94 Fun Facts About Fallout

What was the publicly advertised purpose of the Vaults built across pre-War America?

Each Vault was sold as a shelter for up to a thousand people, but most were secretly built to run a different social experiment on the people inside.

From which animal were Fallout's Deathclaws originally genetically engineered as a bioweapon before the Great War?

Jackson's chameleons were the base stock: pre-War military scientists spliced the chameleon's DNA with other species to create Deathclaws as replacements for human soldiers in close-combat missions.

Which casino boss ambushes the Courier and steals the Platinum Chip at the start of Fallout: New Vegas?

Benny runs The Tops and wears a checkered suit; his tribe, the Boot-Riders, were renamed the Chairmen when they took over the casino.

In Fallout 3, the player character begins their journey in which location?

The player character is born and raised in Vault 101 beneath the Capital Wasteland, leaving at age 19 to search for their father James after he escapes the vault.

What is the wrist-worn computer that manages quests, inventory and stats in every mainline Fallout game?

The first two games feature the same physical unit, a Pip-Boy 2000 used by the Vault Dweller and later inherited by the Chosen One.

Which heavy weapon launches miniature nuclear warheads?

The M42 Fat Man was developed at Fort Strong near Boston, where early warheads were too heavy to clear the blast radius before going off.

At the start of Fallout: New Vegas, which robot digs the Courier out of a shallow grave in Goodsprings?

Victor, a Securitron with a cowboy persona, unearths the Courier in the Goodsprings cemetery and carries them to Doc Mitchell; he was secretly acting on Mr. House's orders.

Which journalist and editor of the 'Publick Occurrences' newspaper can become a companion in Fallout 4?

Piper Wright runs Publick Occurrences with her younger sister Nat and openly dislikes the power-armoured Brotherhood of Steel, partly for what she considers their lousy fashion sense.

In Fallout, the Great War was a nuclear exchange between the United States and which country?

The war followed the U.S. retaking Alaska and invading the Chinese mainland; the whole exchange lasted about two hours.

In Fallout 4's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, which stat governs persuasion and merchant prices?

Charisma sets persuasion odds and merchant prices in Fallout 4, which dropped the earlier Speech and Barter skills; it also caps a settlement's population at 10 plus the player's Charisma.

On what morning did Fallout's two-hour Great War wipe out the old world?

October 23, 2077, and the whole exchange lasted about two hours; Bethesda released the official Fallout cookbook on the same date in 2018 to mark the anniversary.

What is the official title given to the player character in Fallout 3?

The Lone Wanderer grows up in Vault 101 near Washington, D.C., and the disappearance of their father James, voiced by Liam Neeson, kicks off the story.

Which prominent Fallout faction zealously preserves pre-war technology?

The Brotherhood of Steel is a highly organized, quasi-religious technological supremacist organization that hoards and preserves advanced pre-War technology.

The Yao Guai that roam the Fallout wastelands are mutated descendants of which animal?

The black bear is the Yao Guai's ancestor; the name was given by descendants of people held in pre-War Chinese internment camps, and is Chinese for 'monster'.

In Fallout 4, which faction is dedicated to liberating and protecting sentient synths?

The Railroad is a clandestine organization in Fallout 4 that works to free sentient synths from the control of the Institute and help them find new lives.

Which is one of the four main factions vying for the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas?

The Courier can side with the Legion, with the republic pushing east from California, with Mr. House, or with an independent New Vegas.

What does the 'I' stand for in Fallout's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character stats?

Intelligence is the I in S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck); the system was built in-house after a licence to use the GURPS rules fell through before the first game shipped.

In the original Fallout, what item must the Vault Dweller find to save their vault?

The Vault has only 150 days of water left, and the replacement chip finally turns up in the ruined Vault 12 beneath Necropolis.

Which pre-War contractor built the first Power Armor in the Fallout universe?

West-Tek's T-45 series was the first practical line of Power Armor, unveiled in 2067; the same contractor also ran the research program that produced the Forced Evolutionary Virus.

In the Fallout TV series, Lucy MacLean leaves which shelter to find her kidnapped father?

Vault 33 is where Ella Purnell's Lucy grows up; Kyle MacLachlan plays her father Hank, the Overseer, and the raiders who take him had overrun neighbouring Vault 32.

Which settlement in Fallout 4 is built within the ruins of a pre-War baseball stadium?

Diamond City fills Fenway Park, the real Boston ballpark, with shacks on the infield; it is one of the largest settlements in the Commonwealth.

