“Hungry? Thirsty? Horny? The Atomic Wrangler has you covered!”— Atomic Wrangler crier
The Atomic Wrangler casino is a casino in Freeside.
Background
“It's not much to look at, but if you can't afford to get into The Strip, the Atomic Wrangler's the best place to gamble in Freeside.”— Fallout: New Vegas loading screen
The Atomic Wrangler, the only active casino in Freeside (featuring a neon sign of a futuristic cowboy riding a stylized atom), is also a flophouse, brothel, and source of chems, located just down the main drag. It is run by the Garret twins, protected by their thugs, and is a common hangout for the Van Graffs and the Kings. Many caravaneers and poor (but not impoverished) NCR folks can also be found here.[1]
Layout
Bottom level
The main room has a vaulted ceiling, a stage, and a bar. The next room has the casino's cashier and casino games. The cashier's room contains some pre-War money and chems in the safes. To the right through the second room are the bathrooms and a staircase to the second story balconies.
Behind the bar is a kitchen and storeroom, accessible via a door around the corner near the bathroom with a very hard lock. The key to this door is held by both Francine Garret and James Garret, but it will eventually become unlocked as soon as one of the Garrets heads upstairs to their room, as they are not programmed to lock it again.
Though not technically considered notable loot, the storage room / kitchen area behind the bar contains a significant amount of common items of moderate value, such as various alcoholic beverages. Hardcore players may also note a high number of fresh apples, pears, and carrots (at least a half-dozen each), as well as a weapons locker and medicine locker, both containing many useful items accordingly.
Second level
This level has a balcony which oversees the stage and bar. Off of the balcony are three rooms; as well as there being an additional room that is the Atomic Wrangler player house (after the Courier has completed the Debt Collector quest), all of which are unlocked (exception for the player house, which the player can gain access to it by completing the Debt Collector quest). In the east corner of the balcony lies a rent-able room. Stairways lead back down and up to the third level.
Third level
This level has the Garrets' room and rooms for the employees, through a door with an Average (50) lock which can be opened with the same key held by the Garrets. There are 5 Wrangler guards here (sometimes they will be sleeping). They will not initially become hostile, but will tell the player to leave and follow them around until they leave the area. To the right will be a hub to other rooms, which there are 2 bathrooms that are directly across from each other with a few first aid boxes in them. There are 2 sleeping areas with personal footlockers with very low-rewarding loot. When entering the room, just keep heading right, up ahead, which will lead to a room filled with a lot of file cabinets that contains metal crates, a cabinet and a gun cabinet.
Player's room
On the second level there is a door that leads to the player room, which the player can gain access to once they've completed the Debt Collector quest. The room is a small room, with torn wallpapers, has 4 medium-sized white plant pots, 6 ceiling lamps (which only 3 work, the rest are broken), a queen sized bed, some shelves that stores some small scorched books, and a big painting frame that has only little bits of a torn painting and 2 desks. This room used to be owned by Caleb McCaffery. The Courier has the option to kill Caleb in the quest Debt Collector, or as an alternative, convince him to hand over his hat (as required as proof of his death) and let him go free. Though the Courier can sleep here, taking any items here will be considered as theft, and the player will lose Karma.
Gambling
The gambling tables
- Games
- The Atomic Wrangler offers Blackjack, Roulette, and Slots.
- The Atomic Wrangler pays 6:5 on blackjack, and the dealer must draw to 16.
- Rewards and Ban
As the player earns chips, the casino offers increasing gifts:
- 1,250+ chips: beer
- 2,500+ chips: whiskey & dapper gambler hat
- 3,750+ chips: absinthe, Rum & Nuka & dapper gambler suit
After the player earns 5,000+ chips, they will be banned from playing games in the Atomic Wrangler casino. They can still use its other functions, like the bar and the services of the prostitutes (if the Wang Dang Atomic Tango quest has been completed), but they cannot win any more money. This ban is permanent. If the player breaks the house limit before getting any comp gifts (by getting a large win) they will not receive any comps they have missed. As there is no floor manager, the casino comp gifts are awarded directly to the player upon reaching each winning milestone, and play is still interrupted by the character being forced out of whatever game they were playing.
Inhabitants
- Francine Garret
- James Garret
- Henry Jamison
- Hadrian (before Talent Pool, after Talent Pool, he will be located in The Aces in The Tops)
- Caleb McCaffery (Upon first visiting the Atomic Wrangler casino. Afterwards he'll become the final target during the Debt Collector side quest and will relocate to the Strip.)
After Wang Dang Atomic Tango quest:
- Fisto
- Santiago, Old Ben, or both (see Wang Dang Atomic Tango)
- Beatrix Russell
- Henry Jamison
 | The following is based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content. |
|---|
Originally escorts were supposed to appear here. They would have been both male and female and wearing sexy sleepwear, but were scrapped in favor of the Wang Dang Atomic Tango quest.
| End of information based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content |
|---|
Notable loot
- Nuka-Cola Victory on the third level in Garrets' room, on a shelf.
Related quests
Notes
- The casino's crier can be found outside advertising the casino to the public.
