Roll the Dice Trivia Quiz

Answer: Glitter Gulch

Prior to the development of the Fremont Street Experience, when the street was still open to traffic, it was known as Glitter Gulch because of all the neon lights and signs. This is where cowboy Vegas Vic resided among other iconic neon symbols.

Hotels began on Fremont Street in 1905 and development continued on the street over the years. In 1931 the first gaming establishment opened on the street. But by 1992 80% of business had moved to the strip so the Fremont Street Experience was born. Five blocks were closed to traffic and became a pedestrian walkway. A lighted canopy was installed over the length and the show began. Now the experience draws some 26 million visitors a year to the area.

This question was turned on by Phoenix Rising's VegemiteKid.

Answer: Pair O' Dice

The Strip, as it would become known, was created to attract the droves of young male workers, drawn to the area for the employment opportunities offered by the construction of the Hoover Dam. Pair O' Dice, a clever play on "paradise" opened in May of 1931 and had the distinction of being the first club (as distinct from casino) on the strip. It had a license to run a roulette table, a craps table, and a blackjack table, remarkably, at a time when gambling was still not legal in Nevada.

In 1941, the property was acquired by the developers of the Last Frontier Hotel. Rather than demolishing it they built around it and renamed it 91 Club. The Last Frontier would be demolished in 1966.

This question was rolled out by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who cautions people about walking on dominos, because he feels they're walking on thin dice.

Answer: El Rancho Vegas

According to legend, Thomas Hull and his friend were driving along Highway 91 when they had a flat tyre. While waiting for his friend to get help, Hull observed that the highway received lots of motor traffic and conceived the idea of building a hotel there. The idea was later expanded to include a casino and thus, El Rancho Vegas was born. The El Rancho Vegas was the first casino resort built on Highway 91. Prior to that, there were only smaller establishments such as the Pair O' Dice club. The success of El Rancho prompted the opening of other casino resorts, including the Hotel Last Frontier and the Flamingo, all concentrating on the stretch of Highway 91 that came to be known as The Strip. The Strip was named by one Guy McAfee, a police officer whose hometown was in Sunset Strip, California.

Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing booked luxurious accommodations for this question in this quiz.

Answer: Adventuredome

Circus Circus opened in October 1968 at the northern end of The Strip and was one of the first casinos to attempt to attract families. An article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated that: "[T]he huge casino will have numerous circus acts performing around the cavernous room, trapeze and high-wire acts performing over the heads of gamblers and bevies of showgirls dancing and singing throughout.". A slide was installed for access from the Carnival Midway to the gaming floor. It opened without a hotel, then, after struggling financially without one, added a 15 story tower with 409 rooms in 1972.

The Adventuredome, a further attraction for families, was added in 1993. It features rides and rollercoasters and its Fright Dome is extremely popular in Halloween season.

Circus Circus has one of the largest permanent circuses in the world. It has been featured in several movies including James Bond's "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" (1992), "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997) and "Baby Geniuses" (1999) which used the Adventuredome. It was mentioned in Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" but when this was made into a film in 1998 they were not granted permission to film there.

Phoenix Rising's lg549 juggled this question in the air for a while before landing it in the quiz.

Answer: Howard Hughes

Hughes arrived with his entourage at the Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day of 1966. Eventually, hotel co-owner Moe Dalitz requested that they vacate the premises to make room for other guests. Hughes decided to buy the hotel instead for some $13 million, because that's what you do when you're enjoying your stay and you have a massive fortune at your disposal. He did not leave the suite again until Thanksgiving Day four years later. In the interim, he used his considerable wealth and influence to acquire several more casinos, mining rights, an airfield, a television station, and huge tracts of land. Hughes became the largest employer in Nevada and controlled a third of the revenue generated by casinos on the Strip. But for all his corporate savvy, he and his entourage were ill-suited to casino ownership, and huge sums of money were skimmed off his profits. While his casino and mining interests eventually failed, his real estate holdings paid dividends, and he left an indelible mark on the city.

Phoenix Rising member JCSon found the history he read in preparation for this question well worth a gander.

