Nipton

Nipton is a town in the southern Mojave Wasteland inhabited by Caesar's Legion. Vulpes Inculta is the leader of the members here in Nipton. Before Vulpes razed the town to the ground, it was populated by gamblers, thieves, and prostitutes. Vulpes had the brilliant idea to have a lottery to "save" them. The winner was spared, the runner-up was crippled, the third place winners became slaves, the "Lucky Losers" were decapitated (quick death), and the rest were crucified. The player can't free the crucified people without killing them.

Upon arrival the player is greeted by Oliver Swanick, the ex-Powder Ganger who won the lottery to save his life. Alternatively, if the player stumbles upon the town hall first, Vulpes Inculta greets you. Venturing through the settlement, the player will see multiple crosses holding the losers of the lottery. The rest of the town is in ruins and burns as you walk the streets.

Nipton serves as a pit-stop for the player on their way to Novac for the main quest They Went That-a-Way

Layout

 * Nipton Hall - Outside of the hall is a crucifix along with skulls on a post and pile of junk on fire. Vulpes Inculta meets the player outside of the hall and tells them to spread the word of Caesar's Legion. After speaking to him the player is granted the quest Cold, Cold Heart. Inside the hall itself, you will find many Legion mongrels; depending on your reputation with the Legion, they may attack you.
 * Nipton Road Service Station
 * Nipton General Store has a man named Boxcars inside. If you give him Med-X, he will tell you what happened. There is also a Salesman Weekly on the counter. Even though Boxcars is crippled from the "lottery", he will still get up and chase you if you attack him. There is also an Easy-Locked door.
 * Nipton Hotel is a small establishment with several NCR Trooper corpses dumped unceremoniously inside.
 * The house with the sand bags in front of it is heavily booby trapped; there is a Frag Mine in the corner of the living room, kitchen and the bathroom. Both of those doorways conceal shotgun traps. There is a cage with 3 Bark Scorpions inside when you enter the house. There is an Easy-Locked safe with a Grenade Rifle in it; stepping across the threshold will release the Bark Scorpions.  The Average-Locked cabinet in the kitchen contains some provisions.

Notable loot

 * Worn Key - Upon entering Nipton Town Hall, directly to the right, behind the counter. Beware of the mine behind the counter near the key. This key unlocks the first door on the right down the hall. Included in the room is an explosives crate, gun case, and various ammo and health items.
 * Big Book of Science and Programmer's Digest - Sitting on the Mayor's desk on the 3rd floor of the Nipton Town Hall.
 * Future Weapons Today - Behind the desk in the mayor's office in the shattered cabinet.
 * Laser Pistol - Behind the desk in the mayor's office in the shattered cabinet and a second in the scientist's house near the town hall.
 * .44 Magnum Rounds - On the assembly level near the dead wastelander. Watch out for a mine near the corpse.
 * Nuka-Cola Victory - In the average locked door behind the Mayor's desk.
 * Various Ammo and 10mm Pistol - Behind average locked door in Mayor's Office
 * Today's Physician - In the house to the right of Nipton Hall, with a brahmin skull on the mailbox.
 * Note titled Declaration of Vital Essence - In the Nipton home directly east of Nipton General Store "Trading Post", with sandbags lined up in front of it. This house is heavily booby trapped.
 * Grenade Rifle in the Easy-Locked Safe in the booby trapped house
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Cap - On the main road to the east of Nipton, across the train tracks, inside a wrecked truck with a Sunset Sarsaparilla case. The star bottlecap is laying on top.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Cap - In the wooden house directly south of Nipton Trading Post, on the dresser in the bedroom.
 * Laser Rifle - In the trailer park opposite the town hall next to an ash pile from a legion soldier as well as another in the gun cabinet in the Mayor's office.
 * Plasma Pistol - under the workbench in the house where you find Mr Gutsy near the Town Hall
 * Laser Rifle - in the bath tub of the house where the Mr. Gutsy is
 * Laser Pistol- Inside Average Locked safe, in house where Mister Gutsy is.
 * Legion Recruit Armor - On a dead legionary recruit in the house with the sand bags in front.
 * Salesman Weekly - In the Nipton General Store on the edge of the counter.
 * Milsurp Review - In the general store, pick the Easy locked door and go upstairs. It's lying on the floor rug.
 * 9-iron - in the bathroom of the house where the Mr. Gutsy is, between the toilet and sink
 * .357 magnum revolver - under the workbench in the house where you find Mr Gutsy
 * Leather armor (Fallout: New Vegas) - In the house where the Mr. Gutsy is, behind the bed
 * Knife (Fallout: New Vegas) - In the house where the Mr. Gutsy is, on table in kitchen
 * Single shotgun - In the house where the Mr. Gutsy is, Behind a Chair in the bedroom