Which mainline entry in the series is set earliest in the timeline, only 25 years after the bombs fell?

Fallout 76 is set in 2102, just 25 years after the Great War, making it the earliest game in the Fallout chronological timeline.

Which Fallout: New Vegas companion is a Followers of the Apocalypse researcher with a medical background?

Arcade Gannon works as a researcher and doctor for the Followers of the Apocalypse at the Old Mormon Fort in Freeside, while hiding that he grew up among Enclave remnants.

What is the name of the settlement in Fallout 3 that is built around an unexploded atomic bomb?

Megaton is a unique settlement in Fallout 3, famously constructed around a live, unexploded atomic bomb that the player can choose to disarm or detonate.

How is Fallout 2's Chosen One related to the protagonist of the original Fallout?

The Chosen One is the Vault Dweller's grandchild, sent from the village of Arroyo with the old hero's jumpsuit, wrist computer and Vault 13 water flask.

The first season of the Fallout TV series is set in which ruined U.S. city?

Los Angeles: Vault 33 lies beneath the Santa Monica ruins, and the first season visits the Griffith Observatory and Hollywood before its closing shot of New Vegas.

Which Fallout 4 Luck perk multiplies experience gains more often the dumber your character is?

Idiot Savant fires more often at low Intelligence; when it does, a laughing Vault Boy pops up and the experience gained is tripled at rank 1 and quintupled at rank 2.

What is the ultimate goal of Project Purity in Fallout 3?

To purify the Capital Wasteland's water: the purifier sits inside the Jefferson Memorial, and the ending forces someone to walk into its irradiated control room to switch it on.

Which mutated Fallout enemy is known for burrowing underground and launching surprise attacks?

Mole rats are a prevalent enemy throughout the Fallout series, often encountered in tunnels and caves, and are known for their ability to burrow and ambush unsuspecting travelers.

Which iconic location in Fallout: New Vegas features a massive dinosaur sculpture and a motel?

Novac took its name from a broken 'No Vacancy' motel sign; Dinky the T-Rex looms over the Dino Dee-lite Motel, and ex-NCR snipers Boone and Manny Vargas use its mouth as a nest.

What is the name of the pre-War company responsible for building the numerous Vaults across America?

Vault-Tec Corporation is the company behind the construction of the vast network of underground Vaults, ostensibly built to protect citizens from nuclear war, but often used for social experiments.

Fallout 3's slow-motion V.A.T.S. kills were inspired by crash replays from which racing series?

Burnout: Bethesda's designers cited the racing series' slow-motion crash replays as the model for V.A.T.S. kill cameras, which let Fallout 3 blend real-time action with the paused, targeted attacks of the earlier games.

What is the primary currency used in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout?

Bottle caps, mostly from Nuka-Cola, became the standard currency after the Hub's water merchants backed them; their fixed pre-War supply makes them hard to counterfeit.

In Fallout 4, what is the name of the protagonist's son, who is kidnapped from Vault 111?

Shaun is found decades older than expected: the Sole Survivor was frozen far longer than they knew, and the kidnapped baby grew up to lead the Institute.

In Fallout: New Vegas, Mr. House rules the Strip with an army of which robots?

Securitrons get a wholesale upgrade from the Platinum Chip the Courier is carrying when shot in the head at the start of the game.

In Fallout 3's Broken Steel, the Tesla Cannon was built to knock which Enclave aircraft out of the sky?

Vertibirds: in Broken Steel, Scribe Vallincourt finishes the Tesla Cannon once the player retrieves a Tesla coil from the Olney Powerworks, and it is used to shoot down the Enclave's Vertibird gunships.

Which virtual reality simulation lurks inside Vault 112 in Fallout 3?

Dr. Stanislaus Braun built the Vault 112 simulation in Fallout 3, trapping residents in a perpetual 1950s suburban nightmare.

In the 2018 online Fallout game, residents of Vault 76 leave their shelter on which named day?

Reclamation Day sends Vault 76's 'best and brightest' out into West Virginia 25 years after the bombs to repopulate Appalachia, and the game launched with no human NPCs at all.

What era heavily influenced the 'retrofuturistic' design aesthetic of the Fallout series?

The Fallout series employs a retrofuturistic aesthetic, heavily influenced by the 1950s Atomic Age, combining mid-century American culture with advanced (but anachronistic) technology.

What is the name of the aircraft carrier serving as a major settlement in Fallout 3?

