Tiny Tower Vegas Review: Ante Up

What happens in Vegas ends up all over Bitbook. Tiny Tower Vegas, NimbleBit’s latest tower-builder, lets you build a skyscraper of sin that stretches into the heavens. Presumably, if you get high enough, you can fire an arrow into God’s …

By
Share this
  • Share this on Facebook
  • Share this on Twitter

What happens in Vegas ends up all over Bitbook. Tiny Tower Vegas, NimbleBit’s latest tower-builder, lets you build a skyscraper of sin that stretches into the heavens. Presumably, if you get high enough, you can fire an arrow into God’s eye.

Chances are good you’ll keep playing the game until your tower rivals Babel, too. Tiny Tower Vegas is arguably the most addictive Tiny Tower game since the original, and part of that is owed to the fact you can play casino-related minigames and earn fistfuls of Bux, the game’s hard currency. It’s Vegas, baby!

The basic Tiny Tower premise changes very little in Tiny Tower Vegas. Your goal is to gradually build a mixed-use tower, floor by floor, and earn money through provided retail and services.

There is one major difference between Tiny Tower Vegas and other Tower games, however: There are no living quarters. Instead, guests check in and out of dedicated suite floors, and jobs are staffed by applicants that gather in the lobby.

screen1136x1136[1]

Otherwise, Tiny Tower Vegas is a familiar neighborhood. You keep your stores stocked, you shuttle guests to different floors for a bit of extra cash, and you utilize VIPs for helpful bonuses like instant restocking and quicker floor constructions.

Despite its familiarity, Tiny Tower Vegas’s casino theme makes it worth re-visiting again and again. Every so often, one of the floors you build will host a gambling minigame, like poker, blackjack, or slots. These games cost chips, which are earned via elevator tips, quests, and other activities. You can bet one chip, or a whole pile. The more chips you shove into a game, the bigger the potential payoff.

Don’t worry: In Tiny Tower Vegas, there is payoff. With a bit of persistence and a kiss from Lady Luck, you can rack up thousands of Bux, the Tower games’ traditional hard currency. Bux can then go back into stocking stores instantly, speeding up tasks, and upgrading your elevator to make it move more quickly (which in turn allows you to deliver more guests to their floors, thus giving you a chance to earn more chips and money in tips).

screen1136x1136[1]

The ability to earn tons of Bux makes Tiny Tower Vegas a quick-moving game that is much less tedious than NimbleBit’s previous tower-builders. The game is quite generous about handing out chips, too, so you need not worry about spending actual cash on the valuable little discs (though you can if you want to, of course).

Moreover, typical of a NimbleBit game, Tiny Tower Vegas is full of little details that make the experience that much more compelling. The usual adorable Bitizens are present, of course, but there are other, easy-to-appreciate touches: The sound of a line reeling in when you win at the Fishing Slots, the crack of thunder when you enter the Olympus 21 blackjack venue, and the dinosaur roars that add ambiance to Dino Poker.

Tiny Tower Vegas is a well put-together experience that demonstrates NimbleBit still cares about its most popular property. Playing it is like taking a little trip to Vegas – and, hey, you don’t even have to join up with some shady gym club to enjoy it for free.

Want tips?  Check out our Tiny Tower Vegas Tips, Cheats, and Strategy Guide.

The good

  • Tower-building is as addictive as ever
  • Casino-style mini-games add value to the experience
  • You can win huge amounts of hard currency via the casino games

The bad

  • Tower-building gameplay is very similar to Nimblebit's previous Tower games
95 out of 100
In the early aughts, Nadia fell into writing with the grace of a brain-dead bison stumbling into a chasm. Over the years, she's written for Nerve, GamePro, 1UP.com, USGamer, Pocket Gamer, Just Labs Magazine, and many other sites and magazines of fine repute. She's currently About.com's Guide to the Nintendo 3DS at ds.about.com.