Vault 21

"Serenity / Dream Town"

Vault 21 is a Vault-Tec vault that was once hidden under Las Vegas, Nevada. It has since been converted into a hotel/casino and acts as one of many sources of income for Mr. House and his young New Vegas empire.

Background
Located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, Vault 21 had a unique Vault experiment, in that everyone in the vault was equal, it was created with a perfectly symmetrical layout, and the dwellers settled their differences via games of chance. Reliance on luck to solve problems created what might be considered the perfect realization of anarchy, in a society in which everyone is equal and no one has an advantage over the others. Vault-Tec ensured that every person admitted to the vault when it first sealed was a compulsive gambler and were unable to decline when Vault-Tec personnel running the vault informed them that this was how the vault was to be run. The original dwellers then passed on their lifestyle to their children and so on.

However, as with all utopias, peace was not lasting. Sometime between 2271 and 2281, Robert House planned an occupation of Vault 21. The inhabitants split into two opposing groups, one that supports House's occupation, and one that resists it. As is tradition, they settled on gambling to reach a consensus. The game they played to settle the deal was blackjack and almost the entire vault was in attendance. After hours of grueling bets, the supporters of House won against the opposition, and Vault 21's interior was stripped of its useful electronics and equipment and partially filled in with concrete, forcing the dwellers to resettle in the wasteland and on the Strip. At Sarah Weintraub's and Michael Angelo's (a.k.a. Sheldon Weintraub) insistence, House left the topmost level intact and allowed the Weintraubs to establish a hotel there, which became another source of income for his fledgling empire.

Vault 21 is one of the extremely rare experimental vaults which successfully protected its inhabitants while fulfilling the parameters of its experiment. The experiments in most other Vault-Tec vaults ended up killing or permanently altering their inhabitants or forced the dwellers to abandon. Although Vault 3 was a control vault, intended to recolonize the surface after an extended period of time, when its door was opened the Fiends slaughtered its residents and took over.

Layout
The vault's main blast door has been transformed into a sign advertising the vault/casino. "Vault 21" is emblazoned on it in neon lights. The vault entrance is an above-ground building that contains the Vault 21 gift shop. It is run by one of the only two native residents to have remained, Sarah. Stairs lead from the gift shop down into the vault.

There is a central atrium with gambling tables, a hallway with living quarters, including Sarah's room and a guest room that the player character can rent. Another door leads to the cafeteria/diner. The lower levels were filled with concrete by Mr. House and are inaccessible except for the maintenance level, which is accessible from the basement of The Tops, where the Chairmen appear to have tried to break in. This level consists of a long hallway with a few small rooms branching off of it. The elevator in Benny's suite leading to it is locked unless he is attacked in the Tops presidential suite, and the tunnel ends in another locked door.

Inhabitants

 * Carlitos Wayne
 * Martina Groesbeck
 * Michael Angelo (formerly)
 * Doc Mitchell (formerly)
 * Sarah Weintraub

Notable loot

 * The Strip snow globe - Behind an Average locked door in the northeast-most room (Sarah's room). In the same room, there is a Hard locked dresser beside the bed with 270 caps and several articles of clothing.
 * An oversized toy car and a sensor module - In the hotel lobby.
 * Strip letter 1 and Strip letter 2 - In the guest rooms to the southeast.
 * Strip letter 3 - In the guest room just west of the inaccessible door to the south.
 * Vault lab uniform - Occasionally sold by Sarah.

Related quests

 * Bye Bye Love
 * The Finger of Suspicion
 * Suits You, Sarah
 * Tourist Traipse

Appearances
Vault 21 appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Vault 21 was designed by Jorge Salgado.
 * Vault 21 is geographically situated in the same real world location as the former Las Vegas Hilton, now Westgate Las Vegas, which contained a municipal fallout shelter in real life.
 * Vault 21 may be a reference to the card game "Blackjack," where 21 is the highest sum and its limit, usually declaring an instant victory. This supports its gambling theme. It could also be a reference to 21 as the minimum legal age a person must be in order to drink and gamble, therefore reinforcing the main theme.
 * Vault 21's lower levels being filled with concrete may be a subtle reference to the Silver Slipper Casino, as it was rumored that the mechanized slipper at the front of the casino was filled with concrete by Howard Hughes, the man who was the basis for Mr. House.
 * James Garcia created the 3D model of the neon sign letters.
 * The computer in Sarah Weintraub's room contains an email from a Charlene Tann who mentions her husband Biff Tann. This may be a reference to the Back to the Future trilogy, in which the antagonist is named Biff Tannen.
 * The vault guest terminal advertises pool sets in the gift shop with the line "Hustle it like Minnesota Fats!" This is a reference to the novel The Hustler by Walter Tevis and it's 1961 film adaptation, starring Jackie Gleason as Fats.

Bugs

 * If you take the tour with Sarah Weintraub, your companions may disappear and not reappear when you exit the vault.
 * Sarah may not recognize Vault 21 jumpsuits as vault gear, but will trade for them normally at the usual price.
 * Sometimes when you take the tour with Sarah Weintraub, she will walk with you out of the gift shop and then stay still above the stairs leading to the hotel part of Vault 21 and will be unable to talk to.
 * Vault 21 has a high probability of causing the game to freeze during loading screens.