traveldk.com

A pastime with no cash payout, but plenty of variety in terms of styles of puzzle and images of Vegas. The most popular are puzzles that piece together the Strip by night or form cartoon renditions of sights along the Strip. And since this part of Las Vegas is ever-changing, you may one day have a collector’s item.

The perfect souvenir for people who host their own card games. Personalized chips come in traditional colors (see Gaming Chips), but can bear your name in place of a casino’s name and logo.

Have your picture taken dressed as a pioneer, a cowboy, or a showgirl. Or, if the fancy takes you, you can dress up in a medieval outfit. Alternatively, have your face substituted for a magazine-cover celebrity. The photos generally cost $25 or less and make fun mementos.

Although he didn’t make much of a hit when he first appeared in Las Vegas in 1956, Elvis Presley has since been firmly associated with the Entertainment Capital of the World. Your career as an Elvis impersonator could start here, with a pair of these sunglasses and sideburns.

Made of bright blue lucite, glittery gold plexiglass, brass, wood burls, or any other material known to man, these clocks – with dice marking the hours – fall into the genre of Las Vegas kitsch. Other tacky items include toilet seats inlaid with playing cards and poker chips, and tissue box covers with gaming motifs.

Las Vegas bookstores carry a large assortment of publications on the locale, including The Nevada Trivia Book by Richard Moreno, A Short History of Las Vegas by Myrick and Barbara Land, and several about slot machines by Marshall Fey (grandson of the inventor of the first slot machine). For fiction, try Sweet Promised Land or A Cup of Tea in Pamplona by the late Basque-American writer, Robert Laxalt.

The best-known Nevada-made edibles are Ethel M. Chocolates, created by Forrest Mars, a member of the Milky Way, Mars, Three Musketeers, and M&Ms manufacturing family. For the more refined palate, try Mrs Auld’s Sweet ‘n’ Spicy pickles, her scone mix, or brandied cherries; Davidson Teas are good, too.

Machines that date back to a little after 1895 – when Charles Fey invented the very first slot machine, The Liberty Bell – occasionally appear on the auction block. Designs range from high Victoriana to Art Deco, and the rarer antique models can cost several thousand dollars.

Each major Las Vegas show has a shop associated with it, usually located near the box office. Commemorative T-shirts and various production recordings are the most common items for sale. However, anything that can be sold will be sold, including magicians’ equipment, Chinese circus plates, and logo-emblazoned bottle stoppers, skipping ropes, and yo-yos.

The ultimate item to bring home from a Las Vegas trip has got to be several suitcases of hard cash. Although there are more losers than winners at the slot machines, roulette wheels, and gaming tables, visitors occasionally hit big jackpots, such as those on Megabucks and Quartermania machines, netting them huge sums of money.