This week’s From the Game is late because the courier carrying it was attacked by raiders. You know what the Wasteland is like. If you’re not getting shot at by thugs, you’re getting attacked by radioactive ghouls or mutated insects. Or, more likely, I got distracted by the game itself and the task of photographing all the little tchochkes it comes with completely slipped my mind.

The Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s Edition is a gem for fans of video game replicas, like the Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition before it. It comes with plenty of casino-themed extras, including seven poker chips, a metal super-chip, and a pack of cards. Unfortunately, while they look great, they’re effectively useless for actually playing poker.

The chips are a nice, heavy plastic, not quite as good as clay but better than the cheap chips you find at drugstores. Each of the 7 chips represents a casino in the game: Steve Bison, Vault 21, the Silver Rush, the Tops, Gomorrah, the Ultra-Luxe, and the Atomic Wrangler. Finally, there’s the “platinum” chip from the Lucky 38, which is a nice metal coin. It would be great if Bethsoft produced a full Fallout: New Vegas poker set, with a full compliment of these chips, and a different casino each representing a different denomination. Sadly, with just 7 normal chips, all you can do is keep them as souvenirs, not play with them. The Lucky 38 chip makes a great dealer button, though.

The cards are strange. On one hand, the backs of the cards look like replicas of the cards you get from different casinos in the game. On the other hand, because the cards have different backs, they’re not that good for playing poker. Plus, the fronts of the cards all have portraits or pictures of different characters and factions in the game, so they can’t really count as true replicas, either. A more consistent deck would have been nice, but it’s still a fine bonus. The deck also comes with a card detailing how to play Caravan, the in-game card game that uses multiple cards from different decks. That extra game makes the deck much more usable.

Besides the odd gambling items, the Collector’s Edition comes with a graphic novel that serves as a prelude to the game, and is actually a pretty interesting, albeit short, read. It also comes with a making-of DVD/Blu-ray Disc (for the PS3 version), but that sort of bonus always feels like an afterthought. Bethsoft really could have added a soundtrack disc or a set of dice, but considering everything you get for a $20 premium, the Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s Edition is a pretty satisfying purchase. Now, if only I could get a full set of Vault 21 chips…