Rivet City is the Capital Wasteland's largest settlement, built into a grounded aircraft carrier in the Potomac with a swing bridge for a gate.

Which Fallout: New Vegas DLC takes the Courier to a pre-War casino resort known as the Sierra Madre?

Dead Money is the first DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, where the Courier is trapped in the booby-trapped Sierra Madre casino and forced to participate in a deadly heist.

Which hulking Fallout enemies owe their existence to the Forced Evolutionary Virus?

Super Mutants are humans transformed by the Forced Evolutionary Virus; in the first Fallout, captives dipped in FEV vats at the Mariposa Military Base emerged as the green-skinned giants.

Which of the following Perks is present in every mainline Fallout game (Fallout 1, 2, 3, New Vegas, 4)?

The 'Action Boy' or 'Action Girl' perk, which increases Action Points or their regeneration rate, is one of the few perks that has appeared in every mainline Fallout game.

What is the name of the main radio station in Fallout 3, hosted by Three Dog?

Galaxy News Radio (GNR) is a popular radio station in Fallout 3, broadcast from the ruins of Washington D.C., and famously hosted by the charismatic DJ Three Dog.

In Fallout 4, the companion Dogmeat is which breed of dog?

Dogmeat is the only companion the Sole Survivor must recruit, and his motion capture was performed by a real German Shepherd named River.

In Fallout: New Vegas, which real hydroelectric dam is the prize the game's factions go to war over?

Hoover Dam became the prize because director Josh Sawyer reasoned desert factions would care most about water and the power it generates.

In Fallout 4, how many years after entering Vault 111 does the Sole Survivor finally emerge?

210 years: the Sole Survivor enters Vault 111 on October 23, 2077 and walks out on October 23, 2287, the exact anniversary of the day the bombs fell.

What is the name of the ghoul bounty hunter and former actor in the Fallout TV series?

In the Fallout TV series, the ghoul bounty hunter is named Cooper Howard, who was a famous Hollywood actor before the Great War.

In Fallout: New Vegas, the spore plants and spore carriers infesting the Mojave escaped from which sealed shelter's agricultural experiments?

Vault 22's scientists bred a pest-killing fungus that colonised the residents instead, turning them into spore carriers; the survivor Keely urges the Courier to destroy the research rather than let it out.

Which Fallout: New Vegas faction aims to restore pre-War America and is known for bureaucracy and expansionism?

The New California Republic, the NCR, brings two-headed-bear flags, taxes and paperwork to the Mojave in its bid to restore pre-War government.

At which event did Bethesda first announce Fallout Shelter, releasing it on iOS the same night?

Todd Howard revealed it during Bethesda's first-ever E3 press conference on June 14, 2015, and it was live in the App Store before the show ended.

Fallout Shelter was built with which game engine, unusual for a Bethesda title?

Unity: Bethesda Game Studios built the vault sim in the cross-platform Unity engine with Montreal's Behaviour Interactive, rather than the in-house Creation Engine that powers its main titles.

In Fallout Shelter, which robot collects resources from every room on its floor?

Mister Handy, the floating multi-armed robot, gathers the output of every production room on its floor and can also be sent into the Wasteland to collect caps.

In Fallout Shelter, which S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat makes dwellers better at running power generators?

Strength: each production room favours one S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat, and power generators run on Strength, while diners want Agility and water treatment plants want Perception.

Fallout Shelter's 2018 release made it the first Fallout game on which company's hardware?

Nintendo: the Switch port arrived on June 10, 2018, the same day as the PlayStation 4 version, making it the first Fallout title on any Nintendo console since the series began on PC in 1997.

In 2020 Fallout Shelter became playable on the dashboard screen of which unexpected platform?

Tesla vehicles: Fallout Shelter joined the Tesla Arcade in a June 2020 software update after Elon Musk said he was a fan, sitting beside titles such as Cuphead on the car's touchscreen.

Which 2024 Bethesda mobile game is a fantasy spiritual successor to the vault-building Fallout Shelter?

The Elder Scrolls: Castles has players rule a dynasty of subjects over generations instead of dwellers, and years pass in-game as real days go by.

How many times had Fallout Shelter been downloaded by June 2020, five years after launch?

More than 170 million downloads by its fifth anniversary; the game had won Best Handheld/Mobile Game at the 2015 Golden Joystick Awards and Mobile Game of the Year at the 2016 D.I.C.E. Awards.

Which 1988 Interplay game, whose rights were stuck with Electronic Arts, inspired the creation of Fallout?

