Located on the eastern edge of town on what is known as The Boulder Strip, Boulder Station is a great little hotel run by the same people who have done so well with Sunset, Texas, and Palace Station plus Green Valley Ranch, Red Rock Resort and both Fiesta hotels. They know their market - locals who want lots of gaming action, lots of entertainment choices, and lots of dining options. Boulder Station has all of that and more.

The hotel is done in vaguely turn-of-the-century San Francisco train station chic, with dark woods dominating the décor. Even the casino has wood floors in some places, making a unique and inviting place in which to lose your money.

The casino is about 75,000 square-feet, smaller than what you'll find at most of the Strip properties, but it feels bigger than it really is. Credit the open floor plan, high ceilings, and meandering layout for creating a low sense of claustrophobia. You'll find all of the usual suspects here including slots (nickels up to $25), lots of video poker, table games (mostly starting at $5 limits), a keno lounge, a bingo room, a poker room, and a nice sportsbook.

Scattered around the property are tons of dining and entertainment options. The Railhead is a concert venue offering live salsa, blues, and country bands along with headline entertainment. One special feature is a periodic concert series spotlight up and coming local bands. A few years ago they won a special award from the Academy of Country Music.

Other lounges and bars are spread about, many offering live entertainment and karaoke. There's also a cigar bar and the Brewer's bar, the latter of which has their own micro-brew and a pool table (no gambling allowed).

For food your choices are almost limitless: a buffet, Chinese, pizza, pasta, a grill, Mexican, fast food, a coffee shop - all have their own outlets and while nothing here is going to win gastronomic awards, the places I have sampled have been fine to good and usually remarkably cheap.

There's a small but well-equipped video arcade for the kids with the latest in shoot-em-ups, virtual skiing and driving, and a couple of carnival midway style offerings. For smaller tykes you can leave them at Kids Quest, an onsite daycare and entertainment facility for children six weeks to 12 years of age.

Regarding the latter it is worth noting that the employee at Kids Quest that I spoke to was almost hostile at first until she realized that I was there with a hotel employee. She apologized profusely saying that she was worried I was there to do something nefarious. "We have to protect our kids," was her comment. I liked that.

But wait there's more… including an 11-screen movie theater with stadium seating and a small but decent pool.

Oh yeah, they have hotel rooms also. All of their 300 rooms are located in a tower, with some pretty good views of the surrounding scenery. Standard rooms are just that - standard. They are adequately sized with either a king or two queens, a couple of chairs, television with in-room pay-per-view movies, high speed Internet, iron and board, and hair dryers. About the only thing they lacked was an in-room safe but you can get a safety deposit box at the front desk.

The furnishings were comfortable but not especially noteworthy and certainly not luxurious. For that you'll have to upgrade to a suite, which were beautifully done with etched glass partitions, a full dining table, a wet bar, a canopy bed, 2 televisions, and a huge Jacuzzi tub.

Rates for the standard rooms are $49 and up for the weekdays and $69 and up for the weekends. If you can get them this cheap, it's a steal but it's worth noting that you'll usually pay about double that as a general rule. Good news: That's still cheaper than anything comparable on The Strip.

Obviously you'll need a rental car being way out here on The Boulder Strip but there are a few other casinos nearby including Arizona Charlie's East, The Eastside Cannery and Sam's Town. Parking (both valet and self) is free. The regular Strip is probably 10-15 minutes away by surface streets depending on traffic and downtown is 5 minutes away via the freeway.

I really liked Boulder Station for its pleasant mix of local friendliness and almost dizzying array of entertainment options. This is a terrific alternative to the Strip madness, especially for the prices.

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