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That news was brought to you by the Tops Casino. You'll dig us, baby! We're the Tops!Mr. New Vegas, Fallout: New Vegas

The Tops Hotel and Casino was one of the foremost establishments of the Las Vegas Strip before the Great War. Though damaged by the War, it was restored by Robert House and the Chairmen to its former glory, becoming a mainstay of Strip casino visits by 2281.

Background[]

Fully renovated by the Chairmen, The Tops is billed throughout New Vegas as a place for men to kick back, drink, laugh, and have a good time.Fallout: New Vegas loading screen

Opening alongside the Ultra-Luxe, the Tops quickly became a centerpiece of the Strip before the War.[1] It was well known for its comprehensive coverage of all of its patron's needs, offering great accommodations, dancing, drinks, and plenty of gambling,[2] though one of its most prominent features was the Aces Theater, constantly attracting fresh talent to entertain its patrons.[3]

After the Great War, the casino was abandoned. Spared nuclear devastation, it remained empty for two centuries. Things changed in 2274 when House detected the first NCR forces at Hoover Dam. The Lucky 38 opened and securitrons deployed to the city en masse. The tribes were offered a choice: Extermination, resettlement or working for House.[4] The future Chairmen, the Boot Riders, were approached east of Vegas by a Securitron. After initial miscommunication (and the deployment of twenty more), they listened to what House had to offer. That included food, shelter, and medical services. Most of the tribe was against the deal. Benny was all for it.[5] Bingo, the tribe chief, challenged Benny to a knife fight over their disagreement as to the course the tribe should take. The fight took place three days after House made contact. Benny emerged victorious.[6]

The tribe moved to Vegas and began renovating the Tops, bringing it back to life. As they worked, a number of House's Securitrons dropped off boxes with suits, ties, and wingtip shoes, together with a message from their employer announcing they were the Chairmen now. The tribe hated the name, but Benny overrode their decision. As he put it, it was "ciao to the old ways and time to swing in style."[7][8] By 2281, the Tops 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.[9] It was a true classic Vegas experience, with cool, hip, fun, and macho posturing to entice those with a sense of style.[Non-game 1] Most importantly, the legendary Aces Theater was brought back to life by Tommy Torini, giving a venue for talents from all over the wasteland to perform.[10]

But the Tops was not enough for Benny. Although he was groomed as a protege by Mr. House, he did not share his employer's views on Vegas. He saw the city as a potential for independent power, not answering to the NCR, the Legion, or House.[11] The Tops became his stronghold, where he planned how to overthrow Mr. House, protected by the contract which expressly forbade Securitrons from entering the premises without invitation or probable cause.[12] To this end, he hijacked a Securitron and set up a workshop in one of the suites on the 13th floor, where he and Emily Ortal conceived Yes Man, a covert tap into House's vast electronic network. Now all that was needed was the right opportunity.[13]

Layout[]

The Tops is a casino right out of Vegas's rat-pack era. Frank Sinatra's music plays softly in the background to the clinks of slot machines. Security is tight, with Chairmen out front to collect patrons' weapons before they step inside. The weapons will be automatically returned to the player character's inventory when they leave and the player character has the option to hide holdout weapons if they can pass the required Sneak check. There are six main areas with loading screens between them: the casino, restaurant, Aces theater, presidential suite, courtyard, and the 13th floor.

Lobby and casino[]

There is a circular desk in the lobby where Swank can usually be found. 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[]

Main article: The Tops 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 Tops 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[]

Main article: The Aces

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, providing the side quest Talent Pool.

Presidential suite[]

This is only accessible with a key obtained from Benny or the Chairman bodyguards. Several containers are present in the presidential suite, many of which contain a large number of liquor bottles.

13th floor[]

Tops 13th floor loc map

Local map

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 the "gambling" section). This is not a good place to use as housing, as the guards on the floor will enter the suite once the door is unlocked and take any consumables that are in the room.

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 Yes Man and begin 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.

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[]

Presidential suite[]

Related quests[]

Notes[]

  • As each act in the Talent Pool quest is recruited, their name and talent appear on the marquee outside of the casino.
  • 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 used to offer the gambling game Craps.
  • There is a poster advertising the Gomorrah near the front door.
  • According to a newspaper seen in the Gomorrah, it was called "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.
  • Mr. New Vegas says that the Tops is "fully renovated by the Chairmen."

Music[]

The piped-in music consists of the following tracks. For music used in the show performances, see The Aces.

