High Roller, Steel roller coaster at The STRAT Hotel, Las Vegas, United States.
High Roller was a steel roller coaster built around the central mast on top of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its red track formed a horizontal ring above a white circular building with a ring of windows, and a red-and-white lattice mast rose through the center. A single train of yellow open cars ran on the track, which sat 277 m above the ground.
High Roller opened on 29 April 1996 with a VIP gala, a day before the Stratosphere casino and its rides opened to the public; it was one of the tower's first two rides, alongside Big Shot. It closed on 30 December 2005, needing over $500,000 in refurbishment and ranking as the least popular Stratosphere ride. Removal used plasma cutting, and 300 lb track segments were taken down by elevator.
The High Roller opened on 29 April 1996, one day after a VIP gala, alongside the Big Shot drop tower at the Stratosphere's casino opening. Guests showed far more excitement for the Big Shot, and the coaster drew poor reviews, ranking 2.77 out of 5.0 on themeparkcritic.com against above 4.0 for the tower's other rides.
The ride sat on the tower's observation pod, reached by the tower elevators, and its track circled the central mast in three loops without crossing the tower's edge. The train had seven cars, four riders each, after two of the original nine were removed in the late 1990s. All Stratosphere rides shut temporarily when winds exceeded 45 mph.
The train originally had nine cars; two were removed in the late 1990s, leaving seven cars with four riders each. The track segments weighed 300 lb (140 kg) and were cut with plasma torches so they could be lowered by elevator rather than crane.
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