Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas

75 Achievements

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Sierra Souvenir Aficionado

Sierra Souvenir Aficionado

Collect 500 Sierra Madre Chips.

16.4%

How to unlock the Sierra Souvenir Aficionado achievement in Fallout: New Vegas - Definitive Guide

It's possible to do this achievement almost as soon as the DLC is loaded, before you've gone to the Sierra Madre. Once the DLC is loaded, you can access the "Abandoned BoS Bunker" near Nelson/Forlorn Hope. Go there, and save your game, with a hard save.

When you enter the bunker, continue down the stairs, as if you were going to start to DLC. Open the door that gives you a warning message, but DO NOT WALK ALL THE WAY TO THE NEXT ROOM. Doing so will force you into the Sierra Madre, and you may not be ready yet. Instead, hang your first left, and hack the computer there.

This will open a little room formerly occupied by a BoS knight. In the corner, there is a vending machine. It will dispense food for Sierra Madre chips. It will also give you chips, for cartons/packs of cigarettes.

Cartons and packs of cigarettes are relatively low-weight/high-value items that a lot of people pick up, to sell to merchants. So you might already have a few, or might have recently sold a few to a merchant. Go buy them back. Alternatively, if you've been let into The Strip, and the Lucky 38, the 38's casino floor has a ton of free cartons of cigarettes. there should be enough there to easily net 500 chips.

I made 845, in one shot, from a few I had sold to a merchant, and the ones in the lucky 38.
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28 Dec 2010 10:00

13 Comments
I just wanted to state that you do not need to collect 500 chips at once. I followed your solution and was only given around 350 chips. I then bought back my cigarettes with these chips. I then sold them again to the machine. When my achievement popped, I only had 80 chips in my possession.
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By LobsterParty on 31 Dec 2010 16:57
Good job nice solution and lobster is right as well, I also wanted to add you can do "The Courier Who Broke the Bank" tactic to get this cheeve as well, once your inside the casino and have turned the power back on, head to a blackjack table and max bet, long as you have a luck skill of 9 you will win 95% of the time and get the cheeve in 1-2 hands depending on how many chips you have already collected.
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By Foxfire49 on 11 Feb 2011 17:35
You should add that achievement is accumulative, and you don't need to have the 500 on you. This was a great way to start off though, I cashed in a dozen cartons and did as lobsterparty suggested above. The achievement popped after grabbing a few chips from the first fountain. I only had 40 chips on me at the time.
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By splicegraph on 14 Mar 2011 21:33
I read this early on, and hoarded cartons of cigarettes. I brought 33 cartons with me, and this solution worked perfectly! I didn't take note of exactly how many chips it gave me before "you know what," but I was able to unlock the achievement before even starting the actual quest. Thanks!
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By Nick Mnemonic on 18 Mar 2011 13:05
Do you have to have 500 on you all at once or can you spend them as you go?
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By on 01 Aug 2011 14:24
You can also do this by finding the sierra snow globe, its in a room that you enter through a roof top when going to meet one of the characters, the bold one that doesn't talk I think, that pretty much gets you all of the ones you need, if not more, i think it was a 1000 i got for it. If not, there are loads in the fountains as mentioned above. Great tip above though!
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By Graceland BoOya on 06 Aug 2011 19:35
Man that was easy, thanks for this. I only got "275 Sierra Madre Chips" from my pack/cartons of cigarettes, so I simply exchanged them back & forth until I have collected 500/500, challenge done aka achievement unlocked! ;)
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By BLAZE VII on 20 Jun 2012 10:09
This is the most easy achievement ever if you do it like this; When you are going to the police station in your first assignment you will find around a 100 chips on the streets and in buildings, simply drop them and pick them up. Your pipboy inventory says you have a 100 but the counter for the challange says you have 200...drop them again and pick them up, now you have 300 etc...
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By Lamme Tak on 09 Jul 2012 12:53
Taking cartons of cigarettes with you is the best way to get this cheevo. I had 35 and got around 900 chips. Works like a charm.
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By KillaKevin24 on 28 Aug 2012 12:38
As Lamme Tak points out, this achievement is for collecting chips (Cumulative) and not possessing 500 chips (Cumulative + Missable). When you get your first chips you can drop them and "collect" them again until you get the achievement.
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By HolyHalfDead on 26 Oct 2015 03:54
@Lamme Tak Thank You still works beautifully.
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By Jameson Locke on 22 Jan 2021 11:47
This is the only DLC I can’t get to start. A key is required. I restarted the XBox, i deleted everything and redownloaded everything and still… won’t let me in.
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By Silyolmehee on 19 Feb 2023 21:43
I was able to get into this DLC. Apparently the DLC need to be fully downloaded prior to starting a new game.
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By Silyolmehee on 21 Feb 2023 16:50
View all 13 comments Show less comments
You can get this cheeve real easy. Sierra Madre chips are EVERYWHERE. Check the fountains, cash registers, and file cabinets. Look around and you will find the chips. Just play the Dead Money DLC and keep a sharp eye out for Chips, you are certain to get this,
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28 Dec 2010 10:46

