Scores of movies and TV shows have been set in Las Vegas, but none has more thoroughly explored the town's story lines or brought it more exposure than the long-running forensic science whodunit CSI.

Now, Vegas visitors can immerse themselves in the sometimes gruesome but always fascinating world peopled by fictional lab sleuths Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, and Doc Robbins in an interactive attraction, CSI: The Experience.

The exhibit, which opened at the MGM Grand's Studio Walk in mid-September, gives would-be criminologists an opportunity to sort out the puzzle of one of three crime scenes, each bearing an ironic title.

"A House Collided" features a car that has apparently crashed through the wall of a suburban residence. Naturally, the driver is dead.

In "Who Got Served," a young woman in a waitress outfit is found dead in an alley with a tire tread across her midsection and a handful of personal effects nearby.

And "No Bones About It" features skeletal remains found in the desert, including a skull with a bullet hole.

After visitors are greeted by CSI supervisor Grissom (actor William Petersen) in a video introduction, they go about the task of figuring out what happened and who did it - just as on the TV show.

"They observe the scene, they take notes, and then they go back to the lab, where they find there are a number of things to do," says Liz Kalodner, an executive with CBS Consumer Products.

The labs have workstations where visitors use databases for fingerprint identification, do DNA analysis of hair samples, and use reactive chemical agents to test for traces of blood. There's even an autopsy area, where special-effects projections show a corpse's organs.

"So it's the real experience of a CSI," Kalodner says. "You are really using all the forensic technology and science to figure out who committed the crime."

The exhibit was developed by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and produced by EMS Exhibits, an Austrian company. It debuted in Chicago two years ago as a traveling exhibit and has attracted 2.5 million participants around the world, including Boston, Los Angeles, Vienna and Dublin.

Las Vegas is the first permanent installation, a fitting choice considering that Sin City remains the setting for the popular TV series that started nine years ago and has spawned spin-offs set in New York and Miami.

What differentiates CSI: The Experience from other attractions, say those associated with the project, is the interaction - you can't just stand and look at it.

And while the familiar faces from the TV show may only appear on video, you and the other visitors discuss the cases and exchange theories, EMS Exhibits CEO Christoph Rahofer wrote in an e-mail.

In the end, you input your data and conclusions into a computer, and Grissom tells you how you fared.

How difficult is it to figure out why that car came to rest in a living room, or what happened to the dead waitress, or how the skull and bones wound up in the desert?

"If you pay attention and follow directions and look at all the clues, you'll be able to figure out the crime," Kalodner says. "By design, the experience is meant to be challenging but satisfying."

CSI: The Experience is recommended for guests 10 years old or older, and it takes an hour to 90 minutes to complete an investigation. Admission is $30; readmission is $26 if you want to tackle another crime scene. It's open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

For more information, go to www.csiexhibit.com.

Sophisticated gaming. One of America's legendary hotels, the historic Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., recently opened a boutique casino in an elegantly understated lounge area, with 10 gaming tables. The Tavern Casino, which will soon add about 40 slot machines, is precursor to an 80,000-square-foot underground casino scheduled to open in April with about 40 gaming tables (blackjack, craps, roulette, mini-baccarat and poker variations) and 380 slots. There also will be shops and a few restaurants on an upper level.

The Greenbrier's casinos will be open only to overnight guests, some attendees of conferences staying at outside hotels, and members of the hotel's Sporting Club and golf and tennis club. Once the larger Casino at the Greenbrier opens, the Tavern Casino will be used for private events.

In a European touch, jackets will be required after 7 p.m., and there will be a champagne toast at 8 p.m.

Dress for the occasion. For years, Las Vegas has made a huge deal out of Halloween, with risque adult costume parties. While Atlantic City hasn't reached that point, the Tropicana is giving folks the opportunity to express their inner ghoul.

The Tropicana's third annual Halloween Costume Contest will be in the Quarter, the entertainment and retail complex next to the casino. The contest will begin at 11 p.m. Oct. 31, for holders of IN and Diamond Club cards (you can sign up for either card that night). Top prize for Best Costume is a $500 gift card to the Tropicana; scariest costume gets dinner for two and show tickets; and each member of the best group gets a $50 gift card.

Several restaurants in the Quarter also will host contests with cash prizes ($666 seems to be the favored amount) and Halloween-themed cocktail specials. The Imax theater at the Tropicana will feature scary flicks: The Omen (10 p.m.) and Damian: The Omen II (midnight) on Oct. 30 and 31; $10 for one show, $15 for both on the same night.

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Contact Bill Ordine at 215-854-2939 or ordineb@aol.com.