Mark’s Las Vegas Blog - Your Source for Vegas Info

Hello there to my readers! Here’s another edition of Unique Sites in Las Vegas. Check out parts one, two, three, and four in case you missed them.

One of the fun things about Vegas is you never know what you’re gonna see when you’re here. One thing that’s a must see is the ”Hand of Faith” which is the world’s largest gold nugget on display here at… you got it, the Golden Nugget casino! (What a coincidence)

I’m not sure exactly how long it’s been there, it’s been on display as long as I’ve been coming here. They have a nice glass case for it and the nugget is set up on a rotating acrylic stand with a couple of other smaller nuggets. They used to have some other gold nuggets and gold pieces & chains in the display but took them out a couple of years ago.

According the the sign on the display the nugget weighs 62 pounds and was found in Australia in 1980 by someone with a metal detector only six inches below the surface.

Interesting trivia: According to published reports, there’s a VERY good replica of the nugget which is used when the real one is being cleaned or polished. This was reported in a book from one of the former owners.

The nugget display is located towards the back sort of in the middle of the casino right behind the VIP host office and around the corner from the main lobby. It’s worth seeing if you’re downtown! Here’s some pics:

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“Pinball Wizard” is a song by the Who from their famous rock opera “Tommy” and was also performed by Elton John in the film version. But what does that have to do with Vegas you ask?

Anyone that grew up in the 70’s knows about pinball. Before there was a Wii, Playstation, hell before the original Atari there was pinball! Well you can relive your old days at the arcade in Vegas at the PinBall Museum.

It’s really a cool place. They have a one of, if not the largest, selection of pinball machines in the world. All the machines are in good order and available for play. They have change machines on site so you can get a bucket of quarters and have a blast just like the old days!

They also have some old school mechanical games and some vintage video game machines. I talked to them a little when I was there and there’s machines being restored and brought onto the floor all the time.

It’s a labor of love for the owners they are a non-profit organization and give any profits to charity. 

I spent a couple of hours there recently and it’s the most fun I’ve had in a while. It really brought back a lot of memories from my younger days riding my bicycle to the arcade after school!

Next time you’re out here and you’re looking for a fun getaway stop by the Pinball Museum! You won’t regret it! Unfortunately they weren’t too open to taking pictures but they have some on their website www.pinballmuseum.org.

They’re located about 4 miles off the strip. Just take Tropicana east to Pecos and they’re on the north-west corner next to the movie theater, although they mentioned they were moving to a new location by the Liberace Museum soon.

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Criss Angel’s “Believe” show formally opened on Halloween to less than stellar reviews. They had made some tweaks to the show before the premiere but from reports and reviews there wasn’t a lot of improvement.

I think one of the issues is people were expecting more of the stuff that they had seen on his “Mindfreak” show but the show is more of a Cirque du Soleil show starring Criss Angel.

Also reports say that the show was sort of disjointed and lacked focus. I haven’t seen the show so I can’t pass judgement. Considering the money that CDS has sunk into the show I’m sure they’re hoping for a hit and it sort of looks like they missed the mark.

Time will tell if the show gets some legs and works the kinks out.

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Hello! How’s everyone? It’s time once again for another installment of my ongoing series of unique, off-beat sights to see here in Las Vegas. Missed the other posts? Check out parts one, two and three.

I started doing this because people are always asking “What’s there to do besides gamble?” and want to offer some sights to see and also I’d hope some people would like to find stuff off the beaten path that you wouldn’t necessarily run into.

This time it’s all about the King, baby! Yup the Burger King! Well, not really LOL! It’s about Elvis Presley.

Elvis was one of the biggest name performers ever to play here in our fine city. He played over at the Las Vegas Hilton, which was then known as the International and when it opened in 1969 was the largest hotel in the world at the time.

He set attendance records that still stand to this day for Las Vegas, performing 837 consecutive sold out shows and played his last performance in December 1976, 9 months before his death.

Elvis had a long history with Vegas, first coming here in 1956 with a less than stellar run at the Frontier on the strip. He married Priscilla in 1967 at the old Aladdin and spent a good deal of his time here as well.

In 1978 the Hilton had a statue made celebrating the King’s legacy in Vegas and was placed outside the showroom. Later it was moved to the lobby where it was until 2005 when the lobby was renovated. It was in storage until June 2006 where it was moved to its permanent home in the courtyard just outside the lobby and main entrance.

If you’re a fan of Elvis the Hilton and the statue are a must see on your Vegas trip. The showroom is now occupied the Barry Manilow and various concerts and comedians play the famous venue but none compare to the King! Here’s some pics to enjoy! Viva Las Vegas!

But wait! There’s more! As always I have to leave you with a bit of trivia. (You know you love it!)

The main sign outside the Hilton is the largest free-standing sign in the world. It replaces the one that blew over in a windstorm in 1994 which was even bigger! (you can see a pic of the old sign here PS look for the old Landmark hotel in that shot)

Special bonus pic of the Hilton sign:

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Binion’s opened up a new poker room this week. They remodeled some space on the west side that wasn’t really being used and made a nice new room. They also took the pictures and displays they had with the former WSOP winners and the Poker Hall of Fame and incorporated then into the new room.

The old room will still be used for tournaments and the new room is for more everyday use.

They did a nice job and the room looks great! Definitely a step up for downtown! Nice to see some of the glory of Binion’s coming back. The new owners are doing a good job making improvements.

Also I wanted to let you guys know that a couple of rooms on the strip closed up. The poker room at Paris has closed up and the Planet Hollywood room has been scaled back and moved into the main casino. The former space is now a high limit room. I also heard rumors that the Tropicana room might be closing up.

Not really a surprise honestly. The poker boom is coming down from it’s peak a couple of years ago. The bigger rooms are doing ok but the smaller places are gonna suffer some attrition.

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