Another doomed casino, the Boardwalk has been a fixture on what was once the cheap end of the Strip for many years. This little casino is mentioned often in Las Vegas trip reports from the early 90's as the home of the worst, but cheapest, buffet on the Strip (or perhaps in the world) - a destination all in itself. The Boardwalk's chemical donuts were justly famed from Newark to San Diego.

In the 80's this casino stood proudly with the likes of the Hacienda and The Dunes. It was a bucolic era that looked like everything south of Caesar's Palace would become timeshares. But as the south end of the Strip began its massive redevelopment in 1990 with the building of the Mirage, the little Boardwalk found itself quickly bracketed by such monsters as MGM, Excalibur, the lavish but quickly-failed Aladdin, NYNY, Monte Carlo and finally Bellagio.

The Boardwalk was demolished May 8, 2006

Steve Wynn, builder of Bellagio, Treasure Island and Mirage, made the Boardwalk part of his empire in the early 90's when it looked like he was going to become the master of Las Vegas. But in an epic tale of personal hubris, he lost it all to Kirk Kerkorian's MGM in 2001.

Now holding its final closeout sales, the Boardwalk will soon be closed and demolished to make way for MGM's gargantuan city center project. With its demise the distinction for the worst buffet will easily pass to Excalibur - although on a price-value basis Excalibur may have unseated the Boardwalk years ago.