Las Vegas Weekly

April 1, 2009 · 9:42 AM

Photo Gallery: Hoops Hall Experience opens Friday at Planet Hollywood

By Robin Leach

HHX, or Hoops Hall Experience, at Planet Hollywood.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

It truly is a one-of-a-kind exhibition and has never before been seen in Las Vegas. The unprecedented Hoops Hall Experience is part of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and this morning it was due to be unveiled to the media for the first time in advance of Friday’s general public opening at Planet Hollywood. Now the media tour has been pushed back to Friday just prior to opening the doors to sports fans!

However, Vegas DeLuxe already has the authorized sneak peek thanks to contributing photographer Tom Donoghue. Click HERE for our exclusive Vegas DeLuxe story when we broke the news that HHX was opening as the Strip’s newest attraction. I never knew the game was reworked 100 years ago from an old Celtic game in Scotland involving rocks being thrown between teams!

Top Basketball Hall of Fame executives John Doleva, president and CEO, Don Senecal, COO, and Scott Zuffelato, VP marketing, will join with HHX CEO Tim Elwell for the unveiling. It’s expected that while the exhibit is at Planet Hollywood, many VIP players in the NBA will visit and take part in special sessions with fans.

There are seven distinct zones in the self-paced interactive experience. Visitors can spend anywhere from one to three hours with the interactive games, memorabilia and artifacts. Re-live some of basketball’s greatest moments, including shooting on the floor where Michael Jordan played his final game and seeing the jersey Wilt Chamberlain wore when he scored 100 points in a single game.

Movie clips also highlight the most spectacular moments in the sport’s history. There’s even a mock TV studio where you can introduce a historical record-breaking game and take on the role of color commentator! Click HERE

Incidentally, that line above about the Celtic rock throwing game is totally untrue and a figment of my imagination on this April Fools’ Day! Not as good as the time that the prestigious BBC produced an elaborate hoax showing spaghetti growing on olive bushes in Italy. Hundreds of thousands took that as gospel before it was exposed as April 1 fiction one week later!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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