Arcades and other things to do in Vegas

[trog_4269]

My gf and I are leaving for Vegas next week.  We will be there for 5 days.  Gambling is going to get old for me because we have an assload of casinos in the Seattle area where I live.  I was wondering what kind of cool arcades or other game related things I can find down there.  I have heard there is a huge pinball collection at one of the hotels but I am not sure where that is at.  What other game/arcade/geek/fun related things should I check out?

[shmokes]

Are you at all interested in an STD, or is your wife into kinky sex that you pay for?  Cos all that can be arranged in Vegas.   

[AlanS17]

Does you gf know you want to go to Vegas to play video games? She probably thinks it'll be a good bonding experience to do something adventurous together. The last thing you wanna do is get into an argument that far from home. You won't be able to get away from each other, and you'll resent each other for ruining each other's vacation...

But if she's cool then go forit.

[shmokes]

Seriously, the shows are where it's at.  Without the shows Vegas is just a dirty, ugly city made of nothing but concrete and neon.  Obviously it's got gambling so if that appeals to you (which it doesn't) that's one thing.  Beyond that, though, they have shows.  Cirque du Soleil is beyond description.  You have simply never seen anything like it.  And all the others, while I've never been to any of them, are pretty much universally adored.  The Blue Man Group, Danny Gans, Seigfried and Roy, etc.

Don't go to Vegas and skip all the shows.  Also, they've got one of those huge arcades.  Damn, drawing a blank.  Everyone's always talking about them.  The ones with a bar and restaurant.  Weird . . . I can't believe I can't remember the name.  A lot of the BYOAC meetups are at them.

FWIW, I only live a couple hours away from Vegas and have been there at least a twenty times.

[boykster]

Hey Trog,

Another seattle-ite (shoreline actually) but the casino's in vegas are a totally different experience than the tribals and card rooms we have here.  But I do agree, 5 days of JUST casinos will get old.  Nearly every one of the big casinos has some cool feature you can visit -> aquarium at Mandalay Bay, art galleries at Bellagio, Star Trek: the experience at the Hilton, etc, as well as shopping and even arcades at some of them.  I know MGM has a pretty lame arcade, as does Luxor, but Circus Circus is probably the best there is in Vegas.

I'd also suggest taking in a show or two, if you like GREAT hamburgers, go to the Burger Bar @ Mandalay Bay Place , nearly all the new hotels have a ride of some sort (I like the rollercoaster at NYNY), take at least an afternoon or evening and go to "old" vegas -> downtown vegas and see the Fremont Street experience, I dig the ghost bar at the Palms, etc.  there are a LOT of cool clubs, afterhours hangouts, and places to see and be seen if you're into that scene.

There are a LOT of really good restaurants in vegas, but they can be $$$.  My personal fav is Nobu, but I LOVE sushi and japanese food.  The Eiffel tower restaurant is pretty cool too, but is more about the view than the food (ala the restaurant at the top of the space needle).

Have fun!

[shmokes]

boykster,

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?  You seem to know everything about networking and computers, but seem to have too much money and, I don't know, hipness to be just a computer geek working on the front lines.

[USSEnterprise]

The Pinball Hall of Fame is in Vegas, right?

[boykster]

The Pinball Hall of Fame is in Vegas, right?

Damn, can't believe I forgot about that....yep, you are correct sir!

[boykster]

boykster,

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?  You seem to know everything about networking and computers, but seem to have too much money and, I don't know, hipness to be just a computer geek working on the front lines.

Eh, I don't mind.  I'm a jack of all, master of none.  I'm what most people in my industry call a "double geek"...I'm both a computer nerd and a science geek.  My background is biochemistry, but I'm a self taught software developer of many languages.

I currently manage a team of software developers for a very large pharmaceutical company, working within their discovery research organization to develop software and database solutions for drug discovery teams.  My time is split between managing people, budgets, and projects, writing code of all sorts on just about any platform/system you could devise, spec'ing out application and database systems, and interfacing with scientists to get an understanding of what solutions they need.

But that's ending (due to a recent buyout that I'm very pleased about) and with a business partner, I'm founding a small startup....

