The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod, Observation tower and casino complex in Las Vegas, United States
The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod is a hotel complex with casino and observation tower in Las Vegas, United States. The structure reaches 350 meters tall and offers gaming floors, restaurants, and amusement rides on the rooftop.
Bob Stupak conceived the project, which was built in the mid-1990s at a cost of about 500 million US dollars and opened on 30 April 1996. Stupak had to give up the project, which passed to a company controlled by Carl Icahn. In early 2019 the Stratosphere was renamed The Strat, a nickname already used for the hotel.
The name The Strat began as a nickname and was made official in 2019. The tower appears in video games: the Lucky 38 casino in Fallout: New Vegas and the Starview casino in Need for Speed: Carbon are modelled on it, and Gangstar Vegas parodies it as "The Wrecking Ball". The Top of the World restaurant completes one rotation per hour, with views reaching the Spring Mountains and the 3,630-metre Charleston Peak.
The tower stands at the northern end of the Strip, near downtown Las Vegas, and the hotel is a separate 20-storey building from the tower. Two observation decks, a revolving restaurant and the rooftop rides sit at the top; the Big Shot launches riders 40 metres up the mast at 4g. Strong wind can trigger an emergency stop, as in 2005 when riders hung over the edge for 1.5 hours, so rides may pause in bad weather.
SkyJump allows controlled free falls from the 108th floor, with participants descending 253 meters to a landing pad at ground level. The Top of the World restaurant rotates around its axis and creates changing views of the city and surrounding landscape during meals.
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