Appearances[]

The Tops Hotel and Casino appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes[]

  • In The Aces theater, there are three entertainers called the RAD Pack. This is a reference to the famous Vegas group of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, and Dean Martin. This quintet was called the Rat Pack during its years of fame in the early 1960s. The in-game version could be a double entendre, both mimicking this group and incorporating a radiation pun, similar to Mr. RADical.
  • The Tops is similar in appearance to both the real world Sands Hotel and Casino and the Mint Las Vegas. The Sands hosted the real world Rat Pack. In 1996, the Sands was demolished and the Venetian was built in its place.
  • Benny's suite is on the thirteenth floor. This floor number is considered unlucky, and many hotels and apartment buildings deliberately do not assign a floor this number.
  • 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. It was intended as an escape passage that Benny could use if confronted in the Tops.[Non-game 3]

Bugs[]

  • PCPC 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]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 The player sometimes doesn't get their stashed weapons back when exiting.[verified]
  • Xbox 360Xbox 360 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]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 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]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Sometimes one of the Chairmen will have no head, but his mouth, eyes, and hair will be floating above his suit.[verified]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 On the 13th floor, if you drag a corpse into the corridor behind Yes Man's room it will become invisible.[verified]
  • Xbox 360Xbox 360 Taking the elevator to and from the 13th floor sometimes causes the screen to go black after loading.[verified]
  • PCPC 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]
  • PCPC Xbox 360Xbox 360 Sometimes when entering The Tops there will be a glitch where you will get stuck entering the main floor.[verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 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[]

  1. Newspaper article
  2. Advertisement.
  3. Newspaper article.
  4. The Courier: "Who exactly are you, Mr. House?"
    Robert House: "I am Robert Edwin House, President, CEO, and sole proprietor of the New Vegas Strip. I oversaw the city's renovations starting from 2274 onward. The Three Families are my employees. Before the Great War of 2077, I was the founder, President and CEO of RobCo Industries, a vast computer and robotics corporation."
    (Mr. House's dialogue)
  5. The Courier: "How did Mr. House introduce himself?"
    Benny: "We were east of Vegas when the first Securitron we ever saw rolled up on us. We junked it in a minute flat. The next day twenty roll up. So we listened. Said we'd been selected. Vegas needed us to defend it. In exchange, we'd get cushy digs, full stomachs, medical treatment. Everything a nomad never gets, in other words. Most of the tribe thought we should say no. I thought it was the best idea ever."
    (Benny's dialogue)
  6. The Courier: "How long were you the head of the family?"
    Benny: "Seven years. Took over three days after Mr. House introduced himself. Our chief at the time, mountain of a guy named Bingo, wanted to stay nomadic. I disagreed, so he challenged me to the knife. He looked so surprised when I stuck that knife in his neck. Thought he was so tough, but he was so slow. That's how I made chief. It's how things were back then."
    (Benny's dialogue)
  7. The Courier: "Was your tribe always called the Chairmen?"
    Benny: "Nah, in the way-back we called ourselves the Boot Riders. Silly name, but that's how we rode the Mojave, dig? - on our feet. We were nomadic badasses, not to be trifled with. A gang of ruffians, though with a certain panache. When House gave us the Tops to renovate, his robots dropped off boxes full of suits and ties and wingtip shoes. Told us we were the "Chairmen" now. That caused an uproar. But I said "the name sticks." Ciao to the old ways, baby - time to swing in style. If the shoes fit, you wear them."
    (Benny's dialogue)
  8. The Courier: "Tell me about Mr. House."
    Benny: "A good cat to swing with. Or was - until he stopped mewing. It was House's big idea to resurrect the Strip. He recruited the Three Families as muscle, showed us how to set up casinos, negotiated with the NCR. None of this in person, mind you. Did all his talking through those Securitrons of his. But lately? The silence is deafening. The robots collect House's share of the take every week and life goes on. Ain't exactly what I'd call leadership."
    (Benny's dialogue)
  9. The Courier: "What makes the Chairmen so special?"
    Benny: "We're the definition of cool, baby. We know how to swing. Folks come to us to learn how to enjoy themselves. Of the three families, we're the only ones with the heart and savoir-faire to run the Strip on our own."
    (Benny's dialogue)
  10. Fallout: New Vegas appearances.
  11. The Courier: "Why shouldn't Mr. House run Vegas?"
    Benny: "Mr. House hides Vegas under his skirt when the bombs fall a thousand years ago, so it belongs to him? Forever? You buy that? Baby, every boss has a line to explain why he's special, why everyone gotta do what he says. Just figuring that out? Vegas gotta swing, baby, gotta have pizzazz. Respect where due, but that old man is square to the core."
    (Benny's dialogue)
  12. The Courier: "Why can't you be the one to tell Swank?"
    Robert House: "By contract, Securitrons are to enter the casinos only when invited by the Three Families or if other extraordinary circumstances arise. The moment I send one into the Tops, Benny will know I'm on to him."
    (Mr. House's dialogue)
  13. The Courier: "What's the deal with your secret workshop and "Yes Man" friend?"
    Benny: "You really weren't supposed to talk to him... All right, so he used to be a Securitron on patrol. Square as the rest, until I gave him a mickey in the shape of pulse grenade. Once he was on the nod, I yanked some wires and dragged him up to the workshop. I had... some help, you see. Gal named Emily, one of the Followers over in Freeside, a real whiz when it comes to things technical. She programmed his personality. Once Yes Man was hooked back in to House's data network, I started learning a lot more about what he was up to, dig? Like where and when to find you."
    (Benny's dialogue)

Non-game

  1. 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)
  2. James Garcia's portfolio
  3. 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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