DEFCON Hacker Convention in Las Vegas: How to Save Money When Attending

DEFCON is where the 1337 meet to share ideas and great parties. There is no shortage of brilliant minds, and technological goodies as far as the eyes can see. Even the 1337 Hax0r though, has to watch his pocket book while blowing his or her ear drums during the white and black balls, not to mention all the other wonderful social parties. Hmmm which is better? Pirates? Ninjas? Anyway DEFCON is a candy land of books, electronics and everything else we geeks enjoy. While our curiosity is measureless our funds usually aren't. Here are five simple ways to keep more money in your pocket for the things most important to you.

Know where to go!

The first money saving piece of advice is in transportation to and from the airport. When you take a cab to the hotel have the cab driver go down Paradise. This road is runs behind all the hotels on that side of the strip parallel to the main road and will cut down on time and distance saving you ten to twenty dollars each way easy. Be sure to mention this as they will gladly take you down the stop and go scenic route down the main strip. Please be mindful that you will indeed pay for this. This is also the road you want to ask for on your way back to the airport. You will save quite a bit of money over all if you ask the cab driver to take this route.

Make it cooler!

You know you have to eat sometime. If you don't eat, all the coffee and alcohol you consume over those three days are sure to kill you. I know I know you have to save money for the books and T-shirts and all the other cool stuff that are sold by the various vendors. Never fear I am going to tell you how to save between a hundred and two hundred dollars in food. Stop by the pharmacy store on the corner and buy one of those cheap 5 dollar Styrofoam ice chests. Then hit the refrigerated section and get your favorite lunch meats and cheeses. After that get bread, chips, peanut butter, or whatever else you would like for lunches or dinners. Feel free to get milk and cereal for breakfast or my favorite pop tarts! You can fully stock your ice chest for fewer than fifty dollars. Trust me you can spend fifty bucks before lunch is over if you eat in or around the hotel. Also forget about buying ice. You will have an unlimited supply from the machine just down the hall from your room. If you arrive on Thursday be sure to check out the Toxic BBQ, It is a great deal and a great place to meet people.

Beer run!

Let's face it Alcohol is a convention necessity and major expense. Just out the main doors of the casino and a five minute walk left down the sidewalk will take you to a little strip of shops. The most important one of these is of course the liquor store. If you head to one of the party rooms you can expect to pay from five to ten dollars per drink. Or... you can spend twenty five to thirty dollars and get you a large bottle of your favorite beverage and still have money left for the chasers... or another bottle later.

Five and dime.

An alternative way to get drinks, if you don't want to buy a whole bottle, is to hit the casino. For fifteen dollars you can sit in the air conditioning and gamble with little actual loss and still get all the free drinks you want. Find a nice pretty nickel slot machine and find the nearest waitress. Make your order and tip her five dollars. This will keep her coming back for at least a while trust me. Then enjoy the lights and noises of the nickel slot you have staked out. With nickels you won't lose your shirt, and with some restraint can play for some time on the remaining ten dollars.

Know when to hold and when to fold.

You will find that as the conference goes on, the prices will start falling. In fact you will notice a significant difference on Sunday as the vendors are trying to sell off everything they brought. Keep an eye on the prices and apparent inventory on the items you are looking for. If there is something you absolutely must have then don't wait too long to purchase it. However if there are some items that would be "nice to have" then you might wish to wait a while and see if the price drops. If you miss out you might talk to the vendor and work out a deal or a special on something else. You can also most likely buy the item from at a similar or in some cases even lower price online at their website. If you are looking for shirts and hoodies to wear at the conference, you will want to get those as early as possible as the larger sizes tend to run out. If you are a healthy larger man I would suggest making it your first item of business after getting your badge.

Odds and ends

If you are like me and absolutely must have that monster cup of coffee in the morning I have just the deal for you. You could spend five to seven dollars on the Starbucks there in the hotel or head down to the little coffee shop in the casino. There they have the beautiful TnT. The TnT is a extra large coffee with three shots of espresso for under three dollars, two dollars and seventy five cents if my memory serves me. There is hardly ever a line so the service is fast and you can get power charged before you rush off to the conference rooms.

If you are expected to pick up gifts or souvenirs, make sure you get their money before you leave for Vegas so you are not eating into your own pocket. Plan out your expenses for the day and try to keep on you only what you planned for. This will make you think twice about spending what you did not intend to if you are forced to march all the way back up to your room.

Smokers don't even think about buying your smokes from the store in the hotel. Head to the Walgreens. Better yet buy smokes before you leave and stuff them into your suitcase. This will save you at least a dollar a pack.

These are just a few ways of making your dollar stretch at DEFCON. You will have a lot more fun if you are not worried about being able to afford a taxi ride back to the airport. So relax, plan ahead and enjoy your 1337 time with your friends.