The Tops Hotel and Casino, typically shortened to just The Tops, is an unmarked location within the New Vegas Strip in the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas.
Background[]
When it first opened alongside the Ultra-Luxe on the Las Vegas Strip, the Tops quickly became a centerpiece of the city's appeal.[1] It became well known for its comprehensive coverage of all the needs of its patrons, offering great accommodations, dancing, drinks, and plenty of gambling,[2] with one of its most prominent features being the Aces Theater and constantly attracting fresh talent to entertain its patrons.[3]
The Tops cryo suite buildboard
In 2077, just before the Great War, billboards advertised cryo suites at The Tops, guaranteeing "100% safety" (with some small print), depicting a device similar to the life support chamber used by Robert House himself.[4]
Following the nuclear apocalypse, though Robert House's defensive measures had spared the majority of Vegas from destruction, the Tops included, the casino like the rest of the city was left abandoned while House was in a coma, gradually swallowed by overgrowth as well as being picked over by raiders and tribals. Though House was eventually able to awaken from his coma in 2138, he chose to remain reserved in the Lucky 38, observing the wasteland in secret.
Things changed in 2274 when Securitron agents detected scouts sent by the New California Republic arriving at Hoover Dam. Seizing the opportunity to resurrect Vegas at last, House opened the doors of the Lucky 38 and Securitrons deployed to the city en masse to pacify the area. The tribes that did not resist were offered a choice: extermination, eviction or joining House's employ in his city of "New Vegas".[5] One of those tribes were the Mojave Boot-Riders, who were approached while east of Vegas by a Securitron. After initial miscommunication (that is, destroying the first one and being met later by twenty more), they eventually listened to what House had to offer. Despite such big promises of food, shelter, and medical services, most of the tribe was against the deal while at least one member was all for it.[6] The then-current tribe chief, Bingo challenged Benny to a knife fight to settle their disagreement and the course of the tribe's future. Their fight took place three days after House made contact, with Benny emerging victorious as the new chief. Subsequently, the Boot-Riders accepted House's offer.[7]
Along with the Slither Kin and an unspecified cannibal tribe, the only others that took up the offer, the Boot-Riders moved to Vegas where House gave them control of the Tops, which they began renovating and bringing it back to life. During the renovations, the tribe was visited by Securitrons that dropped off boxes with suits, ties, and wingtip shoes, along with a message from their new employer: the Mojave Boot-Riders were no more, they were now the Chairmen. The others hated the name, but Benny put a stop to their protests as the chief. As he put it, it was "ciao to the old ways and time to swing in style."[8][9]
By 2281, the Tops has functionally returned to its role as the mainstay of the Strip, offering everything one could desire and teaching its patrons how to truly enjoy the finer aspects of life.[10][Non-game 1] Most importantly, the legendary Aces Theater has been revived under the Chairman Tommy Torini, giving a venue for new talent from all over the wasteland to perform.[11]
By 2296, the Tops, like the rest of the Strip, appears to be in ruins.[4]
Layout[]
Situated on the west side of the center section of the Strip, the Tops is a slice of grandeur straight from Vegas's heyday. With Sinatra serenading softly in the background to the clinks of slot machines, the Tops has it all and makes sure there's something for everyone. There are six main areas with loading screens between them: the casino, restaurant, the theater, presidential suite, courtyard, and the 13th floor.
Lobby and casino[]
Just inside the door is a circular desk in the lobby where Swank can usually be found, along with the greeter who asks new entrants to hand over weapons for the security of the casino's patrons. Beyond it is the casino proper, with a main hall to the right as one enters and a smaller section just behind the main staircase. Beyond the stairs and the smaller casino section is the elevator bank, which has a single working elevator that leads to the 13th floor, and a door to the courtyard. In the large hall is the entrance to the restaurant and an express elevator to the presidential suite, which requires a key.
On the second level, just up the main staircase on the left, is a cashier where the player character can change chips for cash and vice-versa. Right next to the cashier is the entrance to the Aces theater.
Restaurant[]
A bartender sells an assortment of drinks. There's a kitchen behind an Average locked door, which has food and alcohol including five bottles of Nuka-Cola Quartz. A door leads to the courtyard from here.
Courtyard[]
The courtyard is a small area behind the casino. It has a pool, which is surrounded by palm trees and a brick wall. There are several gamblers milling around alongside a few Chairmen.
