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What Vegas Needs Now: Offbeat Tourist Attractions

Posted on August 12
Rob Kachelriess

Rob Kachelriess

A skyscraper on the Strip showing a photo image of a woman with a camera.

Selfie schtick. (Palms Las Vegas)

Las Vegas has never shied away from weird and wacky tourist attractions, but as we continue to dig our way out of a visitation slump, no idea is too offbeat these days.

📷 The Palms just turned the exterior video wall on the 423-foot-long Ivory Tower into the world’s tallest photo booth. (We think. I haven’t checked with the record keepers at Guinness to confirm it.) It’s called 55 Stories of Fame — and will allow you to become a part of the Vegas skyline during special activations and entertainment events.

🧢 Luke Combs is inviting fans to send in their (used? 😬) baseball caps for consideration in a “larger than life” hat wall at Category 10, the country star’s upcoming honky tonk at the Flamingo. My thoughts and prayers to the intern assigned to sort through the donations.

👊 Fight at the office: The UFC has expanded its Apex mini-arena, increasing the capacity from just 175 people to nearly 1,200. Now renamed the Meta Apex (thanks for the sponsorship, Mr. Zuckerburg), the venue is part of the same Southwest Valley campus that’s home to UFC headquarters — and a nice low-cost alternative to bigger cage fights at the T-Mobile Arena.

🎰 Don’t discount the power of a casino rewards club promotion, but this one is unusually good. Treasure Island is offering $200 in free slot play with barely a string attached. New and current loyalty club members can claim the promotion Mondays through Wednesdays until Sept. 7.

🎄 Celebrate Christmas … with Creed 🎸 Relive the late ‘90s and the early aughts as the rock band takes the Mariah Carey route and performs two holiday-themed “Creedmas” shows at the Fontainebleau December 11-12.

🤔 A lie in the sky? As previewed in our guide to August, the Vinyl Room is now open atop the Mandalay Bay hotel. Booze, views, and DJs are nothing new in Vegas, but as our friend Corey Levitan at casino.org pointed out, the venue isn’t really on the 63rd floor as advertised. The number is completely made up. If you want to be accurate, the Vinyl Room is on the 43rd floor.

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