To gather advice on how to improve the entertainment attractions he operates in Las Vegas, Tim Clothier needs only to sit down at the dinner table and talk with his 15-year-old son, Oliver.
Because Oliver was crazy about dinosaurs growing up, Clothier was inspired to develop Dinosaur Outpost, an attraction that enables families to interact with dinosaurs, at the Town Square Las Vegas retail complex.
Clothier came up with the idea of developing Dinosaur Outpost after bonding with Oliver on numerous vacations.
“My son was a dinosaur kid when he was 4 or 5 years old,” he said. “We would go to every dinosaur thing.
“It was dad-and-son time. These were the fondest memories we have together of bonding with doing these things together. And I said, you know, I want to create a place that is that catalyst for other families, to try and give them those moments that I had with my son when he was little.”
Dinosaur Outpost opened in Town Center in April 2024 and it wasn’t long before Clothier was ready for his second venue there.
When the neighboring Town Center entertainment center Velocity Esports, formerly a Gameworks arcade outlet, was put up for sale, Clothier, in May, swooped in and outbid another prospective buyer to acquire the venue. Terms of the deal for what is being rebranded as Velocity Vegas were not disclosed.
Clothier has big plans for improving Velocity Vegas by adding to the 125 coin-operated video games and experiences on the existing arcade floor. The venue also has a bowling alley, billiard tables and bar and grill outlets with a full bar menu as well as craft cocktails and mocktails.
“We’re really going to make sure that we’ve got a focus on the local market. I think one of the great things about Town Square and the reason I like Town Square as a location, is that I wanted a place where, as a local, I would bring my child and not worry about if it’s a smoky casino and the gamblers and the alcohol and the drinking and all the other stuff that goes on with that.”
Welcomed by Town Square
Town Square officials say they appreciate having Dinosaur Outpost and Velocity Vegas as tenants because they attract a family-oriented crowd.
“That’s really been a focus of Town Square Las Vegas to attract tenants that will provide a unique experience for shoppers, and in this case, really particularly for families. We really feel that Velocity does that,” said Brian O’Rourke, a representative of Town Square ownership.
O’Rourke noted that Town Square has other outlets that draw family crowds, including Sandbox VR, a virtual reality playground offering a variety of experiences, and PopStroke, the Tiger Woods technology-driven minigolf and dining concept.
“Town Square Las Vegas has really tried to create an environment where families can come and spend the day and do a variety of different things and certainly Velocity is a big piece of that,” O’Rourke said.
Eventually, Clothier hopes to replicate the concept of both Dinosaur Outpost and Velocity Vegas in other cities, although Las Vegas will always be home.
Siegfried & Roy connection
Traveling to Las Vegas had become a quest for Clothier after being educated in theatrical arts at Somerset College of Arts and Technology in the United Kingdom. When his parents brought him to Las Vegas on a vacation, he got the opportunity to meet illusionist Siegfried Fischbacher of Siegfried & Roy fame and eventually set up a business.
“I remember meeting Siegfried for the first time,” he said. “It was absolutely awesome. I ended up getting to know them (Siegfried & Roy) a little bit over the years before they died.
“When I met Siegfried and I told him I was really into designing and creating entertainment pieces and mechanical (props). He looked at me and said, ‘You’re too young to be a designer yet.’ And I was like, ‘All right, fair enough.’ But that was him.”
His connection with Fischbacher enabled him to meet other behind-the-scenes technicians from shows across the valley. When Clothier moved to Las Vegas in 2001, the connection helped him to land a backstage job at “Jubilee!”, the record-breaking production show that ran for 35 years at Bally’s Las Vegas.
“I met and spent a lot of time with technicians and it opened a lot of doors for me. I was young and ambitious and I came out here and just kind of poked myself into the entertainment business in any which way I could. It led to me meeting my wife (a “Jubilee!” dancer), which probably was the best thing ever to happen to me.’
Today, Clothier is still in love with Las Vegas and still works in the entertainment business as the founder, owner and operator of Illusion Attractions, which designs and fabricates attractions, sets and custom environments for live entertainment and experiential projects around the world. His specialty is working with magicians.
“We sort of specialize in mechanical props and all those kinds of things.
And that flipped into museum work and exhibition work. The first museum I did was the Mob Museum when it opened downtown (in Las Vegas). So, the museum and exhibition work meant I was building hands-on exhibits for children’s museums and theme parks like Disney and Universal Studios, and all those kinds of places.”
Clothier said for the longest time, he was “doing everybody else’s stuff,” but now, he can undertake projects for his own venues.
“I can now put things into my own venues, test them out, and come up with the new stuff here, and use this as kind of my playground, my workshop. I’m really lucky for all of this.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
