IT'S ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS: If you appeared on a quiz show and had to answer a question that asked what place was the most number-oriented, you might pause, scratch your chin, and consider. There are universities and institutes that are quite math-minded, so they'd qualify. There are towns that survive by watching the amount of rainfall received, down to the millimeter. And there's Las Vegas, a glittering casino-opolis that showers visitors in numbers and amounts from every angle, including the poker table, the roulette wheel, blackjack, and the slots. Thus when it is time to tally up a full year, Sin City naturally looks to a way to add it all up, since that's the route the desert destination tends to take the most. And the impressive numbers have been released: A lot of people go to Las Vegas to participate in a lot of out-of-the-ordinary things. For starters, how many $5,000 burgers were sold at Fleur during 2014? Scratch your chin and ponder for a moment. Okay, we'll 'fess up. The number was...
26 FLEURBURGERS: Yep, that happened. The numbers grow a lot in terms of margaritas served at the MGM Grand's Hecho en Vegas -- 46,363 -- and fountain shows at The Bellagio (if you guessed 11,336, you're absolutely correct). Speaking of MGM Grand, the estimate of how many pillows were fluffed over the course of 365 days astounds -- that's 7,982,550 -- and there were some 520 victories at Excalibur's Tournament of Kings. And as for those new lion cubs at Mirage? They're three of them. As for the pounds of caviar served at The Bellagio's buffet? About 360, so figure that guests are eating roughly a pound of caviar a day. And did you see the couples marrying on The Linq's High Roller on Dec. 13, 2014 (which was 12-13-14)? Almost 100 couples in all tied the knot on the mega Ferris wheel.
IT'S A REMINDER... that Las Vegas works both the posh, try-it-once angle, and the up-all-the-time corner, too, meaning its numbers push, push, push the limits. But then it is a city built on numbers pushing limits, so large amounts of swanky suppers sold and stay-overs enjoyed is not that strange. Surely the city'll try to out-do itself in 2015, the way that something that's forever trying to top the last amazing thing goes a little bit further?
SO WHAT'S AHEAD? Here's a crystal ball for you.