The Aces theater[]
The player character can buy a drink or watch one of the shows and acts that are going on. Tommy Torini can be found here and occasionally walks up on stage to provide some of the entertainment himself.
Presidential suite[]
One of the best suites in the house as well as a potential player character house, only accessible with a key obtained from Benny or his Chairman bodyguards. Several containers are present in the presidential suite, many of which contain a large number of liquor bottles.
13th floor[]
The 13th floor contains a variety of nondescript rooms with Average locks, Benny's suite, and the High Roller suite. There are at least five Average locked doors on this floor.
The High Roller suite is a slightly larger room than the rest and contains some minor loot. Entering requires the High Roller's suite key, which can be obtained by winning enough chips in the casino (see Gambling).
Local map
Benny's suite is in the center of the hallway, through the double doors. Benny's suite door has an Average lock, which may be picked or opened using a key obtained from Benny or one of his henchmen. The room itself has minor loot, but the big attraction is a rough hole in the wall that connects to Benny's secret workshop, where the player character can find and talk to Yes Man, starting the Wild Card questline.
At the end of the main hallway, the very last locked door leads to the High Roller suite. This lock cannot be picked. The key is obtained from the floor manager by winning a minimum of 7,500 chips in the casino.
The sub-basement[]
Beyond Benny's workshop is a hallway with an elevator used by Benny as an emergency escape route. The elevator requires a key to access, but there is no key that opens it in the game. A script unlocks the elevator when Benny begins to flee The Tops (such as if the player attacks him in the lobby), and a different script locks it again if he succeeds in reaching it.
The behavior of this script can be exploited to gain access to the sub-basement by causing Benny to flee and killing him before he can reach the sub-basement elevator. Once Benny is dead, the sub-basement elevator will then be unlocked. With Benny unable to reach it to trigger the re-locking portion of the script, it can be safely restored.
The sub-basement itself is a small room with a breached wall leading into a sealed-off section of Vault 21. It contains some minor loot in lockers and several explosives crates. There are numerous inaccessible doors, and one locked door with no available key at the end of a corridor that can be unlocked with console commands.
Gambling[]
- Games
- The Tops offers Blackjack, Roulette and Slots.
- The Tops pays 3:2 on Blackjack, and the dealer must stand on all 17s.
- Rewards and ban
As the player character earns chips, the floor manager will offer increasingly valuable gifts, culminating in a complimentary suite.
- 2,500+ chips = Vodka
- 5,000+ chips = Brahmin steak and wine
- 7,500+ chips = High Roller's suite key
After the player character earns 10,000+ chips, they will be banned from playing games in The Tops. They can still use its other functions, such as the restaurant, the theater, and cashing out their chips, but they cannot win any more money in the Tops; the ban is permanent.
Notable loot[]
Main floor and restaurant[]
- Five Nuka-Cola Quartz - In the kitchen of the restaurant.
- Benny's suit and Maria - Carried by Benny. The former can only be obtained by killing him whereas the latter may be pickpocketed.
Presidential suite[]
Related quests[]
Notes[]
- As each new act is recruited during Talent Pool, their name and talent appear on the marquee outside of the casino.
- As seen when recruiting Billy Knight, the names appear on the board the instant that each one is recruited, even if they have yet to arrive at the Tops.
- On the main floor, there is a framed picture of Tenpenny Tower and what appears to be a person dressed in cowboy-like attire. The figure is standing on the east side of the tower holding out a rifle.
- There are some posters of "Dean Domino and His Great Orchestra" in the building, referring to Dean Domino from the Dead Money add-on.
- The Tops Courtyard seems to have an architectural anomaly in relation to the casino's exterior Strip view. There is a huge brick wall, used to block the view of the Gomorrah, which spans around the side of the casino. Yet when on the Strip, such a wall is not even present.
- Certain unused tables in the gambling halls suggest that at one time the casino offered games of Craps.
- There is a poster advertising Gomorrah near the front door.
- According to a newspaper found in Gomorrah, the casino was called just "TOPS" before the War.
- The framed newspaper clipped to the right of the entrance doors in the lobby contains an error, referring to the Ultra-Luxe as "The Ultra Lux."
- If patch 1.1.0 is installed, there will be a wall separating the reception area and the casino floor.
Music[]
The piped-in music consists of the following tracks. For music used in the show performances, see The Aces.