Answer: Kirk Kerkorian

A mega-resort is a holiday park of an extremely large size, typically featuring widely varied attractions such as golf courses, theme parks, casinos, fine dining and shopping. The International Hotel, built by Kerkor "Kirk" Kerkorian, was the first mega-resort in Las Vegas and was the largest hotel in the world at the time of its launch. True to its name, the International Hotel featured international décor in its rooms and offered a variety of international cuisine. Staff were dressed in costumes of different cultures. In addition, the resort also showcased top performers such as Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley and staged theatrical productions. Outdoor entertainment was also provided, so there was definitely something for everyone. The International Hotel and another of Kerkorian's ventures, the MGM Grand, set the standard for mega-resorts in Las Vegas.

This question was thematically decorated by Phoenix Rising team member purelyqing.

Answer: True

The famous poker player Amarillo Slim said of Benny Binion upon his death, "He was either the gentlest bad guy or the baddest good guy you'd ever seen." ("New York Times" December 27, 1989). Benny started out in Texas where he was a moonshiner during prohibition and ran numerous gambling operations over the years. He was not shy about liquidating the competition.

Finally, in the late 1940s he decided to head to Vegas where gambling was legal. He eventually founded Binion's Horseshoe Casino and was one of the driving forces of innovation in the casino industry in the early years. He was the first to replace sawdust on the floors with carpet, he allowed bigger bets than his competition, he catered to all gamblers not just high rollers, and he shied away from the glitzy shows many casinos offered.

In 1971, he introduced the World Series of Poker which has become the premiere series of tournaments in the world each year in Vegas. He was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame a year after his death because of all he did for the game.

This question was dealt in to the quiz by Phoenix Rising member and WSOP player tazman6619.

Answer: The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino

The fire started in one of the casino's restaurants, known as the Deli. A crew supervisor noticed a flickering light which proved to be a massive wall of flame. The fire moved at speeds of almost thirteen miles per hour as it greedily feed on mountains of wallpaper, PVC piping and plastic. It raced through the lobby and burst through the main entrance as a massive fireball. From the moment of discovery to the point of the fireball took all of a mere six minutes.
It was estimated that there were 5,000 people in the hotel that night, eighty-five (85) were killed and a further 650 were injured. Whilst the fire was contained to the first floor of the hotel and caused great damage to the second floor, most of the deaths (sixty-one of them) occurred in the upper levels, namely the 19th to 24th floors, highlighting that smoke inhalation was much more deadly than the flames themselves.

Initially the state argued that it would be difficult to force owners to change the safety standards to buildings that were erected under less strict guidelines, however, a fire at the Las Vegas Hilton, just 81 days later, which killed eight people saw them push through new safety codes that had to be adopted by all buildings open to the public in Nevada.

This burning question was ignited by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19.

Answer: Steve Wynn

Steve Wynn began his career in Las Vegas casino development in the late 1960s when he bought a share of the Frontier hotel and casino. He then went on to form his Mirage Resorts company that was responsible for building some of the city's best known casino and hotel operations such as The Mirage (opened 1989), Treasure Island (1993) and the Bellagio (1998). That company was sold out to MGM in 2000 and Wynn began a new company under his own name that built further luxury resorts such as the Wynn and the Encore. Steve Wynn's various casino empires were also responsible for the construction of resorts in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Biloxi, Mississippi, and Macau, China.

Phoenix Rising's Fifiona81 chose to write this question on the flip of a coin.

Answer: The Bellagio

Originally the Dunes was to be replaced by a French themed resort, Beau Rivage, but was changed to be themed after the village of Bellagio, near Lake Como. The destruction of the Dunes was a major public event with 200,000 people watching the implosion of the North Tower. It was one of the most spectacular destructions in the history of Vegas.

The Dunes was the first of many implosions of hotels and casinos on the strip over the years. The Landmark was destroyed in 1995 and replaced with a parking lot, The Sands in 1996 and replaced by the Venetian, the Hacienda New Year's Eve 1996 and replaced by Mandalay Bay, to name a few.

The Dunes implosion ushered in the era of the destruction of the old to bring in new properties. It was also seen as a symbolic end to the mob influence in Vegas as Steve Wynn and corporate interests were the driving forces behind the Bellagio where the Dunes had been mob run for many years.

This question was dynamited into the quiz by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619.