Appearances
Nipton appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the Scenes

 * The real Nipton is an unincorporated town in California with a population of 20, and is located just east of the California/Nevada state line (a sign showing the border can be found in-game). Founded in 1900 by local gold miners, Nipton experienced something of a boom in the mid-1980s, as its state lottery office was the closest in California to Nevada, which lacked a lottery of its own. However, Nipton's popularity plummeted sharply in 1996 with the opening of a second lottery office - the only road to which ran through the newly-founded, casino-rich town of Primm, Nevada.
 * There are two signs on the road directly southwest of Nipton: one, facing west, welcomes travelers to Nevada; the other facing east, welcomes them to California. This is a reference to the real Nipton's immediate proximity to the border between the two states.
 * The Legion's sacking of Nipton could be an allusion to Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery", in which the winner of the lottery is murdered by the other townsfolk. This is mentioned by the Caesar's Legion patrol; Mayor Steyen's office corroborates this, as well as the abundance of lottery tickets strewn across town hall. There are also strong parallels between Jackson's story and the social machinations of experiment conducted in Vault 11.
 * If you have the Wild Wasteland trait and look around in front of a destroyed building near the eastern entrance of the town, you can find the charred skeletal remains of two people named, respectively, Owen and Beru. This is a reference to a famous scene from "Star Wars," in which Luke Skywalker returns home to find that his uncle and aunt of the same names have been incinerated in a similar fashion by Storm Troopers.
 * The Declaration of Vital Essence may be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the film "Dr. Strangelove", in which the character of Gen. Jack Ripper is highly and vocally paranoid about guarding his "precious bodily fluids".
 * The sandbag house with the bark scorpions in a cage may have belonged to someone associated with The Enclave as the cage appears to be a variation on an enclave Deathclaw cage, blue LEDs and all. It is never stated in the game why the previous owner set up traps.

Bugs

 * For some players, upon first leaving Nipton for the firs time, it becomes impossible to come back to finish any further quests as the game freezes once the Courier comes too close to the town. This happens in both fast travel and by physically walking to Nipton.
 * On a shelf in the room behind the Mayor's office, there is a 10mm Pistol with a value of 749. When this gun is collected while another 10mm pistol is in your inventory, it may become listed as only one pistol, but you can drop the new pistol and your previous pistol separately.
 * There's a glitch which prevents you from being able to speak with Vulpes Inculta, even when he triggers the conversation. The camera will zoom in on him like it would usually do when initiating conversation, but will then quickly retract, bringing the player back into control. Reloading doesn't seem to fix this issue.
 * On rare occasions, the player may be approached by Oliver Swanick exclaiming he won the lottery, despite having already been to Nipton and hearing his ramble (experienced after fast traveling to Nipton).
 * Another glitch occurs in the heavily booby-trapped house when attempting to pick the numerous locks (fridge, cabinet etc). The lock itself is not displayed on the screen so it's impossible to tell how close it is to being picked. However, the controller will still vibrate and the bobbypins and screwdriver will still rotate.
 * Despite not having quest An Ear to the Ground found an Ear on body of dead legion member inside the house where the Mr. Gutsy is
 * Even though the game may state that the crucified Powder Gangers are "near death" they may stay where they are, crucified but alive indefinitely. (Only seen when fast-traveling to Nipton; if the player physically walks to Nipton it is possible that the crucified Powder Gangers will have disappeared [Presumably dead]).
 * It is unlikely that anyone on the crosses will have survived when The Courier leaves and comes back as 2 Bark Scorpions usually spawn in the main street (confirmed when fast traveling) and will sting the crucified to death.
 * Upon one fast travel to Nipton, A Prospector got off the cross, put on his helmet and started firing on the legion. It was sweet.