Wasteland: Interplay developed it for EA in 1988, and when Brian Fargo could not get the rights back, Tim Cain's team built a fresh post-apocalyptic setting that became Fallout in 1997.

Which Ink Spots song became 1997 Fallout's theme after a rights snag hit the first pick?

Maybe: Interplay had wanted the Ink Spots' 'I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire' for the 1997 opening, but a rights problem got in the way, so 'Maybe' plays over the famous intro instead.

Which amalgamated creature leads the mutant army in the original 1997 Fallout?

He was conceived as a man, a woman and a computer terminal fused together, and switches between three voices; a persuasive player can talk him into giving up.

In Fallout 2, the Enclave's main base sits on what kind of structure?

An offshore oil rig: the Enclave's Control Station sits on Poseidon Oil's old platform off the California coast; the Chosen One reaches it by restarting an ancient oil tanker's autopilot, then blows it up.

Which Star Trek actor voiced Frank Horrigan, the Enclave's cyborg brute in Fallout 2?

Michael Dorn, Star Trek's Worf, voiced Frank Horrigan; Jeffrey Jones voiced President Dick Richardson, who dies alongside Horrigan when the Chosen One destroys the Enclave's rig.

Which device does Arroyo's village elder send the Chosen One to find in Fallout 2?

A Garden of Eden Creation Kit: Arroyo is dying in its worst drought, so the elder sends the Chosen One to find the G.E.C.K. that can restore the land, carrying only a spear, a flask and a jumpsuit.

Which studio developed the 2001 squad-combat spin-off Fallout Tactics?

Micro Forté, an Australian studio, developed Fallout Tactics for Interplay's 14 Degrees East label; the game shipped with a bonus CD holding Fallout: Warfare, a printable tabletop miniatures game.

In Fallout Tactics, which enemy inside Vault Zero directs the robot army?

The Calculator, the supercomputer running Vault 0 beneath the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, commands the robot army; the finale lets you wire a human brain into it, with different endings depending on whose.

What was the codename of Black Isle's cancelled Fallout 3, shelved in December 2003?

Van Buren, named after the eighth U.S. president, was set across Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Utah; it died when Interplay dismissed its PC team, and pieces resurfaced in Bethesda's Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

What minimum advance did Bethesda pay Interplay in 2004 for the rights to make Fallout 3?

$1,175,000 was the guaranteed minimum advance in the 2004 licence for Fallout 3; Bethesda then bought the whole franchise outright for $5.75 million in 2007.

Which country's ratings board initially refused to classify Fallout 3 over drug use?

Australia: the OFLC refused classification in July 2008 over the use of real drug names, so Bethesda renamed morphine to Med-X and applied the change to every version of the game worldwide.

Which actor voiced Enclave President John Henry Eden in Fallout 3?

Malcolm McDowell voiced John Henry Eden, who turns out to be an artificial intelligence running Raven Rock; the Lone Wanderer can talk him into self-destructing.

Late in Fallout 3's development, Bethesda found nobody had modelled which D.C. landmark?

The White House: with no time left to build it, the team dropped a giant radioactive crater on the site and explained it away in-game as a direct nuclear hit.

Which New Vegas option adds ammo weight, permanent companion death and a need to eat?

Hardcore Mode can be switched on or off at any time, but finishing the whole game with it enabled from start to end unlocks the 'Hardcore' achievement.

In Old World Blues, what are the Big MT's brain-in-a-jar scientists collectively called?

The Think Tank: Dr. Mobius hacked his fellow brains-in-jars' memories to trap them in a loop and built robotic scorpions to keep them busy at the Big MT.

In Lonesome Road, the Courier tracks which rival who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip?

Ulysses, the courier who turned down the Platinum Chip job, blames the Courier for the nuclear destruction of the Divide; Lonesome Road ties together threads from the three earlier story DLCs.

Which rogue elder collars the Courier and forces a heist on the Sierra Madre casino?

Father Elijah, the former Brotherhood elder, uses the nightkin Dog/God to abduct wanderers for his Sierra Madre heist; the player can end it by killing him or sealing him inside the vault.

Which Las Vegas entertainer lends his voice to Fallout: New Vegas?

Wayne Newton plays radio host Mr. New Vegas; the cast also includes Felicia Day, Kris Kristofferson, Danny Trejo and Matthew Perry, and the game's roughly 65,000 recorded lines earned a Guinness World Record.

Which cheerfully reprogrammed robot lets the Courier claim New Vegas for themselves?

