“The carpets definitely play a big part in keeping the town as surreal as it is,” said Maluszynski by e-mail. “Thought has been given to the carpeting by people who want to create this special atmosphere, [one] that defines Vegas as a gambling city.”

via Ugly Vegas Carpets Want You to Keep Playing | Raw File.

I’m really going to update the essay that they reference to make it a little less tongue in cheek. On the Internet, no one can hear you being sardonic. I think I’ll add some more serious reasons why carpet looks like it does: mostly to hide stains and to jazz up a pretty big space. Thanks to Luxor and Aria, we’ve seen what less gaudy carpet looks like in a casino: funereal.

The urban legend that it makes you look at the machines is patently ridiculous. As bipeds with their heads 5-6 feet off the ground, humans generally look at about eye level while they’re walking. unless they’re hiking over treacherous ground. It’s not like our default mode to to stare at our shoes while we walk. The other legend, that it’s to hide chips, is flat-out stupid. Casinos want players to gamble their chips, not lose them. If a player loses money, or a chip, whoever finds it is supposed to report it to lost and found. If no one claims it after 30 days, they keep it. (At least that’s how it is in most places I’m familiar with.) If that happens, it’s a stone cold lock that the money’s not getting gambled at the casino. What kind of manager would want to encourage that?

It would be nice if casino carpet was really that mystical, but it’s really pretty common sense stuff if you think about it for a while.

It’s definitely one of the more charming examples of the genre I’ve seen. Dated, yes; tacky, yes; fun, absolutely yes. I’d like to see more of this, but in a modern interpretation we’d probably get fake Ed Hardy designs galore. That would make the old Trump Plaza carpet look like a work of art. For some reason kitsch for the sake of kitsch is intolerable to me, but absolutely earnest kitsch is fine.

Anyone have any idea where this was from? From the turban and the musical instruments I’d guess the Sahara’s Casbar lounge, but I honestly am stumped.

A Las Vegas version of the classic "Concentration" game with images of Las Vegas Casino Carpets.

Uncover all of the blocks by matching the pictures of the Casino Carpets.

Coolvegasmap – Las Vegas Picture Game – Casino Carpet Pictures.

Have fun!

Drop cards to create the best poker hand you can in each row. Earn more points for better poker hands. Don't let the board fill up

Xbox LIVE Marketplace | Poker Stacker.

I don’t have an Xbox 360, so I can’t vouch for the gameplay, but it looks like the kind of thing that could get addictive.

I’ve also tweaked my background a little, making it a bit less busy and incorporating some of the new images. Look for that to keep evolving.

My favorite “new” carpet (since the last time I’d taken pictures) has to be the California’s: it puts a new, tropical spin on the floral thing. It’s nearly a perfect match for the place’s Hawaiian orientation–maybe a spare turtle or two would make it absolutely apropos:

The worst floor covering–it’s not even a carpet–has to be the Western. There’s a Strip of remnants from the Plaza recarpet, then faux-oak laminate or something:

It certainly fits the property, which must be in the running for “most downmarket” casino in town.
See these and much more in the Downtown Las Vegas Casino Carpet Gallery.

Casino carpeting is a hobby for Schwartz. He has posted shots of casino carpets throughout the nation on his Web site www.dieiscast.com. They’re wild and bright and follow a Nevada tradition that at least dates back to places such as Reno’s Riverside Hotel Casino in the 1930s.

And the Peppermill? That carpet might be at the core of the concept that bad carpet is good for gaming.

“It is the essence of the whole thing,” Schwartz said of the Peppermill’s carpeting. “You don’t get rainbows and planets at most places.”

Peppermill officials defend their spaced-out carpet, although they say it contains a subtle reminder that the Peppermill may be the place where visitors win.

“People always don’t notice the rainbows in the carpet but they have a perception of good luck,” said Bill Hughes, marketing director. “Rainbows give us a sense of good feeling.”

And the black, purple and aqua background?

“There is a practicality side to it, too,” Hughes said. “You don’t want a real plain carpet because people drop cigarettes on it and spill drinks on it.”

Casino carpeting: Whats bad for the eyes is good for business | www.rgj.com | Reno Gazette-Journal

The Peppermill really has the quintessential casino carpet.

And I have become the quintessential scholar of casino carpeting, merely by the virtue of having enough of a sense of humor about the whole thing to suggest that I am a scholar of casino carpeting. There really is no such thing; my “essay” on the subject isn’t really a serious academic essay so much as a modest proposal for future study into the field.

I’m starting to think that people might think that I’m really serious about the whole thing.

In that spirit, I’ve updated the Atlantic City gallery and moved several old AC carpets to the Hall of Fame.

Check out the new look for the Taj–as much as I like what they’ve done with the rest of the place, that new carpet is really bad. It’s actually a step back from the old pink and purple stuff, which I didn’t think was possible. Harrah’s on the other hand has put a real winner in–I liked it so much that I included an extra “bonus” shot at the bottom of the page. This is clearly the best carpet in town, and joins the carpet at Red Rock on the “I wouldn’t mind having this in (a very small area of) my house” list.

