Lagos Life Beginner's Guide: Your First 7 Days in Eko

Most people who quit Lagos Life in the first hour quit for the same reason: their Sim is hungry, smelly and broke, and they have no idea which button fixes it. This guide is the order we would play a fresh account in, written after watching a lot of new players stumble through the same first evening.

Before you start: making your Sim

Sign-up asks for a name, a username and a password. Email is optional, but add one anyway, because it is the only way back in if you forget your password. You must be 18 or older.

Then you build your Sim: body, hairstyle, outfit style (casual, office, owambe), fabric (plain, Ankara, Adire, Aso Oke), skin tone and colours. None of this changes your stats, so have fun with it. You can change your look later at the salon and the boutique.

The choices that do matter come next.

Pick two traits with your first job in mind

Traits multiply how fast skills grow and change how quickly needs drain. The full list:

Our advice: pick one trait for the career you want and one "quality of life" trait. Hustler is the safest money pick because Hustle feeds trading, retail, event planning and the Instagram shop, and it gives a flat work bonus on top. Tech Bro or Sis plus Smooth Talker is the CcHub combo (more on that in the CcHub guide). Avoid Lazy Bone unless you are playing for laughs; the energy saving is real but your work performance takes a 15% hit.

Choose a big dream

Your big dream is a long-term goal that shows up on your Goals tab:

It does not lock you into anything. Pick the one that matches how you plan to play.

The lottery and your first home

After that the game rolls the "bet lottery": you become a LAPO Baby or a Nepo Baby. You do not choose. Then you pick where to live. We break down every option in Nepo Baby vs LAPO Baby, but the short version for Lagos:

If you want the gentlest start, take the UNILAG hostel: rent is tiny, you get a Monday allowance and there is no LAPO loan hanging over you.

Day 1: keep the bars green and get a job

When you land at home, tap your Sim (or press S on PC) to see six needs: Hunger, Energy, Fun, Social, Hygiene and Bladder. They drain at different speeds:

Bladder empties fastest, then Hunger. A Sim with a red bar works badly and gets sad moodlets, so fix needs before you go to work, not after.

Your starter home comes with the basics. Tap the cooler for a snack or zobo, the bucket to bath, the toilet for Bladder and the mattress to sleep. That covers everything for the first evening.

Now open Phone → Jobs and take a job. As a fresh account with no skills, Banking pays the best of the jobs you can get into straight away:

The skill-gated ones near the top (Medicine, Product Management) need a skill at level 3 first. Take Banking or whatever fits your traits; you can switch later. Once hired, the game tells you when your first shift is. You do not need to find the office; when it is time, tap Go to work.

The in-game helper's three steps are the right three steps: keep your needs green, get a job from Phone → Jobs, go to work and level up. Everything else can wait.

Day 2: money that does not need a boss

Shifts only happen on certain days and hours. The gaps in between are where new players waste time. Fill them with free gigs:

Two gigs need no skill at all and are worth doing from day one:

• Help at the Buka at Amala Shitta in Surulere pays ₦1,750 for 90 minutes. It costs a bit of Hygiene and Fun, so eat a ₦300 plate of Amala & Ewedu while you are there.
• Carry Load (Alabaru) at Balogun Market pays ₦2,250 and trains Fitness at the same time, which you need for Medicine and Aviation later.

After you finish a gig the spot needs time before you can repeat it. Players count roughly 20 real minutes, so rotate between locations rather than waiting.

Report a Crime at the Eko Police Division is another free ₦2,000 that most players never notice.

Day 3: buy the things that pay for themselves

Open Buy (press B on PC). It is tempting to buy a TV and a velvet sofa. Do not. Spend on items that either fix a need faster or unlock income:

The laptop desk is the most important purchase in the game for a new player. It unlocks Practice Coding, Freelance Gig (from Coding 2) and Run Instagram Shop at home, so you can earn while your Sim is safe indoors at night. Some players buy a second laptop so two activities are available without walking around the room.

Selling furniture back gives you much less than you paid, so place things carefully. On PC, arrow keys move an item, R rotates it and Enter places it.

Days 4–5: pick a skill and grind it

By now you should have a job and a laptop. Choose one skill to push hard. Coding is the most profitable early skill because it leads to Freelance Gigs, Product Management and the startup pitch at CcHub. Fitness is the next best: Medicine starts at ₦21,000 a shift once you hit Fitness 3, and the gym's Session with a Coach trains it at ×3.

Skills fade if you leave them alone for more than a week, so do not spread yourself across five of them.

Days 6–7: your first investment

If you have ₦150,000 spare after rent, buy the Recharge & Data Kiosk from Phone → Invest. It is the cheapest business and earns a little every evening, including the days you do not log in. Then keep stacking: Zobo stand, POS stand, Buka. Our business and investing guide has the payback math.

If you started as a LAPO Baby, the weekly ₦12,000 loan repayment comes out automatically. Clearing the ₦72,000 total early gives you a nice "debt-free" moment and one less bill.

Mistakes we see every new player make

• Spending the start money on decor. That ₦1M launch bonus disappears fast if you buy a big TV, an AC and a sofa on day one.
• Taking taxis everywhere. Keke and danfo cost a fraction of a ride. Trekking is free but slow and tiring. See getting around Lagos.
• Gambling to get rich. The Viewing Centre bets and the casino slots are tuned to take more than they give back.
• Hacking an ATM on day three. You need Coding 6, and the 70% catch rate means you will most likely pay a ₦20,000,000 fine you cannot afford.
• Sending money to strangers. "Send ₦20k, I'll send you ₦100k back" is a scam in the game exactly like it is outside it.

Where to go next

• How to make money for the full income map.
• Careers and promotions to plan your climb to the top of a job.
• The interactive map to see what every venue in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt offers.