Waiting for the other shoey to drop: The hunt for the Vegas Shoey

It’s real dedication to plant yourself at the front of a line at 9:30 a.m. to get into a bar that won’t open for another five hours—especially during the packed weekend of the FORMULA 1 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX.

Cortez Tolbert of Birmingham, Ala. was one of the first of more than 200 fans to line up at 99 Prince, the subway platform-inspired bar on the first floor of Spiegelworld’s new DiscoShow in The LINQ. Technically, Tolbert was, in fact, waiting for a cocktail. More specifically, he was waiting for the cocktail that would be delivered in a purple, feathered, and bedazzled sneaker to only the first 50 people in line. This was the third of four secret drops of this year’s Vegas Shoey.

Now in only its second year, the Vegas Shoey drop has already formed a dedicated following among Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend visitors. The idea: Vegas creates four custom-made shoe designs, only 50 of each, and releases one each day in a location that’s teased 24 hours prior, but not disclosed until the morning of the drop. Shoey hunters sign up for push notifications in the F1 Las Vegas app and follow @vegas on X and Instagram for clues and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pics that will give them the edge. Get there for the drop and you’ll get to guzzle the bar’s special cocktail and take home one of the weekend’s best gets—the limited edition, Vegas-exclusive shoe it’s served in.

“I’ve been to F1 races in Miami, Las Vegas, Sao Paulo, and I want to finish the U.S. circuit before possibly going to a race in Qatar or Bahrain,” Tolbert said. “But, you know, I’m here for F1 but also for Vegas—and this is the only place you’re going to have an experience like this.”

The shoey idea became popular in Australia and spread like wildfire after Australian Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo celebrated after finishing second in the 2016 German Grand Prix by removing his race boot, filling it with Champagne, and knocking it back. What has since been dubbed “Australia’s grossest drinking tradition” has now become a ritual performed by drivers Zak Brown, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton.

For the 2023 inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Vegas dropped 100 LAS Shoeys shoes over three days throughout the destination. “But this year we wanted to maximize the scale and take it to another level,” said Liam Trumble, Creative Director at Grey Global Group, who worked with Vegas to create this year’s four concepts. “We leaned into the designs of vintage Vegas, like the bodices of classic showgirls’ costumes and Elvis Presley’s famous, red-jeweled white jumpsuit,” Trumble said. Day 1’s Elvis-inspired “Viva Vegas” shoey dropped at the Yahoo Sportsbook at The Venetian—delivered by multiple Elvises. Day 2’s drop, the “Vintage Vegas” teal shoey, decorated with multi-colored stars and rhinestones on a teal upper, dropped at Azul inside Fountainbleau Las Vegas. Five showgirls ushered shoey winners into 99 Prince located within the Discoshow venue at the LINQ to pick up their “Flair and Feathers” purple shoey, festooned with a feathered tongue and glitter gold laces.

Realistically, not all the hundreds of people in line were going to take home a Vegas Shoey—but the line itself has become a Vegas happening. We asked friends Kevin O’Connor of Littleton, Colo., Jamie Smith of Spartanburg, SC, and Jaret Rubio of Hiwasse, Ark., how they decided to come together in Vegas and spend their time in an hours-long line. “Oh, we just met in line,” O’Connor said. But the trio and their families were already making plans together for the weekend. Rubio was making the best of his spot in line, right next to a roulette table. “I’m up $100,” he said.

This being Vegas, there’s always a way to game the system. An enterprising Aaron Kay of Columbus, Ohio, who arrived well past a feasible time to enter the line, gave Landon H., of Kansas City, Mo., $500 for his spot in the line. Landon had a strategy too: he’d been standing in line with his son, who kept his own spot. “One of us is going to get that shoey,” he said.

By the time the 99 Prince had started letting in people to guzzle that shoey cocktail (this one made with Orange Ave. Wit Beer, gin and yuzu) and take their prize the Vegas social team was already starting to tease the next—and last—day’s drop.

At the time we posted this story, Shoey fans had discovered Day 4’s drop—the skyline-inspired “Neon City,” with its reflective Vegas logo and glow-in-the-dark neon stars. The line at Bellagio’s pop-up Shoey Bar had opened a 7 a.m.

Good luck, Shoey hunters. And if you don’t get the prize, there’s always next year.