Go Beyond the Game: Experience Fallout New Vegas IRL in Las Vegas

While many Fallout games have seen a release over the years, Fallout: New Vegas remains a definitive fan-favorite for a reason. Transporting players into the nuclear war-ravaged wasteland of the Mojave Desert, New Vegas encourages gamers to explore their greatest post-apocalyptic fantasies.

From venturing through a dystopian Sin City to scrounging for supplies at Hoover Dam, New Vegas truly utilizes its basis in Southwestern American geography, ensuring an immersive gaming experience unlike any other.

But what if you could go deeper into the game, stepping foot inside a world you’d only explored on your TV screens and computer monitors at home? What if you could venture through the real-world counterparts to New Vegas’ locations, interacting with these destinations in the flesh, free from the dangers of marauding raiders, rampaging Deathclaws, or meddlesome radroaches?

Fortunately, certain Fallout-themed tours in and around Las Vegas are quickly gaining traction among gaming fans, allowing players to experience their favorite New Vegas locations in real life.

Las Vegas’s Official Fallout Bus Tour

As with every entry in the Fallout series, Fallout: New Vegas features meticulously designed locations that recreate famous points of interest within the game’s setting. In the case of New Vegas, that means numerous areas within Las Vegas and the surrounding Mojave Desert, including Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon, Boulder City, and — of course — the famous Las Vegas Strip. Almost all of these locations are adapted to fit into the post-apocalyptic landscape of the Fallout series, undergoing a rugged makeover to accompany the dystopian elements of the series.

If you ever wanted to see the original locations featured in Fallout, there are a few options available for prospective tours through Vegas and the Mojave Desert. The Fallout New Vegas Mojave Wasteland Bus Tour, for instance, whisks players away to some of the most important sights depicted in the game, from fortified desert outposts to rough-and-tumble saloons populated by wayward wanderers and roguish scavengers.

At $80 per person, the Fallout: New Vegas Mojave Wasteland Bus Tour might seem a bit pricey, but we assure you: it’s an in-person gaming experience you won’t find anywhere else. Taking place on November 16, participants will embark to such New Vegas destinations as the Pioneer Saloon (the inspiration behind New Vegas’ Prospector Saloon) and the historic Old Mormon Fort (the official headquarters for the benevolent Followers of the Apocalypse).

Fittingly, this one-day tour begins at Las Vegas’ Atomic Museum, allowing players to gain a deeper understanding of the Atomic Age, including the decade’s distinct technology, fashion sense, weaponry, and dated vision for the future. Following a self-guided tour of the museum and its accompanying fallout shelters, visitors will then enjoy a complimentary Fallout hot dog and a refreshing beverage, wrapping up their day at Goodsprings’ Pioneer Saloon by 1:00 p.m.

Along with included admission fees for the museum and Old Mormon Fort, visitors can also enter a sweepstakes raffle for a chance to win the Followers of the Apocalypse’s official flag — which will be flown at the fort on the day of the tour.

As amazing as the Fallout: New Vegas Mojave Wasteland Bus Tour likely sounds, the tour’s scarce number of available slots and single running date unsurprisingly means tickets for the event have been completely sold out. Luckily, there’s still one great alternative when it comes to an in-person gaming experience for longtime Fallout fans.

The Goodsprings Fallout Tour

Roughly 40 miles from Las Vegas lies in the dusty town of Goodsprings, Nevada. An early 19th-century mining town with a population of less than 200 people, Goodsprings may not seem like a bustling town at first glance, but its nostalgic importance among Fallout fans cannot be overstated. The setting for several key missions within New Vegas, Goodsprings serves as a memorable locale throughout the game’s sprawling narrative.

Interestingly, New Vegas begins by introducing Goodsprings as its opening location, as seen through its tutorial quest, “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head.”

Taking advantage of its fictional representation in Fallout: New Vegas, Goodsprings has since leaned into its basis in Fallout’s continuity, as evidenced by the town’s annual Fallout Fan Celebration and its informative Goodsprings Fallout Tour. With the latter, a knowledgeable guide leads visitors on a tour of the remote Nevada town, explaining some of the community’s fascinating historical significance as well as its numerous ties to Fallout: New Vegas.

Along the way, you’ll drop by the town’s standout Pioneer Saloon, learning more about the bar’s alleged ghost stories and its earliest construction in 1910s Nevada.

A history tour and gaming experience wrapped into one, the Goodsprings Fallout Tour is admittedly a bit more expensive than the Fallout: New Vegas Mojave Wasteland Bus Tour at $159.95 per person. Yet the big advantage with this tour is the fact that it combines local history with plenty of gaming tidbits, appealing to a wide range of potential visitors. Not only that, but it’s also offered four days a week throughout the year, rather than the one-day-only event that characterizes the New Vegas Mojave Wasteland Bus Tour.

Like any tour, both the Mojave Wasteland Bus Tour and the Goodsprings Fallout Tour won’t appeal to everyone. Yet even then, it’s safe to say these Fallout-centric experiences bring your post-apocalyptic fantasies to startling real life.

Sure, you might not come face-to-face with any mutated, subterranean insects or opportunistic henchmen of Mr. House or Benny (the respective big bads of Fallout: New Vegas). But these two tours undoubtedly leaves participants a renewed appreciation for the level of detail featured in New Vegas’ recreated environments, as well as the efforts of the developers in capturing the unique landscape of the Mojave Desert.

Above all else, you can certainly rest assured that every time you pick up a controller and begin playing New Vegas for the third, fourth, or fiftieth time, you’ll be fondly reminded of your in-person adventures through the wasteland thanks to these two exceptional tours.