Question of the Day - 19 August 2023

In March 2014 when it opened for business, the High Roller was certainly the tallest in the world. 

It's 550 feet tall, nine feet taller than the 541-foot Singapore Flyer, which held the record from 2008 till 2014. It rotates on a pair of roller bearings, each weighing 10 tons. Manufactured in Sweden, they were assembled in 28 sections, each 56 feet long and fastened to the axis by four cables.

In addition to the machinery that slowly rotates the wheel, each of the 28 225-square-foot cabins (with room for 40 people, for a total capacity of 1,120 riders) has its own electric motor to ensure that the floor remains horizontal though each full revolution of the wheel.

No less than 7.3 million pounds of steel went into its construction, along with 112 cables. 

The wheel's 36-color lighting palette consists of 2,000 LEDs, cued to come on at sunset. According to Caesars Entertainment, the High Roller has several predetermined color combinations, like the red, white, and blue display used on such holidays as the Fourth of July. When Prince died, the High Roller went to an all-purple color scheme. For St. Patrick's Day, it turns green. Just yesterday for the Blackpink concert, it was all pink, as it does throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

It is an engineering marvel and a great ride, especially around sunset, but the High Roller is no longer the world's tallest. That distinction now goes to the Ain Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It took nearly a decade to finish it, but it finally opened in October 2021. It's 820 feet tall, a full 33% higher in the sky than the High Roller. 

By the way, George Ferris, who designed and built the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, grew up in Carson City.