But that's just what I do for a living.  In my free time, I'm an avid home theater enthusiast from all angles.  I built my own theater room, pulled all the cable, drove every nail, painted every bit of everything, chose all the equipment, etc.  I also wired my entire house with distributed audio and video to every room (HD component video), wrote some home automation software to control everything in a universal manner, and built myself a multi-terabyte storage array for my hybrid movie on demand system (Cinemar's DVDLobby + a custom backend that I wrote).  I've been interested in technology since I got my first computer (C-64) and while I'm not a great programmer, I'm a great problem solver.  I'm like 3M...I don't make things, I make things better 

I'm a slacker, but when I get interested in something, I don't do it 1/2 way....

[Q*Bert_OP]

The Pinball Hall of Fame is in Vegas, right?

Damn, can't believe I forgot about that....yep, you are correct sir!

It's a pretty nice place alright...I was there about a month ago...

[chopps]

If your into rides at all, go to the top of the Stratosphere.  Big Shot is awesome at nite.

Also, Gameworks in kinda cool, its by MGM.

[boykster]

Gameworks is cool, but we have one in seattle too.....

[Zero_Hour]

The Pinball Hall of Fame is in Vegas, right?

Damn, can't believe I forgot about that....yep, you are correct sir!

It's a pretty nice place alright...I was there about a month ago...

If you like Pins, I'd say it's a must see. If you're so so on them, it might be a little underwhelming. I took My Father there in Sept. and he was racking up free games on the 50's era machines pretty solidly. That was cool for me as the old man won't touch a video game. Nice mix of Tables from various eras, and most of them were in decent shape. Also, they have a handful of vids in the back, including a Crazy Climber that played smooth as butter.

[DrewKaree]

boykster,

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?  You seem to know everything about networking and computers, but seem to have too much money and, I don't know, hipness to be just a computer geek working on the front lines.

Get a room you two!

[trog_4269]

Are you at all interested in an STD, or is your wife into kinky sex that you pay for?  Cos all that can be arranged in Vegas.   

That depends on the quantity of alcahol that I can get her to consume 

Shmokes, are you thinking of Dave and Buster's?  Is it close to the strip?  I wanna check it out because we don't have one up here.  My girlfriend is actually into games also.  We go to Gameworks here in Seattle often.  I told her about the pinball hall of fame and she actually got pretty excited about checking it out.   I know that she is going to want to go shopping while down there so I was planning on finding a descent arcade while she goes shopping.  We are actually staying at the Circus Circus so I will probably be hitting that one up. 

As for the the shows I definitely want to see Blue Men Group and maybe Cirque du Soleil if she is into it.   The aquarium is now on my list of things to see also, along with the Star Trek thing.  I will also be spending a night in the old strip. 


Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[Random24]

The Luxor has an OK arcade.  Kind of small though.  I would definitely recommend going to the Luxor though.  It is fun to see if you can get all the way up to the top floors.  The inclinators (elevators that go up at an incline due to the shape of the building) have guards at the main floors to check room keys, but there are a few regular elevators you can get in and ride up to the 3rd or 4th floor.  From there, it's just a matter of taking the stairs up one floor and then getting on the inclinators.  You will have to take the stairs a couple of times due to the inclinators only going to certain ranges of floors. (ie. 3-14, 15-30)  The top few floors don't have the same open railing to look down over the center of the casino though so your best internal views are from the 27th or 28th floors.  You can look down over the whole open floor.  It's really quite impressive.  If you are really lucky, one of the house keepers might let you look around the top floor rooms.  The views outside are impressive as well.  Once you are done at the top, you can just get in one of the inclinators and take it back down to the main floor.  The adrenalin rush as you walk past the security guards on the way out is also fun.  As you can tell, I am a big believer that security is mainly just for show and there is always a way around for a determined person. Just don't do anything stupid and this kind of urban exploration can be fun and exhilarating.

I would also recommend going to see Penn and Teller at the Rio. here is a $10 off per ticket coupon:
http://www.harrahs.com/images/Property/rlv/events/penntellerecoupon2006a.gif