Bartender is a type of NPC in The Sims: Hot Date, The Sims 2, The Sims 3: Late Night and The Sims 4.

The Sims

Bartenders are first introduced in The Sims: Hot Date expansion. Whenever there is a bar present on a community lot, it will spawn a bartender.

There are three types of bartenders depending on the type of bars present; the DTS System will spawn a bartender sporting a formal wear, while the Translight Bar Station will spawn those wearing an urban outfit, and (with The Sims: Vacation installed) Roxy's Beach Bar will spawn a bartender wearing a beige sweater and lime pants (a uniform color for beached themed vacation lots).

If The Sims: Superstar is installed, Bartender Waylon will be flagged as a 5 star celebrity (recognizable by a star floating above his head); Sims in the area will approach the bartender and become excited at his presence. As a side-effect to his celebrity status, he will occasionally spawn in Studio Town - but, because of his nature as an NPC, it will result in a bug where he will simply stand there doing nothing. This clogs up traffic in the roads of Studio Town, and vehicles will take at least 5 in-game minutes before vanishing. This becomes a problem if a Sim wants to go home, or somewhere else, as their needs will decay as a result of a vehicle becoming stuck (causing their intended destination to stall for much longer). There is a mod to fix this bug at SimSlice.

Curiously enough, Bartender Waylon's head icon is registered as a dark-skinned Sim (despite being light-skinned). As with the above, a mod at SimSlice will correctly register Bartender Waylon as a light-skinned Sim.

The Urbz: Sims in the City

Player Sims can tend the bar at Cozmo Street for a profit.

The Sims 2

The base game includes bartenders as service NPCs that can be hired to tend a bar on a residential lot by using the Services menu on a telephone. University introduced a second type of bartender that appears when a bar is placed on a community lot. If Open for Business is installed, these bartenders will only appear if the bar is on an unowned community lot.

Sims can form relationships with both types of bartender. However, FreeTime changed telephones so that the base game bartenders will not appear in a Sim's phone directory. Both types of bartender can be asked to move in, or can be married. If that happens, the game will generate a replacement.

List of pre-made bartenders

The Sims 2

The Sims Stories

The Sims 3

The Sims 3: Late Night

Bartenders are known as mixologists in The Sims 3, and were introduced alongside the mixology skill in Late Night. They are only spawned on lots with professional bars on them, where one of the random chosen homeless Sims get assigned the role of a mixologist to tend the bar. If no homeless Sims exist in the world, then a Sim will be randomly generated.^{[confirmation needed]} In addition to serving drinks, mixologists are also able to serve food to Sims as well.

The default mixology skill level of such mixologists is pre-determined by the lot assignment; lower levels can be identified by how often they drop glasses on the floor while showing off.

The Sims 3: Showtime

Proprietors are officially supposed to be able to serve juice drinks from juice bars on request; however, juice bars (or really any bar) are not required on a show stage lot in order for a proprietor to fulfill their job and performance duties.

The Sims 3: Island Paradise

Pool bars on public lots are usually staffed by a standard bartender, who can be talked to, but who otherwise doesn't make much fuzz about themselves.

The Sims 4

Bartenders (called mixologists like in The Sims 3) can be found at all pre-made bars, nightclubs, lounges and karaoke bars ^[TS4:CL]; and they will also appear at restaurants^[TS4:DO], spas^[TS4:SD], and arts centers^[TS4:CL] if a bar is placed in one. Each venue has a maximum of one mixologist working in it at a time, regardless of how many bars there are. If there are multiple bars in a venue, they will choose a random one to set up at the start of every shift. Sims can order a variety of drinks and snacks from a mixologist.

Mixologists can also be hired for some social events (such as weddings) and other community lots, where they cost §250.