1 Comment
It's true there are loads of chips to be found in the game, as well as cigarette cartons to be cashed in. Also, IF for some reason you miss this achievement and leave the Sierra after completing the main quest, there is a small drop box (looks like mini wall safe) in the BoS Bunker opposite the computer terminal. It will dole out 100 chips every three days.
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By splicegraph on 15 Mar 2011 17:55
Probly the easiest way to get this achievement is just to pick up the DLC's snowglobe which is worth 2,000 Sierra Madre chips and are instantly given to you upon picking it up.

The Snowglobe is located in Salida del Sol North. After entering Salida del Sol North from Salida del Sol South go down the stairs in the room your in and then through the hole in wall at the bottom. Right after going through the hole turn right and follow the wall all the upway the stairs and stop at the top of the stairs and turn left. cross the roof of the archways and then follow this path until you can cross over to the left via another archway's roof. Turn right after crossing and then head straight down the path and through the hole in the wall on your left. You will enter a small room and the snowglobe will be on a crate to your left immediately after entering through the whole in the wall

Note: occasionally the snowglobe glitches for some people and can not be obtained until exiting the vault at the end of the DLC
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22 May 2011 03:55

There are many ways to get this achievement:
1.) As soon as you enter the BoS Bunker to start the DLC, there will be a room to the left (requires hacking) that once housed a BoS Knight (you'll find out whom later). In this room there is a funky-looking vending machine that will dispense goodies for Sierra Madre chips (you don't have any yet) but will also dispense Sierra Madre Chips for packs/cartons of cigarettes. If you have enough on your person, or have some stashed away, this is an easy way of getting the achievement without committing to entering the DLC... Also a great way to get the achievement if somehow you went through the DLC without collecting the required Sierra Madre Chips.

2.) Once entering the Sierra Madre Villla, just start looking. These chips are everywhere: on the ground, in fountains, etc. As you walk around, just pick them up!

3.) As the story progresses and you start going through buildings, check all the file cabinets; specifically the cabinets in the clinic when you are rescuing/finding Christine, as there are dozens/scores laying around in there.

4.) Once you have Christine and you erm.. talk to her a bit, you'll find that she can counterfeit chips using a FISSION BATTERY and SCRAP METAL. She will teach you the perk, and from then on you can counterfeit your own chips.

5.) After gaining access to the Sierra Madre Casino you'll be tasked with turning the power back on. Once this is completed, you can gamble at the slot machine, play blackjack or roulette.
With only a few chips starting out, you can win the required amount of chips for the achievement to pop.

6.) At the cashier (once turning the power on in the casino) you can trade PRE-WAR MONEY for Sierra Madre Chips. I tend to go through the entire game and collect PRE-WAR MONEY as it has a nice value:weight ratio and is a nice way to get some easy cash. If you do the same and have a large amount, you can just trade it for the required amount of chips.

An unrelated topic, but worth mentioning:
If your LUCK is very high, I would greatly suggest playing the slots in the Sierra Madre, maxing out your winnings, cashing out for PRE-WAR MONEY, then taking them to the Vendortron at Gun Runners. - I now have over 200,000 chips (sure its a game-killer, but I've already killed-the-game)
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28 Dec 2010 16:26

This achievement is already easy peasy, but if you want it even faster, just rack up 50 (you can actually rack up less.. but I picked that number because it goes into 500 a perfect 10 times), but anyway. To save time and to keep you from digging through every fountain, cash register, drawer etc. Just rack up about 50 of them and go into your inventory and drop all 50 of them. They'll condense down into one single chip worth 50 chips. Just pick them up and you'll notice your achievement progress just went up to 100 then 150 then so on. Just rinse and repeat your dropping and picking them up and you'll be there in literally less than a minute. I found this to be, without a doubt, the easiest method out there.

