How to play Lagos Life: your first week
Lagos Life throws a lot at you in the first ten minutes. Here is the exact order to do things so you land a job, keep your needs up and make it to your first payday with cash to spare.
1. Create an account you can recover
Lagos Life runs entirely in your browser — nothing to download. Pick a username (3–20 characters) and a password, confirm you are 18+, and set a security question. That security question matters: since early October the game recovers lost passwords with your username + security answer, so pick an answer you will remember.
2. Create your character and pick your traits
Character creation runs in order: Look → Personality → Dream → Birth lottery → Home. Your personality traits aren't just flavour — matching the right traits to a career makes you train that career's skill much faster, so think about what you want to become.
The birth lottery is permanent
The game randomly assigns you a Nepo (rich, connected) or Lapo (hustling, on a microloan) start. This is rolled once per account and does not change even if you start a new life. See Nepo vs Lapo for what each start means.
3. Choose your first home
Your start decides your first address. Lapo players begin in areas like Mushin or Yaba with a weekly rent to cover; Nepo players start in a Lekki mini-flat with rent handled by family. Don't overthink it early — rent is the one bill you cannot skip (more in Rent & Housing).
4. Get a job — Phone → Jobs
This is the game's own first objective. Open the Phone (bottom bar), tap the Jobs app, and apply. With no skills yet, the best-paying jobs you can take right away are Banking (₦10,100/shift) and Tech (₦8,600/shift). You start the next in-game day. The full list is in Jobs & Salaries.
Shifts are 1 hour — not 5–10
We checked this in-game: every job runs on 1-hour shifts, any time, 4–6 days a week depending on the career. Some other guides claim 5–10 hour shifts — that is wrong. You just tap Go to work during opening hours and put in the hour.
5. How work and promotions actually work
You don't have to micromanage shifts. On a work day a 🚗 Go to work prompt appears — tap it, put in the one-hour shift, and you earn that salary. The real game happens between shifts.
Tap your character to open the “What should they do?” menu — a list of quick 6–11 second actions. Each one does one of three things:
- Earn extra cash — side-hustles like WhatsApp Hustle (marked “Earns ₦”).
- Train a skill — the Practise… actions (+coding, +comedy, +dance…), plus skill furniture at home (see Skills & Furniture).
- Top up a need — things like Sing Afrobeats (+fun) or Call Mummy (+social).
How to get promoted
Every career has 5 levels. Moving up needs two things at once: the career's skill at the required level (around level 1 for your 2nd rank, 3 for the 3rd, and so on) and work performance at 100% — so never turn up late or leave early. Train the skill between shifts, keep performance clean, and your pay jumps at every promotion.
6. Keep your six needs topped up
You have six needs: hunger, energy, hygiene, bladder, fun and social. Let them slide and your mood drops; a bad mood hurts your work performance, which cuts your pay. The simple rule before a shift: eat, sleep, bathe and have a little fun first. See Needs & Survival for the details we are measuring.
7. Pay rent on Saturday
Rent is charged weekly on Saturday morning. Always keep enough set aside to cover it — miss it and the unpaid amount turns into debt. Lapo players also repay their LAPO loan on a weekly cycle on top of rent.
Week-one checklist
- Day 1: apply for the highest-paying job you qualify for, and go to work.
- Keep hunger and energy topped up before every shift.
- Set aside your weekly rent (and LAPO repayment) before spending on anything else.
- Push toward your first promotion — it raises your pay immediately.
- Ignore any stranger messaging you to "double your naira." It is always a scam.
Ready to start your Lagos life?
Free, no download — runs right in your browser.