Fallout: New Vegas — The Real Mojave

Every game begins in Goodsprings. The courier is dug out of a grave on the hill by a cowboy robot called Victor and patched up by Doc Mitchell, then learns to fight in the local saloon. The game's Prospector Saloon copies the real Pioneer Saloon, opened in 1913 and one of the oldest in Nevada — its shape, porch, bar mirror and jukebox. Goodsprings, once the heart of Clark County's richest mining district, now has about 160 people, and since 2022 the saloon has hosted a yearly fan festival that draws thousands.

Visitor guidance: The Pioneer Saloon is still open in Goodsprings, south-west of Las Vegas; part of the dining room is given over to Fallout memorabilia.

Following the trail of the courier's attackers south, the player reaches Primm, a ruined casino town on the state line, overrun by escaped convicts called the Powder Gangers and in need of a new sheriff. Its Vikki and Vance casino honours a pair of outlaws, and the Bison Steve hotel has a rickety coaster. The real Primm, also on the Nevada–California line, had the Desperado roller coaster — once the world's tallest — and Bonnie and Clyde's bullet-riddled getaway car. Its two older casinos closed in 2024 and 2025.

Location precision: The game's Primm is reimagined; the pin marks the real town on Interstate 15.

Visitor guidance: Bonnie and Clyde's getaway car is now displayed at the Primm Valley Resort.

Nipton is where most players first meet Caesar's Legion. Its greedy mayor tried to sell the town's visitors to the Legion, and the frumentarius Vulpes Inculta answered by rounding up everyone and holding a lottery to decide who would be beheaded, crucified or set free. The courier arrives to find the town burning. Real Nipton, just over the line in California, was founded in 1905 with the railroad and has about 20 residents; it has since been bought by companies with plans for a cannabis resort and an artists' retreat.

Location precision: The pin marks the real village of Nipton.

Visitor guidance: Nipton sits on the edge of the Mojave National Preserve; its 1910 adobe hotel is the main historic building.

The NCR's outpost at Searchlight is a ghost town in the game: Legion saboteurs cracked open old casks of nuclear waste stored at the fire station, and the radiation turned most of the soldiers into feral ghouls. The real Searchlight began with a gold strike in 1897, supposedly named because the prospector said it would take a searchlight to find gold there; for a few years it was bigger than Las Vegas. Its most famous son was Senator Harry Reid, who wrote about his hometown. About 450 people live there today.

Location precision: The pin marks the real town of Searchlight on US 95.

In the game's history, NCR Rangers packed Boulder City with explosives in 2277 and blew it up with the Legion's army inside, winning the First Battle of Hoover Dam; a memorial stands outside the ruins. The real Boulder City was built in 1931 by the government and Six Companies to house the dam's workers, as a planned model town. Alcohol was banned until 1969 and gambling still is — Boulder City is one of only two places in Nevada where you cannot gamble.

Location precision: The pin marks the Boulder Dam Hotel in the historic downtown.

Visitor guidance: The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum is in the Boulder Dam Hotel downtown.

At last the courier reaches the Strip, a walled island of neon run by Mr. House from the top of his Lucky 38 casino tower, and confronts Benny, the mobster who shot them, in his own casino. Lead designer Josh Sawyer wanted New Vegas to look like the 1950s Strip, with Googie neon signs. The Lucky 38 was modelled on the Stratosphere tower — now The Strat — because the team wanted it to be the tallest landmark in the game; Mr. House owes a lot to Howard Hughes.

Location precision: The game's Strip is fictional; the pin marks The Strat, the model for the Lucky 38.

Visitor guidance: The Strat's observation deck, at the north end of the Strip, gives a view over the whole valley.

Water and power make Hoover Dam the prize of the game, and its finale is a second battle for the dam, whose outcome depends on which side the courier has chosen. The real dam was built in 1931–1936 across the Black Canyon of the Colorado during the Depression; 112 deaths were linked to its construction, and the summer heat of 1931 alone killed sixteen people. It holds back Lake Mead, which supplies water to about 18 million people in three states. The two states' clocks on its towers show different times for part of the year.

Visitor guidance: Tickets for the power-plant and dam tours are sold only on site at the visitor centre; through traffic now uses the bypass bridge downstream.