- Despite Atomic Wrangler's reputation as a free-swinging brothel, dialogue options with Francine Garret that would suggest the same and sex-noises coming through the walls of most rooms, there seem to be no prostitutes in the casino beyond ones the player recruits in the Wang Dang Atomic Tango quest. After finishing the quest, the Courier can have sex with either ghoul cowgirl Beatrix Russell, Santiago/Old Ben (depending on decisions during the quest), or the sex-bot Fisto.
- Like all the other casinos in the game, the amount of money kept in the cashier's office is surprisingly small. Robbing the cashier nets (randomly) a few dozen pre-War money and around a hundred caps. (Francine Garret will carry the key for the cashier's office)
- The Atomic Wrangler casino doesn't have a table manager like the other casinos. When the Courier has reached a money target while gambling, a jackpot sound will be heard, automatically winning the appropriate prize.
- When exiting from dialogue with Fisto, it will give the Courier 10 bottle caps. You can repeat this as many times as you like.
- Being banned from the casino by gambling does not affect the progress of completing The Courier Who Broke the Bank.
Behind the scenes
The logo of the Atomic Wrangler is a reference to a scene in the film Dr. Strangelove in which Major T. J. "King" Kong rides a falling nuclear bomb like a rodeo cowboy.
Bugs
Once a player attempts to go to the second floor, or perhaps attempts to lockpick the offices/rooms, a bug may occur that interferes with interactions with non-player characters inside of the Atomic Wrangler. Speaking with Francine Garret or the Currency Exchange clerk may result in a locked dialogue, and the only action that can be made is dropping inventory items from your apparel(by hitting square, the Pip-Boy doesn't actually come up). Once your apparel inventory is empty (not to include what is equipped) the dialogue will unlock and allow you to finish the conversation however you choose. This may also interfere with any dialogue with James Garret, as it appears that he will have no dialogue options beyond just greeting you. A simple solution to the problem with the dialogue lock/inventory dump is to approach the non-player characters that the bug affects with your apparel inventory empty save for what you want equipped. This allows uninterrupted dialogue.[verified]- Once you enter the Atomic Wrangler and subsequently leave you will still hear the sounds of the casino's patrons in the background.[verified]
- Once you enter the Atomic Wrangler you may encounter a large frame rate drop. If this happens turning around and facing the door has been known to stop it, however running around backwards can get quite irritating.[verified]
- A bug can occur where you will not be able to enter the atomic wrangler, clearing cache does not work. The black screen permanent crash can be fixed if you wear 'Caleb McCaffery's Hat' before entering the atomic wrangler.[verified]
- After completing the quest "Wang Dang Atomic Tango", if you acquired Santiago and Old Ben, both will show up at the Wrangler. You can only solicit Santiago's services, Ben will just sit at the counter. If you open a dialogue with Ben, you cannot ask for his services, but you can go through the initial quest dialogue with him. You have the option of telling him that James Garret is looking for someone to work for him.[verified]
- Sometimes you may not receive the 'prize' for winning chips from the slot machine, even after exceeding the limit (ex: 1250 chips) [verified]
- If you're given the free room in the wrangler, prostitutes will not visit the player there, and you cannot purchase a room for them to visit. (Santiago and Fisto work in 1.2.0.285. This bug seems specific to Beatrix Russell. Additionally, Old Ben can never be hired).[verified]
- Once the player enters the Atomic Wrangler, all non-player character's within the building may automatically become hostile.[verified]
- Entering the Garrets room upstairs can cause the game to freeze on the loading screen.[verified]
- Once you recruited Fisto to work with the Garrets, you can talk with him and he will offer you his services for 10 caps. if you refuse, you will be awarded 10 caps. You can do this whenever you want and get as many caps as you want. (Confirmed on the patch 1.2.0.315)[verified]
- Entering a room upstairs, you might find yourself locked in the room. You cannot pick the lock, as when attempting to open the door, it says it cannot be lock picked and you must use a key. No patch is known yet to fix this, so every time you enter The Atomic Wrangler, it is highly suggested you save your game upon entering.[verified]
- If Beatrix Russell is hired she will never show up at your room and you cannot re-hire her again.[verified]
- Most of the guards in The Atomic Wrangler don't seem to "see" the player. The player will often remain "hidden", even while in plain sight of the guards. This seems especially consistent with the guards that run up when you are in an area that you shouldn't be.[verified]
- All of the gamblers, the card dealer, and the roulette dealer in the blackjack and roulette area can be killed without causing anyone else to go red, and without any faction penalty, as long as they are killed with a silenced weapon from behind and the player is crouching. This is the case even if the guards and cashier are all watching, and regardless of if the player is "hidden". A Karma penalty will still result.[verified]
- The game might crash whenever you win any leave either the blackjack table or the slots with a large amount of caps earned. this can be avoided by briefly leaving either game after each progressive win (roughly 200 caps).[verified]
Gallery
Ground floor overview
Corner room, upstairs
Atomic Wrangler playing card
Atomic Wrangler poker chip replica from the Collector's edition
Atomic Wrangler billboard
loading screen with the Atomic Wrangler billboard
References
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||