This expansion pack was what I needed to get my Sims' on!!!! Thanks again for the awesome price on this game too!! Keep up the good work!

As you can guess from the title, this EP gives your Sims the ability to practice magic. It's pretty harmless stuff like turning a Sim temporarily into a frog or making a mood enhancing charm or an invisible friend for a Sim chid. It's not anything too scary. No devil worship or the occult here. It is rated Teen, after all.
If you still have the original Sims game, I highly recommend this EP. If you don't, a far better choice is the Sims Complete Collection which is compatible with Windows XP (not sure about Vista) and comes with every Sims expansion pack. I play the Sims 2 on my desktop which has a much larger hard drive and faster processor. I play the Sims Complete Collection on my laptop and it works really well for me.

I bought the Sims Double Deluxe a few years back as it was on sale at CompUSA and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Well, I went back the next day and bought all the expansions including Makin' Magic.

Well, I moved on to other games, uninstalling this one an put it on the shelf, promptly forgetting about it. Then my computer died and I got a refurbished eMachines which was superior to my Dell. (NOT in quality, but in simple system specs. Dell rules.) I bought several games that required more Umpf than my Dell could give, but I grew weary of them quickly.

Then I remembered my Sims collection. It took three days to install them to the point that I could play. What happened was that there is apparently a non visible defect on the play disk for Makin' Magic that would cause it to destroy the installation of the entire game, causing me to have to start all over from scratch. Eventually, I stopped with Superstar and played for awhile, but I really REALLY wanted Makin' Magic back, so off to Amazon I went.

I bought my replacement copy from NothingButSoftware for a song... like... 9 bucks. I ordered it before bedtime on Thursday and it was waiting for me at the post office Saturday morning. Dang.

Anyway, aside from the original game that introduced the whole concept, Makin' Magic is THE most important expansion of all. It changes the whole dynamic of the game. It gives you things you can do that serve a greater purpose than just to increase your motives. You create new items and have a whole new world of ways to interact with other characters.

As I said in the title, I'm a bit reserved about buying The Sims 2 because I like this so much. I wonder if it would be superior... or is it more style than substance. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love creating and furnishing new homes, but I just think it's going to be tough to top Makin' Magic...

The Sims Makin' Magic Expansion Pack allow us to play around in the wizarding world. I loved this idea but found one drawback to it. Some of the spells backfire when used on other wizards. It seems like everyone within Sim Town is a witch or wizard! So it kind of defuncts a few spells. Other than that, I found myself having all kinds of fun. Once you get your logic skills up, you can perform on stage and make quite a bit of magicoins. You can own a dragon (watch out! if you get a mean one he'll burn the place down! Otherwise they'll just eat all your flowers so be prepared to give just enough attention to your egg replant you rosebed quickly), if you live in Magictown you just might get lucky enough to have a magic beanstalk grow! Turn people into toads, cheat in front of your wife and black roses begin to grow! The magical world can be quite odd and strange at times...

With the popularity of the Harry Potter series, this addition to the Sims lets Simfanatics join right in brewing potions and making charms. Even your children can get in on the action. And should a wary muggle try and look at your recipe's? Not to worry they'll get a nasty little shock warning them to be gone!

I couldn't be happier with this addition to the Sims series, there's so many little easter eggs within this expansion pack that finding them is half the fun. After all this is magic! I know I grew up dreaming I could do magic, I'm sure I'm not along in that - and viola! Now we can! ...well...sort of -sheepish grin- our sims do our bidding and we command them to do magic - yes...that's it!

Anyone who enjoys the sims series, houdini, the potter books and/or movies should not miss out on this expansion pack. Two words - it's Magic!

When I first got Makin' Magic expansion pack, I was ecstatic. Mainly because that was my first expanison pack and before I had just been playing normal Sims. I've had it for so long, like 3 years, that its just lost its magic for me. But still, it was a fun game. There is:
-New Locations-
MagicTown is unlocked and ready to roll! There are 10 locations in MagicTown, where you can buy ingredients, play minigames to earn magicoins to buy them, and there are 3 carnival locations where there are rollercoaster rides and putt-putt golf to play.
-Magic Spells-
Now your Sim can be a wizard! You can make most ingredients needed for spells, but some you need to buy in MagicTown. Get a magic wand, put the ingredients in the wand charger, and fire it up! You can also make charms that look like little crystals to cast spells. Some spells you can do are: turn someone into a frog, bring gnomes -that you carved- to life to care for your garden, love spell, friendship spell, and many others that I can't say because it would spoil it for you!
-New Clothes, Head Skins and NPCs-
In MagicTown there are some NPC shop keepers. You can barter with them or ask for a quest to do to earn special ingredients. Shopkeepers include Vicki Vampiress, a fairy, and others.
There are new head skins that match the new MagicTown clothes! Some heads with hats, with peasant outfits to match.
-Gardening and Cooking-
Now you can grow your own food and cook it! Now available as a floor tile, the dirt plot, you can buy seeds at your local MagicTown, plant them and care for them! Now available is a cooking oven, that acts just like a charm maker, only you're making food. You can also use the winepress to make nectar. You can grow elderberries and grapes. You have to buy baking mix and sugar at MagicTown, but you can make your own elderberry pies. You can also just make bread, or a homemade cake.
I might also mention that in the Sims Unleashed expansion pack, you can grow your own vegetables and eat them. If you also have Makin Magic, you can make carrot cakes.
-New Items and Furnish-
There are tons of new wallpapers and floor tiles, plus a couple new starcases. Now you can buy Bonechilda, a skeleton maid that lives in a coffin. Just knock and she'll come out to clean up! There is also a beehive where you can make your own beeswax and honey to use in spells and food recipes. Gnome builder tables also. A magician table where you can practice your logic skills. New couches and and chairs also! A butter churn is available too.
-Dragon Pets-
Now available from Vicki Vampiress in MagicTown, you can buy dragons nests! Take them home and take care of the dragon egg. There are three different colors that your dragon can turn out, but watch out for the red one! Red dragons frequently set things on fire. Dragon eggs are just like babies, only if you neglect it it turns into a red dragon. DRAGONS EAT TRASH! Make sure to leave trash out for them to eat! If you don't they will get angry and leave. They only eat the small piles of trash, also. If you groom your dragon enough, you will get some dragon scales to use in spells when you need them. Same for tickling dragons; do it enough and you get some dragon tears for use in spells.
-Appropriate for kids?-
I think so. Nothing bad about it at all. No blood, sexuality, or anything else you'd watch out for. I'd say ages for Makin' Magic should be 8+.
Good expanision pack, I really enjoyed it the first few weeks I had it. =]