Minefield

Minefield, as the name suggests, is an abandoned settlement surrounded by Frag Mines. As if navigating through the mine-infested town wasn't dangerous enough, travelers must do so under fire from a sniper named Arkansas, whose shots more often than not hit a car or a mine, causing some pretty spectacular chain detonations. Note: You may not wish to kill Arkansas as he can be enslaved and sold to the slavers later in the game.

A number of the houses in the settlement contain valuable loot, including books, medical supplies and an Assault Rifle. There are a decent amount of Leaf blowers and lawnmower blades to be found lying around, as well as a motorcycle gas tank & brake handle.

The center of the merry-go-round in the Minefield playground is a quest target for one of the tasks involved in The Wasteland Survival Guide quest available from Moira Brown in Megaton.

Inside the Gibson House, there is a locked toy house. Picking the lock is a Very Hard task and nets you 3 Buffout, 3 Pre-war Money, and Junk Food. There is also a key on Gibson's corpse in an office in L'Enfant Plaza.

Common belief in the wasteland is that this settlement is haunted. However, there is no evidence of supernatural beings. (Please confirm)

As well, inside the Benson household, there is an (Easy) locked safe behind a dresser upstairs containing Pre-War Money and ammo.

The other three houses contain a safe as well. Both the Gibson and the Gillian House have a safe upstairs in the master bedroom. The Zane Household's safe is located behind the dresser in the office on the ground floor.

The safe in the Gibson house sometimes has a Stealth Boy.

There are (at last count) at least 63 mines planted about the town and strewn over the various approaches to it. At low levels at least, you can get 5 experience each for disarming them, and the mines themselves sell for a decent amount of caps, making a good case for finding and disarming them all.

Skill Books and Pre-War Books
There are four skill books and nine Pre-War Books to be had in Minefield:
 * Zane House: Pugilism Illustrated can be found in the children's room. There is also a Pre-War Book in the front room, and an easy safe in the back room behind the cabinet.
 * Gillian House: Infested with radroaches. Grognak the Barbarian can be found on a bed upstairs. There are also two Pre-War Books, both in the front room, as well as a safe under the bed in the Master Bedroom(Easy).
 * Gibson House: Tumblers Today can be found on a desk. There are four Pre-War Books -- one in the front room, one on the bookcase in the children's room, one in the bathroom tub off the master bedroom, and one on the bedside table in the master bedroom (next to two Med-X.  There is a safe in the master bedroom (Easy).
 * Benson House: D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine can be found in the upstairs master bedroom. There is a Pre-War Book on the same table, and a safe behind the dresser in this room. There is also a Pre-War Book on the ground floor.

Appearances
Minefield appears in Fallout 3

Related Quests

 * Wasteland Survival Guide The player character can (optional objective) defuse and retrieve one of the mines in this location for an additional bonus in XP and receive a Bottlecap Mine schematic.
 * Strictly Business - Arkansas is one of the four targets.

Trivia
One area in Minefield is a reference to the Hideo Kojima game, "Snatcher." A decapitated body sitting with its head between its legs can be found with a note in it that says "SEARCH THE HOUSE". This is identical to a scene in "Snatcher." The "Gillian's House" also refers to "Gillian Seed," the protagonist of Snatcher. 'Benson' (the name of another residence) is also the name of two characters from the game snatcher.