have 100 cigs, either adventure in the jungle until you do, or donate.

Travel to the map square you want your dwelling to be on. There will be an option in the left-hand menu to plant a stake. There is room for four dwellings on each map square. If there are already four, you'll have to choose somewhere else. Or burn down someone else's dwelling, and build over it. ⁵⁾

Aside from land stakes, Suzie also sells three handy toolkits. They are:

This kit will allow you to cut down logs⁶⁾ on Jungle squares, and install them in your dwelling. You need 100 logs to build your dwelling.

This kit allows you to carve chunks of rock out of Mountain squares and install them in your dwelling. You need 25 stones⁷⁾ to build your dwelling.

This kit allows you to hang pretty curtains or blood dripping skulls in your house. Or both. It's how you distinguish your home from the hundreds of others on the island. The number of times you have to decorate depends on the length of the description you write.⁸⁾ There's a handy status bar that will show you how far along you are.

Each toolkit costs a cig a day. If you do not have enough cigs, adventure in the jungle or donate.

While lugging your materials across the map to your plot, you may stumble across wild packs of stones or logs. Do not pick these up! Either they are booby-trapped, and will explode in a Skronky mess if you touch them, or they are clever material-mimics; a monster which will Failboat you faster than a gargleblaster-drinking Magpie. You have been warned!⁹⁾

Once you have the main structure up, you can either add rooms, or expand rooms to include one or more sleeping-spaces. This will, of course, take more logs and stones. It takes 70 logs and 20 stones to create an extension room, and 20 logs and 5 stones to add one sleeping spot to a room's capacity.

That's it! Remember: Suzie's in IC for supplies. Carpentry for logs from Jungle. Masonry for Stone from Mountain. Stealing supplies is for losers whose own dogs¹⁰⁾ don't love them.^11)12)13)

Now get out there and build!

During Season One, were you tired of sleeping in the Prancing Spiderkitty or camping out in the wilderness? Contestants looking for a little homestead of their own can either buy an existing dwelling or they can build one of their own. Shacks are the easiest, and even new contestants can build one. More experienced contestants can build a cottage, and highly experienced contestants can build a mansion.

To build a home in the city of your choice, head over to visit the locals. You can ask to view any local dwellings that are for sale, or you can start the process of building your own:

• Shack. To build a shack, plan on spending 10 cigs on a bribe to the local housing authority¹⁴⁾ and 2,500 req on supplies to build it. You'll also need to spend 15 to 25 turns building your shack.¹⁵⁾¹⁶⁾

• Cottage. The next level up in stability and social standing is the cottage.¹⁷⁾ To build one, plan on spending 100 cigs on the bribe and 25,000 req on supplies. You'll also need to spend about 50 turns building it.

• Mansion. Nothing says you've made it like a mansion of your very own. These dwellings are the pinnacle of opulence and excessive wealth. To build one, plan on spending an impressive 1 million req, 250 ciggies, and an extreme amount of turns.¹⁸⁾