Yes Man, a Securitron reprogrammed by Benny to obey anyone, backs the independent New Vegas ending, one of four alongside the NCR, Caesar's Legion and Mr. House routes.

Which studio handled Fallout 4's gunplay, a first for the series?

id Software, the Doom makers and a sister studio under ZeniMax, consulted on Fallout 4's shooting feel; the game ships with roughly 50 base weapons and more than 700 modifications.

Which Fallout 4 companion is a prototype synth who works as a private detective?

Nick Valentine, a discarded Institute prototype, carries the memories of a pre-War Boston police detective of the same name and is voiced by Stephen Russell.

Fallout 4's Far Harbor expansion takes the Sole Survivor to an island off which state?

Maine: Far Harbor is set on Mount Desert Island off the Maine coast, and Bethesda called it the largest landmass it had ever built for an add-on.

Which mercenary murdered the Sole Survivor's spouse in Fallout 4?

Conrad Kellogg shot the Sole Survivor's spouse and took Shaun; a cybernetic implant from his brain lets Dr. Amari replay his memories, revealing that the Institute is reached only by teleportation.

Which Austin, Texas studio co-developed Bethesda's 2018 online Fallout game?

BattleCry Studios, Bethesda's Austin team (later Bethesda Game Studios Austin), co-developed Fallout 76; its staff had worked on large multiplayer games such as Star Wars Galaxies.

In the 2018 online Fallout game, what does the base-building acronym C.A.M.P. stand for?

Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform: the C.A.M.P. can be dropped almost anywhere and moved at any time, and if another player's base already occupies the spot on a server, yours is packed up.

In Appalachia, which numbered shelter secretly holds the U.S. gold reserve from Fort Knox?

Vault 79 was built in secret to hold the U.S. gold reserve moved from Fort Knox before the bombs fell; the Wastelanders raid on it lets you keep the gold or split it with the Settlers and Raiders.

The 2018 Power Armor Edition's promised canvas bag famously arrived made of what instead?

Nylon: the $200 Power Armor Edition shipped a cheap nylon bag instead of the advertised canvas one; Bethesda first offered 500 Atoms, then promised real canvas bags that shipped in 2019.

Who directed the first three episodes of the Fallout television series?

Jonathan Nolan, an avid player of the games, directed the first three episodes; he and Lisa Joy pitched the show to Bethesda after their work on Westworld, and it was shot on 35mm film.

In the 2012 settlement, Interplay sold Bethesda its Fallout MMO rights for how much?

$2 million: the January 2012 deal ended Bethesda's lawsuit over Interplay's Fallout Online (Project V13), and Interplay's right to sell the classic games expired at the end of 2013.

Fallout's TV wasteland scenes were shot in the ghost town of Kolmanskop in which country?

Namibia: Kolmanskop, a diamond-mining ghost town half-swallowed by dunes, doubled for the wasteland, and crews also filmed on the Skeleton Coast at the wreck of the Eduard Bohlen.

Who plays Robert House in the second season of the Fallout series?

Justin Theroux plays Robert House in the second season, which is set in 2296, 15 years after Fallout: New Vegas, and includes pre-War flashbacks of the Ghoul meeting House.

In Fallout lore, which isotope gives Nuka-Cola Quantum its glow and a week of blue urine?

Strontium-90, in a mild isotope, gives Quantum its blue glow; Nuka-World records say an earlier Strontium-85 batch killed its tasters, and the drink reached shelves on the very day the bombs fell.

Vault Boy's look was partly based on the mascot of which board game?

Monopoly: Leonard Boyarsky modelled Vault Boy partly on Rich Uncle Pennybags, and the perk images were meant to feel like Monopoly's Chance and Community Chest cards.

Dogmeat's name comes from a line in which 1975 post-apocalyptic film?

A Boy and His Dog: in the 1975 film, Vic calls his telepathic dog Blood 'dogmeat' as an insult; Fallout's dog also nods to Max's companion in Mad Max 2.

Which robe-wearing, talking Deathclaw can join the Chosen One as a companion in Fallout 2?

Goris, a scholarly Deathclaw who hides under a robe, lives with the intelligent Deathclaw community of Vault 13 and joins the Chosen One; Gruthar leads that community and Xarn is a captive at Navarro.

Which composer scored Fallout 3, New Vegas, Fallout 4 and the 2018 online game?

Inon Zur wanted Fallout 3 to sound like it came out of a boom box rather than a symphony; the Israeli-born composer also scored Starfield.