- "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"
- "Blue Moon"
- "Hallo Mister X"
- "Jingle, Jangle, Jingle"
- "Manhattan"
- "Slow Bounce"
- "Something's Gotta Give"
- "Why Don't You Do Right?"
Appearances[]
The Tops Hotel and Casino appears in Fallout: New Vegas, the graphic novel All Roads and in the end credits of the Fallout TV series episode "The Beginning".
Behind the scenes[]
- The in-game Tops is similar in appearance to two real-world locations of the Sands Hotel and Casino and the Mint Las Vegas. In 1996, the Sands was demolished and the Venetian was built in its place.
- One of the acts in the Aces theater is a group of three entertainers called the RAD Pack, which is a reference to the famous Vegas group of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and Dean Martin, collectively called the Rat Pack during its years of fame in the early 1960s, including being hosted in the Sands Hotel and Casino. The in-game Rad Pack's name is likely a double entendre, both mimicking the Rat Pack and incorporating a radiation pun, similar to the name of Mr. RADical.
- The placement of Benny's suite on the thirteenth floor may be a reference to the superstitious belief that the number "13" is considered unlucky, to the point many hotels and apartment buildings deliberately do not assign it as a floor number, i.e. skipping from 12 to 14.
- James Garcia created the 3D model of The Tops neon sign.[Non-game 2]
- In the casino, there is an elevator that will take the player character into the regular areas of Vault 21, only ever intended as an escape passage that Benny could use if confronted, explaining how he could have gotten out of the Tops.[Non-game 3]
Bugs[]
The locked Average door in the restaurant can become bugged, and no lock is shown. The lockpick mini game can still be played, however, you will not be able to see the lock nor the bobby pin.[verified]- The player sometimes doesn't get their stashed weapons back when exiting.[verified]
- If the player dismisses companions while inside The Tops and tells them to return to the Lucky 38, they may walk toward the front doors but never exit. Instead, they remain waiting in The Tops lobby. To fix get the companion to re-join you, exit The Tops, then dismiss them again once you are both outside of the casino. They will then walk to the Lucky 38.[verified]
- When exchanging chips into caps, the messages "added X caps" and "removed X chips" are displayed, but no chips are removed and no caps are added. To fix exchange chips into Legion/NCR money, then exchange Legion/NCR money into caps at another casino.[verified]
- Sometimes one of the Chairmen will have no head, but his mouth, eyes, and hair will be floating above his suit.[verified]
- On the 13th floor, if you drag a corpse into the corridor behind Yes Man's room it will become invisible.[verified]
- Taking the elevator to and from the 13th floor sometimes causes the screen to go black after loading.[verified]
- Sometimes when entering The Tops there will be a glitch where almost every door in The Tops has an Average lock on it and some random places in the wasteland will too (e.g. ovens, random containers, etc.) Also, they will sometimes lock again as soon as you unlock them.[verified]
- Sometimes when entering The Tops there will be a glitch where you will get stuck entering the main floor.[verified]
- If you obtain 32768 The Tops Chips and then drop them, it will appear as -32768 The Tops Chips. Upon turning in your chips, you will still have the option to turn in your chips, effectively allowing for infinite caps.[verified]
Gallery[]
See also[]
References[]
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Non-game
- ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition pp. 343-345: "[2D.04] The Tops Casino
The Tops offers a classic Vegas experience, with cool, hip, fun, and macho posturing to entice those with a sense of style. This is a place for manly men with a dame on each arm; here to see the Rad Pack as they perform their routine "The Four Taps" over at the Ace Theater. Choose a fine wine, order the Brahmin stake rare, and have a good time, baby! The place is run by The Chairmen, who talk tough, but most of them don't take things too seriously; they're just too cool and laid back to let anything get to them. Well, all but one of them...."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition Tour of the Mojave Wasteland) - ↑ James Garcia's portfolio
- ↑ The Frog Helms Fan Club:
Question: "Another question because I have nothing better to do, apologies if it's been asked before, in New Vegas, in the Tops casino, there is an elevator that takes you to an unfinished section of Vault 21. You as a player are very clearly not supposed to be there, however it looks like it could have served some purpose at one point? Were there ever anymore plans for the lower levels of that Vault?"
Joshua Sawyer: "No. That’s the “escape passage” that Benny can use if confronted in the Tops. It was just there to explain that bit."
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