However, this doesn't make you have a total of 500 coins. You'll still have 50, but the game registers you picking up those 50 or however many you decide to drop as extra toward the achievement.
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22 Aug 2012 03:26

In the Dead money DLC you can find a snow globe when you collect it it gives you 2000 Sierra Madre Chips, the snow globe is located near Dean's Secret Stash in the upper levels of Salida del Sol North. From the southern-most entrance to Salida del Sol South (inside a house in Salida del Sol North), proceed down the stairway and out to the street then look behind you for the entrance hole in the wall above. This area can be reached by going up the stairs located around the corner to the southeast and following the rooftops back towards the hole.
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30 Jun 2011 09:32

easiest way i found to do this is just scavenge about. you'll find lots of it in your gameplay, one way or another.

there's another way: you can try and find the sierra madre snowglobe, it'll give you instant 2000 chips just for collecting it.

edit: you can find the snow globe in the Salida del Sol North area. (Not in the Villa like the game's description says).

Once you enter the Salida del Sol South area, make your way to the Salida del Sol House. Go down the stairs and outside. Then turn around and look up once outside to see the big gaping hole in the wall - it's in there.

just make a right from there and go up the nearest staircase and jump onto the roof from there.

Worth 2000 Chips
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28 Dec 2010 17:53

For this achievement just be patient and don't spend ANY siera madre chips at the vending machines. 

Try to use food you find and create siera madre martinis (unless you dont want to get addicted to them, which you will, but its worth it as health is limited) to heal and save stimpacks for when your really low.

Search EVERYTHING and this won't take long. Lock pick skill of a 100 will make this go faster as some big stashes require it. 

I got this before the gala event happens.
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28 Dec 2010 11:46

It is possible to get this before you arrive at the Sierra Madre.

In the Brotherhood of Steel bunker that you trace the initial signal in the Mojave to contains a Sierra Madre Vending machine with with you can exchange cartons of cigarettes for Sierra Madre chips at a rate of 20 chips per carton so simply collect 25 cartons and exchange them at the Brotherhood of Steel bunker.

There are 19 cartons located throughout the lucky 38 casino, 7 at Mojave outpost, 5 at Mick and Ralph's, 5 at Jacobstown Lodge and 4 scattered through Helios One.
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02 May 2020 23:36

1 Comment
If you go through to the DLC, the description is a little misleading.

You can spend caps, the trophy is for the challenge not having them all at once.
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By SolaceCreed on 08 Aug 2020 17:26

MISSABLE

I got this trophy before I finished the Gala event. All you have to do is pick up every chip you see and search all cabinets and such that contain chips. You'll have this trophy in no time. They can be found mainly in the villa in fountains, inside of buildings they can be found in dressers, night stands file cabinets and on tables. Just be sure to check everywhere. Basically you can't miss this trophy if you're trying to get it.

Alternatively, collecting the Sierra Madre Snowglobe will award 2,000 chips and complete this challenge. You can also gamble until you have enough chips at the tables in the Sierra Madre.


Thank you so much for reading my guide everyone! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did making it. Like I said, if you have any additional tips or want to correct me on a mistake let me know!

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Note that the achievement means 500 chips cumulative, not 500 chips at one time. While this achievement is technically missable, there are numerous opportunities to easily get it. Not to mention unless you are exceedingly lucky you will need many more chips than 500 just to survive. The most natural way to attain this is to scavenge everywhere in the Town for chips. Each container usually has 8-15 chips in it (the Scrounger perk will significantly increase this amount), so over time you'll accumulate enough.

If you still haven't gotten it once you enter the Casino, you can simply gamble for the chips. Once you've turned the power on, the hologram table workers activate allowing you to play Blackjack or Roulette with your Sierra Madre chips. Simply gamble until you have the 500 chips (though I suggest farming for much longer so you can simply vend everything you'll need for the rest of the DLC). If you need help with earning chips through gambling, see The Courier Who Broke the Bank in the main achievement guide.

You can still get the achievement in the Mojave wasteland in one of two ways. First, you can make counterfeit chips if you received the Coin Operator perk from Christine during the DLC. Note the Coin Operator perk is learned from Christine, not given as her companion perk. You can use these counterfeits to buy goods from the vending machine in the abandoned BoS bunker. Next, sell back the goods you bought from the machine to receive real chips. Alternatively, you can simply bring items you find around the wasteland back to the machine, return them, and receive chips for it. The only way to truly miss this achievement is to not get enough chips during the DLC and not have found the return codes for at least one item. In other words, not likely.

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It is not at all necessary that you have 500 chips in your inventory at a time; you can safely spend them. During the passage of the DLC, you can collect 1000-2000 chips without much difficulty, so the trophy is not at all difficult. Just collect them in the city fountains, as well as in many containers in the Town and Casino. The Scrounger perk allows you to get even more chips from each container. In the casino itself, chips can be won when playing roulette or Black Jack.
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15 Apr 2011 15:24

1 Comment
Or you can make this trophy shorter. I did this: collect 90-100 chips, throw them out 5-6 times and the trophy is ready!
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By Женя on 22 Apr 2012 13:11