I don’t think I’ve said this before, but Bally’s might have the worst carpet I’ve seen in a while. I know someone said in the RGJ article that the Peppermill carpet looks like vomit, but the Bally’s floor literally looks like someone had too much pepperoni pizza and grape slushee and suffered what competitive eaters call a “reversal of fortune.”

Plus I’ve added a Hall of Fame with old carpets and carpets from demolished hotels.

When I have the time, I’m going to make a trip downtown with the camera and get some updates down there, as well.

I knew that if I kept this up long enough, I’d end up in the avant garde of culture and design.

Of course, I’m sandwiched between articles on a collection of macaroni and cheese and one on a pocket protector collection, which I think is right about where this belongs. Great fun all around.

Check out the article here.

It’s a very, very old variation on three-card monte.

When I got closer to take an up-close picture, the thrower turned and verbally expressed his displeasure at having his picture taken. Still, I snapped another one:

I’m dumbfounded that people were actually playing this game. The only possible explanation is that those kids aren’t 21 yet. You’ve got to love those looks of rapt fascination–almost adoration–on the suckers’ faces. A few older guys drifted away with me as I passed by and encouraged me to take pictures of them. They even told me that they thought the thrower might be moving the ball with his little finger or doing something else shady. You think?

In a city with more than 100,000 gaming positions regulated by the state and certified to be honest (though negative expectation), why you’d want to gamble with a guy in the street is beyond my comprehension. I guess he gets some business though, because he’s out there.

It looks like I’ve got another warning to tack onto my usual spiel about Vegas safety–always pull your room door completely shut when leaving, never leave your drink unattended, and don’t gamble with guys in the street.

In other news, as soon as I finish a backlog of work that I actually get paid to do, I’ll be whipping out the 2008 edition of Winslow’s Eleven and posting a major casino carpet update, including the creation of a brand new page: the casino carpet crypt, where all the retired carpets will be posted. I’ve got to say that Luxor’s new carpet is not nearly as festive as you’d expect.

Finally, the Reading Room at Mandalay Bay is thriving, and will be open at least until the end of June and possibly until the end of December. So next time you’re in town, make a point of supporting an independent bookstore in a casino and buy something. There’s lots of good gambling-related books for sale there, including many that I’ve reviewed favorably. Alas, you’ll have go somewhere else for your copy of Zeropolis.

Originally, the background just featured elements from the Bellagio carpet, but it now features bits and pieces of at least a half-dozen. Can you guess any of them? Hint: They aren’t all from Las Vegas.

C’mon, give it a shot…that’s what comments are for.

I’ve also spruced up the title graphic, as you’ll see. I tried the monochromatic look for a few days, thinking that I’d focus more attention on the text. But after I had time to think about it, it just looked boring. After experimenting with color, I’ve decided to add motion.

We walk all over it, cover most of our floors with it, and, when we see it for the first time, proclaim it either grand or gaudy.

But have you ever seriously contemplated carpet? Other than its functionality — and providing a platform for generating static electricity in the winter — what purpose does it serve, especially in casinos?

Thats a question David Schwartz has asked about casino carpet. As the director of the Gaming Studies Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Schwartzs job is to contemplate all things casino. Carpet so fascinates Schwartz that he devotes an entire gallery on his blog, the dieiscast.com, to casino carpet. There, he writes: “Casino carpet is known as an exercise in deliberate bad taste that somehow encourages people to gamble.”

That may be true, but how? Schwartz says he doesn’t know, but there are almost as many theories as there are carpet designs. One thing he has noticed, is that, while it differs from property to property, casino carpet has a common element: It tends to be festive. Or busy, depending on your point of view.

ReviewJournal.com – Living – NAME THAT CARPET: WATCH WHERE YOU STEP

When I first created the casino carpet gallery, I didn’t know that it would be such a sensation. People really seem to like it–far more, apparently, than buying well-written books about gambling history. But I can’t get a deal to write a coffee table book about casino carpet. Judging from the hits and emails I get, it would sell at least moderately well. Any acquisitions editors out there interested?

If you are new to the site, start your amazing carpet journey here.

Clearly the color palette is related to the Venetian’s, yet it is different enough to have its own identity. But it still all comes down to circles and flowers. Remember, life is fleeting, so double down and live fast! But only if you take your marching orders from floor coverings.

As an update from the other day, here is a shot of the “three women ascending to heaven on a Tron light beam:”

Casino Carpet Unrolls on the MTV Awards – Forbes.com

Casino carpet, apparently, has come into its own. The thing is, I’m sure the editor was trying to juxtapose the “red carpet” of big LA events with the jangling noise of a Las Vegas casino, and it worked perfectly. “Casino carpet” is more than a description of a floor covering: it is an evocation of an entire aesthetic.

Die is Cast casino carpet gallery 1

In the meantime, here’s a teaser: see if you can guess where this carpet came from: