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Fallout Season 1 Vault 33 Experiment Explained

If you’ve played any of the Fallout games, you know Vault-Tec are the bad guys, and there’s usually a catch to all of the Vaults that we visit in this universe. The same can be said for Amazon’s Fallout adaptation as well. Here’s everything you need to know about the Vault 33 experiment in Fallout season 1.

Do be warned that this article contains major spoilers for the entirety of Fallout season 1.

What Was the Experiment in Fallout Vault 33?

As you’ve probably gathered by now, every Vault in Fallout was actually created for a more nefarious purpose. They’re usually created with some sort of experiment in mind, and that goes for Vaults 31, 32, and 33 .

While all three Vaults were billed as protective shelters to shield its Dwellers from the radiation and nuclear bombs, Vault-Tec had created them with another purpose in mind. All three Vaults were built as an interconnected structure, with Vault 31 housing the most loyal Vault-Tec employees in cryogenic sleep.

On the other hand, Vaults 32 and 33 were regarded as genetic breeding pools, where its Dwellers were meant to be breeding and mating partners for the Dwellers of Vault 31. Every few years, a Dweller from Vault 31 would emerge to take on the role of Overseer for all three Vaults to keep everyone in check. The goal here was to eventually have the loyal Vault-Tec employees in Vault 31 to reclaim the surface in service of Vault-Tec. The Dwellers of 32 and 33 were nothing more than just breeding partners for those employees.

Of course, this plan gets derailed when Moldaver and the raiders infiltrate Vault 32 to kidnap Overseer Hank. This kickstarts the plot of Fallout season 1, as Lucy journeys up to the surface world to find her father and figure out the truth behind the Vaults.

Vault 33 is a Vault in what was once Los Angeles in the Fallout TV series . [3] Its entrance is located shortly south of the Santa Monica Pier . [1] Along with Vaults 31 and 32 , it is one of the " Three Vaults " linked by a triangle of tunnels,

Hank MacLean is the Vault's overseer as of 2296 . His daughter Lucy is the main protagonist of the series.

• 1.1 Attack on the Vault
• 1.2 Fate of Vault 32
• 1.3 Role in the Vault Experiment
• 3.1 Overseers
• 3.2 Other dwellers
• 5 Appearances
• 7.1 Outside
• 7.2 Entrance area
• 7.4 Promotional slides
• 7.5 Technical images
• 8 References

Background [ ]

An experimental Vault built in California , [4] Vault 33 is unique in that it forms a part of a network of Vaults; it is connected directly to its sister Vaults: Vault 31 and Vault 32 . To prevent the spread of threats (e.g., infectious disease), the three Vaults are isolated from one another, except for periodic trade (happening every three years, known as the Triennial Trade) and situations where the Vaults come to each other's aid. The Vault functions as a democracy like its sister Vaults, with the overseer chosen by the community in popular elections for four-year terms, advised by a Vault council. [5] Its dwellers are told that the surface is unfit for recolonization due to radiation levels and instead encouraged to bond with each other and the other two Vaults. [6]

The Vault was sealed as planned on the day of the Great War , with the external coast armoring protecting it against ongoing erosion by the Pacific Ocean. Although it functioned as designed, there were occasional technical issues and internal system breakdowns that were difficult to repair and address (eg. in February 2095). Vault 31 provided assistance as needed, [7] and the system endured for nearly 220 years. Vault dwellers were kept focused on the promise of Reclamation Day when the Vaults would open, and they would emerge to restart civilization. [8] In the meantime, the dwellers were focusing on keeping their Vault operational and training for the eventual Reclamation Day, honing their skills as part of community associations like the Young Pipefitter's Association, gymnastics club, fencing teams or simply participating in intermediate physical education and the rifle range. Much of the organization was horizontal and competence-based, although the overseer and council made the decisions in crucial affairs. The most important was selecting candidates to marry dwellers from Vault 32. To avoid incest, family trees were tracked and strictly controlled, and the Triennial Trade also included personnel transfers to inject fresh genes into the community. [9]

The Vault made regular exchanges with the other Vaults over the years and remained operational well into the late 23rd century. The overseers included Robert Olsen (2101-2109), Ava West (2109-2121), George Yaffe (2121 - 2125), and in subsequent decades Patricia Peters , Alexander Boamer , Laurence Ronald , Betty Pearson and Hank MacLean . MacLean served fifteen years as the Vault's overseer, elected four consecutive times. [10] He has guided the Vault through one of its biggest crises, the Great Plague of 2277, during which he imposed a strict quarantine, confining the dwellers to their apartments. Although numerous dwellers starved, MacLean was credited with saving the Vault, in particular due to losing weight and dropping to just 128 pounds (58 kg), as well as losing his wife, Rose MacLean , to starvation. [11]

Attack on the Vault [ ]

Lucy MacLean trying to survive the raid on Vault 33

By 2296, the Vault continued to survive as it always did, although two centuries of no contact with the outside world or fresh genetic stock (a problem Vault City experienced as well), has led to complications. In particular, it has led to instances of cousin-on-cousin intimate relations, eg. between the overseer's daughter and Chet , [12] though both were well aware that it was not a sustainable practice for maintaining the Vault's population. [13] The upcoming Triennial Trade (73rd, assuming they occurred every three years) with Vault 32 included the exchange of seed for planting and machinery parts to help the sister Vault cope with a devastating blight that wiped out its wheat, for an influx of new genes. The bride accepted by the council was none other than Lucy MacLean , the overseer's daughter. [9] Owing to the isolation, Vault 33 did not know what to expect, as telegrams mentioned Overseer Jackson's passing, replaced by a new overseer, Lee Moldaver . [14]

What the overseer did not expect was that the Vault dwellers were actually outsiders on a raid. After the wedding, when the Vault settled in for sleep, Moldaver initiated the attack. The raiders sacked the armory and killed numerous dwellers, eventually taking more hostage. At the intra-Vault passageway, Moldaver forced Hank MacLean to surrender and took him prisoner, blowing up the passageway behind her. The Vault was sealed once again, with dwindled numbers and sixteen violent raiders imprisoned in a repurposed reading room. [15] Following the clean-up, the Vault dwellers gathered to decide on the next course of action. Lucy proposed to send a search party to the surface to locate her father, but was shot down by both dwellers afraid of doing so and by Betty Pearson , former overseer, who prioritized security. [16] She refused to accept such a decision and decided to make a break for the exterior Vault door with the aid of Chet and Norm. Chet's gatekeeper credentials opened the door, allowing her to slip out (after tranquilizing Chet, who had last-minute doubts). Witnessed by Davey and Reg McPhee , both Norm and Chet were removed from their postings and reassigned as punishment. Pearson assigned Normanon to deliver food to the prisoners. [17]

In a subsequent Vault meeting, the dwellers gathered to decide the fate of the prisoners. Due to centuries of isolation and an idealistic, naive culture, they seriously consider rehabilitating and integrating them into Vault society to compensate for their reduced numbers. Norm suggested execution, but was shot down by Betty again, before the conversation shifted entirely to the broken water chip , which left the Vault with only two months of water reserves. [18]

Fate of Vault 32 [ ]

Exposure to the prisoners had unforeseen consequences. Norman becomes troubled by what he sees in Vault 32 when he enters it during the wedding. Although he assumed the raiders killed the denizens, something didn't make sense. After persuading Chet to help him unearth the rubble and enter Vault 32, the two explored the abandoned Vault, finding traces of a brutal civil war and mass suicides, with the last bio-signal on the Pip-Boys from 2294, well before the raid. [19] Graffiti across the Vault suggested that the dwellers learned the truth, that their Vaults were not a shelter but an experiment, and violence erupted, with the overseer (a transfer from Vault 31) tortured to death and mass death leading to collapse. They also learned thanks to Norm that the Vault was accessed from the outside, with the use of Rose MacLean 's Pip-Boy. The two returned to the Vault, but not before Betty Pearson ran into them in the atrium, raising her suspicions. [20]

Neither revealed the truth. The water crisis looming on the horizon dominated the elections. Although Reg McPhee and Woody Thomas stood for election, they had no idea how to run a political campaign; Vault 33 had no civics classes and Thomas, for example, was convinced that campaigning involved merely putting up campaigns and his effort amounted to ten posters. Reg McPhee was no different, [21] turning the election into a mockery of democracy; Betty Pearson was the only real candidate and relentlessly campaigned, including making public announcements Vault-wide that amounted to a thinly-veiled voting instruction. None of the dwellers aside from Norm picked up on it, [22] leading to a landslide victory for Betty with 98% of the vote. Even Reg voted for Betty. [23]

Norm investigated the Inter-Vault Archive and cross-referenced the list of population transfers from Vault 31 with the list of overseers elected, learning that every single overseer since 2077 came from Vault 31, not just in 33, but in 32 as well. When he tried to raise the issue with Chet, his cousin dismissed it as just a fact of life beneath the ground, crediting the slogan "When things look glum, vote 31" with ensuring these landslide victories. [24] Before he could investigate the matter further, Overseer Pearson announced a Vault-wide meeting about the future of Vault 32 as her first act of office. [25] At 10 a.m., she took the dwellers into Vault 32 to tour the empty shelter, which was hastily cleaned up and restored by Vault 31. All the bodies were removed and the damage covered up, creating the illusion of an empty Vault ripe for resettlement. Which led her to announce that after consulting with Vault 31, she will split the population of Vault 33 and use it to resettle the vacant Vault. [26]

The following day, the sixteen prisoners were found dead, poisoned with what seemed to be rat poison . After reprimanding Norman and having one of the dwellers assigned to the prisoners' care arrested, Overseer Pearson immediately sent out population reassignments, splitting the Vault. The decision was entirely her own, and she made sure to split Norm and Chet, leaving the resettlers with Stephanie Harper , another transfer from Vault 31 , chosen as the interim and likely permanent overseer. [27] On the day of the Vault 32 Reclamation, Norm used the preoccupation of the overseer and other dwellers to sneak into the overseer's office and contact Vault 31, posing as Pearson. After claiming that the mission was not going too well, he managed to convince the Vault 31 overseer to open the door and entered the sister Vault. [28]

Role in the Vault Experiment [ ]

In the resulting confrontation with Bud Askins , the overseer, Norm learned the truth. [28] The Vault network was not an alliance of three democratic Vaults, but a eugenic experiment created by Askins, [29] to deal with the issue of human lifespans limiting the ability to implement projects requiring centuries, even millennia to come to fruition. [30] Considering the idea of keeping a failed nation like the United States alive an insane one, Askins instead decided to leverage the outsourcing of U.S. survival to the private sector to ensure that Vault-Tec would remain alive to rebuild the world as Askins saw fit. To this end, Vault 31 was filled with graduates of "Bud's Buds," an executive assistant training program set up by Askins for up-and-coming executives before the Great War, kept in cryostasis . [31]

Vault 32 and 33 were breeding pools, providing candidates for the junior executives (Buds) to breed with, to create a class of super managers to repopulate the Earth once the nuclear war wiped the surface clean (with or without Vault-Tec's help). Buds would strictly control both Vaults brought out of stasis, disguised as population transfers from Vault 31, [32] and operate under Bud Askins' supervision, disguised as telegrams and conferences with Vault 31. [31] The overseers are one example, but the council would also be dominated by them; Betty Pearson dominated the Vault 33 council after Hank succeeded her in the role, with Reg McPhee and Woody Thomas essentially rubber-stamping her decisions. [15]

This was made possible by social engineering; the dwellers were brought up believing in a meritocracy, [33] with no political education beyond a history of America curated by Vault-Tec [9] and no exposure to the outside world, and conditioned to conform to tradition and social expectations, in particular edicts by overseers. [34]

Being pre-War executives trained in social manipulation and navigating the cutthroat world of corporate politics, it was easy for the Buds to manipulate both Vaults and have them follow along with Askins' plan. Any challenger for the position of overseer would only be able to mount a pitiful campaign, at most, and when in doubt, the overseer could always engineer a crisis (e.g., a water chip breakage). [21] To ensure breeding success, sex and procreation have been stripped of social stigma and taboo, which creates a more egalitarian society, but also makes the Vault dwellers appear promiscuous in comparison with more repressed wastelanders. [35]

Both Rose and Lucy were likely examples of super-managers, with Rose deducing that civilization returned to the surface based on an imbalance in the Vault's water supply. Her husband, the overseer , dismissed the idea and instructed her to stay silent about it. Rose realized that he was hiding something and fled the Vault with her children, leading Hank to engineer a cover-up (likely the weevil famine) and give pursuit. He took the children back and returned to the Vault, after ensuring the capital of the New California Republic would be obliterated by a nuclear device , with his wife caught in the blast and competition for the future Vault-Tec supermen eliminated. At the same time, he unknowingly set in motion events that would lead to his downfall. Lee Moldaver , herself a pre-War survivor, swore vengeance, marshaling NCR remnants in New California in a bid to recover cold fusion research and unlock it for the people for the wasteland. She needed Hank's Vault-Tec credentials to activate the technology. [36]

Norm was unable to return to the Vault, with Askins using his own control of the Vault's systems to lock him in the cryo suspension chamber, giving him a choice: Either starve to death or enter stasis in his father's former chamber to be awoken at Bud's discretion.

A stylized diagram of the Vault, based on the Vault of the Future promotional art for Vault 13 .

Located next to the Pacific Ocean , the Vault is almost entirely underground, with the only above structure a reinforced concrete bunker housing the main Vault door , sitting atop a shaft extending down through the bedrock. To protect against coastal erosion, the bunker complex is surrounded by concrete seawalls, particularly the most vulnerable area outside the Vault door (a significant part of the Santa Monica's beachfront was torn down to make way for the Vault). The outer concrete walls extend to the top of the bunker and have proved stable enough to hold out against erosion for over two centuries. [37] [38]

The main shaft connects all 12 levels of the Vault (including the surface) through the main lift. The main feature of the Vault is a large atrium stretching down through three levels (underground levels 5, 6, and 7), which simulates the outdoors: The blank walls act as screens for a Telesonic projector, showing images of the Nebraskan countryside. The atrium serves multiple duties, including being a space for exercise, for social gatherings, and as farmland: Vault-Tec combined artificial lighting, irrigation, and natural soil to allow the dwellers to raise crops. The primary crop is maize , [33] although tatos , sunflowers, [39] cucumbers, [40] beans, potatoes, and peaches are also cultivated. The Vault can also produce animal or animal-like products, enabling the Vault to provide a varied diet and even luxury foodstuffs like jello or cake (typically reserved for celebrations, such as the election of a new overseer or a wedding). [41] Fertilizer is provided by composting organic waste in room 214, including human bodies. [42] Water is provided by a filtration system controlled by a standard Vault-Tec water chip , which managed to operate for nearly 220 years, until breaking in the wake of the raider attack, leaving the Vault with two months' worth of water. [43]

Living quarters are organized into discrete apartments for families. Unmarried Vault dwellers stay with their families in the apartment, with couples moving into a new space on their wedding day. Each apartment is small, but furnished with all modern amenities, including a bathroom with a shower, a living room with a kitchen annex and refrigerator, and a bed for the couple, with a small patio in the adjoining room that simulates the outdoors. Each room is identified with a number (e.g., 626 for Lucy's newlywed apartment and 538 for Steph and Bert 's), but variations are possible. [44] Common spaces are used as necessary and can be repurposed in need (eg. turning the reading room into a temporary jail for Moldaver's raiders). The nexus of control is the overseer's office, overlooking the atrium, [45] though the Vault council convenes in a separate council room (967). [46]

Unique among other Vaults is the fact that Vault 33 is part of a network. As one of the Three Vaults , the neighboring Vaults 31 and 32 are accessible by inter-vault passageways, though standard Vault doors limit access. Designated gatekeepers (e.g. Chet in 2296 ) are responsible for handling door operations and are instructed to keep the doors closed, except for the Triennial Trade between Vaults 32 and 33 or personnel transfers from 31 to 33. The intervault spaces, such as the Vault 33 fencing club, are otherwise used for community activities. [47] [38] Only Vaults 32 and 33 have direct access to each other. Vault 31 can only be opened by its overseer. In fact, dwellers cannot contact each other and only the overseers remain in contact through their terminals, giving them the ability to exchange text messages (called "telegrams") and even engage in instant messaging. [48]

Inhabitants [ ]

Overseers [ ].

• Robert Olsen (2101 — 2109)
• Ava West (2109 — 2121)
• George Yaffe (2121 — 2125)
• Patricia Peters
• Alexander Boamer
• Laurence Ronald
• Betty Pearson 1
• Hank MacLean (2271 — 2297)
• Betty Pearson (2297 - onward) 1

1 Betty was also the overseer of Vault 33 for an unspecified period before Hank took office and preceded him. The list is based on the Reactivated list in Vault 31 (seen in " The Beginning ,") which shows Betty Pearson reactivated before Hank, but after Ian Jackson , the overseer of Vault 32.

Other dwellers [ ]

• Lucy MacLean
• Norm MacLean
• Steph's child
• Woody Thomas

• Elderly speaker
• Vault 33 doctors
• Vault 33 engineer
• Vault 33 gatekeeper
• Vault 33 guards
• Other unnamed dwellers
• Being located in Santa Monica places Vault 33 in or near the territory of the New California Republic , specifically the Los Angeles Boneyard , which was admitted to the NCR as the state of Los Angeles during its founding in 2189 . Prior to this, it would have lay in or near the territory of the Children of the Cathedral , a religious cult serving a super mutant army known as the Unity , which raided numerous Vaults to grow their numbers before being defeated in 2162 .
• All Vault dwellers wear a variant of the Vault jumpsuit based on the version introduced in Fallout 4 .
• A promotional video from the Vault-Tec Holotapes broadcast channel on Instagram gave a tour of the Vault, narrated by Overseer Hank (played by Kyle MacLachlan ). [Non-game 1]

Appearances [ ]

Vault 33 appears in the Fallout TV series .

Behind the scenes [ ]

The Vaults encountered over the course of the many games imply that there's somewhere below 200 Vaults, although it's also possible that the number is even lower and that some Vaults were just never completed (leaving gaps in the numeric list). California has a big population, so it presumably might have a large number of Vaults-but it also might not; since forces behind the scenes turned the Vaults into labs for sociological experiments, their purpose was not to save large quantities of people, but to draw people from a local town into an unwitting experiment. You don't need to place a huge number of Vaults in the places with lots of people if your true goal isn't saving as many people as possible.

• When asked on whether the idea of a Vault so close to the Unity 's power base in the Cathedral was explored, original Fallout developer Jesse Heinig explained as above, that there was no definitive list of Vaults during development and thus further developments for a TV series over 25 years later could not be taken into account. He has also floated several possibilities as to how the Master and his army could miss a Vault right under their noses, including lack of information, his super mutant soldiers being incompetent, or the Vault being simply better protected than others.

Vault 33 jumpsuit in Fallout 76

• Between December 2—12, 2023, Fallout 76 allowed players to download a free Vault 33 jumpsuit underarmor to promote the TV series.
• The Bethesda Pinball table, released in 2016, contained A Vault numbered 33, wholly unrelated to the Vault that would later appear in the Fallout TV series.
• Additionally, the Creation Club image for the Vault Suit Customization content (released in 2019) features some numbers written on a booklet featuring Vault suits, jotted down near one of the jumpsuits themselves. One of the numbers written is 33, which has been crossed out alongside 41, in favor of 101 and 64.
• Vault 33 uses the same construction technology and layouts as Vaults from Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 , with the external Vault door and entrance hall similar to Vault 76 :
• The Vault uniquely has a large cornfield in the atrium, though most of it is just a "2.5D" projection created by a special technology. [Non-game 2] However, the Vault does have a smaller crop field modeled after a rural farm, surrounded by the cornfield projection. This crop field is located on sub-level 4 of the Vault, along with the mess hall. The living quarters are located on sub-level 2, and sub-level 5 is experiencing a radroach infestation. [Non-game 1]
• Although much of the interior spaces were created as physical sets, the Vault door hallway, the main shaft, and background shots of the farm area, were created in Unreal Engine by Magnopus . Sarah Hudson Semple was responsible for modeling, texturing, and laying out these areas, which were later seamlessly combined with the physical sets. The work was featured on the Unreal Engine blog as an example of the flexibility of the engine.

Gallery [ ]

Outside [ ].

Entrance area [ ]

Promotional slides [ ]

Technical images [ ]

References [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Greetings, Vault Dwellers. Here’s a brand new tour with Overseer Hank." (archived on Reddit)
• ↑ TheGamer on YouTube: Interview With The Production Designer Of Amazon's Fallout TV Series, Howard Cummings!
• ↑ Sarah Semple's ArtStation
• 1 Securitron
• 2 Vault-Tec bobblehead (Fallout 4)
• 3 Fallout 4 perks

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Fallout’s Vaults have even crazier experiments in the games

From Vault 4 to Vault 76 and beyond

by Cass Marshall

[ Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Fallout season 1, as well as information from the Fallout games.]

The Vault systems in the Fallout franchise are meant to be a utopia, a shelter away from the harsh apocalyptic Wasteland and nuclear fire.

Of course, nothing is ever as it seems, and a little bit of digging (Lucy’s journey in Fallout season 1 or playing to the end of Fallout 2 ) reveals that the Vault systems are actually a way to experiment on survivors. Some of the premises are so wild or impractical that it doesn’t seem like an experiment at all, and many failed spectacularly . (According to series creator Tim Cain, the purpose was to test humanity’s ability to travel through space , but this isn’t in any of the games so far.)

There are two experiments in the Prime Video show that we get to see: Vault 4 and the combined network of Vaults 31, 32, and 33. Something like Vault 4 is relatively straightforward: a society ruled by scientists. Unfortunately, the scientists’ experiments got out of hand, creating the monstrous gulpers and requiring a total restructuring of their society.

• Fallout’s Easter eggs

Vaults 31, 32, and 33 are a little more complex. These interlinked Vaults rely on each other, with the members of 33 and 32 arranging marriages in order to diversify their populations. Early on, it appears that 32 fell to raiders. However, Norm and Chet soon find that the inhabitants of 32 died long before raiders ever arrived due to a terrible famine. As for Vault 31, we learn that Vault-Tec executives are frozen in here, and thawed whenever a new Overseer must be installed.

If you’re curious as to the other Vaults scattered across Fallout’s vast canon, here is a list of the monstrous experiments that Vault-Tec carried out after the apocalypse.

Vault 4: Those poor, unfortunate scientists. Now populated with the survivors, combined with refugees from Shady Sands. Chris Parnell plays the good-spirited Overseer, with a slightly strange single eye.

Vault 8: A control Vault, which means there was no active experiment. After 10 years, the Vault opened and used its Garden of Eden Creation Kit to found the large and successful Vault City.

Vault 11: This Vault had a psychology test in which the occupants had to vote for one human sacrifice each year or else lose all life support. The cruel conclusion of the experiment is that if the Vault Dwellers did refuse to sacrifice one of their own, the Vault would open and allow them to leave unharmed. Unsurprisingly, this is not what happened, and the results were tragic.

Vault 12: What happens if the Vault door doesn’t seal quite right, and radiation filters in? The answer is Necropolis, a community of Ghouls.

Vault 13: The home of the original Fallout ’s protagonist. Vault 13 was meant to stay closed for 200 years, but a faulty water chip led to one of their own trekking out into the world in search of a solution.

Vault 15: This Vault remained closed for 50 years, and the population was drawn from people of different walks of life and ideologies. Some of the population of this Vault went on to found Shady Sands, and eventually the New California Republic.

Vault 19: This Vault housed two societies, red and blue, each with one Overseer. What the occupants didn’t know is that they were flooded with subliminal messages to pit them against each other, which eventually culminated in civil war.

Vault 21: What if all conflict had to be resolved by gambling? The Vault would later be acquired by Mr. House and turned into a pleasant novelty hotel for tourists to New Vegas.

Vault 22: At first glance, it’s a botanist’s dream, in which the experiment is to develop plant life in the Vault with the help of sophisticated and advanced equipment. A parasitic fungus turned on the researchers and consumed the Vault.

Vault 27: Filled with double the sustainable population.

Vault 29: The age cap for occupants was 15 years old.

Vaults 31, 32, and 33: Lucy’s Vault (33), and the site of a lot of intrigue in season 1 of Fallout . The gist is that these three Vaults are interconnected, and 32 and 33 often exchange inhabitants to diversify the gene pool and create new generations. Things go horribly awry when the population of 32 is replaced with raiders, who attack — thus kicking off the events of the show. Lucy, and the other Vault inhabitants, do not realize that there is an experiment; they think this is the good life. And, as mentioned above, Vault 31 is there to house frozen Vault-Tec staff to bring into Vaults 32 and 33 as necessary.

Vault 34: The armory was stuffed with weapons, and there was no proper locking mechanism on the door. Eventually failed due to a riot and reactor damage.

Vault 36: Instead of proper food, the occupants were fed only a thin, watery gruel.

Vault 42: No lightbulbs of more than 40 watts were provided, which likely meant this Vault had a dim future.

Vault 51: This Vault was meant to test the limits of human tribalism, with an experimental AI running the show and selecting the Overseer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the AI eventually killed the Vault’s occupants instead of rigorously testing them.

Vault 53: The equipment was designed to constantly suffer minor but repairable failures in order to study the effect stress had on the Vault’s inhabitants.

Vaults 55 and 56: In Vault 55, all of the entertainment tapes were removed. In Vault 56, they were all removed except for one really bad comedian. Truly, a terrifying fate.

Vaults 68 and 69: In Vault 68, the population only contained one woman. This ratio was flipped for Vault 69. This is one of the Vaults that feels especially disinterested in scientific curiosity in favor of cruelty; it’s hard to see any situation in which Vault 68 prospers.

Vault 70: The Vault stopped producing jumpsuits after six months.

Vault 75: This experiment was focused on breeding the perfect human, with failures being incinerated and successes joining the scientific staff to try and improve the process for the next generation.

Vault 76: A control Vault, and the one from which all Fallout 76 players emerge.

Vault 81: A Vault focused on researching diseases and antibodies. Similar to Vault 75, the residents were openly used as guinea pigs.

Vault 87: Experimenting on humans using the Forced Evolutionary Virus, which leads to super mutants appearing in the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3 .

Vault 92: This Vault was filled with talented musicians, and then they were exposed to white noise that subliminally implanted combat suggestions. The musicians all lost their minds and descended into murder and mayhem.

Vault 94: Filled to the brim with pacifists and chill folk, this Vault was meant to prove the innate goodness of humanity. One year after the Great War, the doors opened, and raiders promptly blew the entire thing up.

Vault 95: Every occupant was struggling with an addiction to drugs, and this Vault was designed to study their withdrawal, and then reexpose them to an endless amount of chems. The Vault collapsed shortly afterward.

Vault 96: The Vault was filled with embryos that would be artificially raised to adulthood and then released into the Wasteland with robot companions and protectors.

Vault 101: A Vault designed to remain in total isolation from the outside world — until the events of Fallout 3 kick off, and the Lone Wanderer takes off in search of their father, James. It’s a fun parallel with Lucy and her search for her father.

Vault 106: Psychoactive drugs were released into the air after the door was sealed. We can only hope the inhabitants had good trips.

Vault 108: The Vault was left without reliable leadership, and during its isolation from the world, the survivors accidentally cloned a whole host of Gary. These clones stalk the Vault, only able to say one word: “Gary.”

Vault 111: The survivors in this Vault were cryogenically frozen, with staff, security, and scientists making sure their pods remained operational. The Vault failed in 2078, and 210 years later, the Sole Survivor emerges from their pod in order to find their son, Shaun.

Vault 112: Dr. Stanislaus Braun took a much smaller population into this Vault and hooked them into virtual reality pods, where they could experience a true utopia. Braun eventually became bored, and the experiment turned much more sinister as he hunted down each survivor in their virtual reality, killed them, wiped their memories, and began anew.

Vault 114: Members of higher social classes were welcomed into this Vault, only to find it overcrowded and minimally equipped. The Overseer was selected outside of the usual population, with the intent of finding the most ornery and anti-authority candidate possible.

Vault 118: This Vault was meant to be filled with the ultra-wealthy and the working poor. However, before the working poor could arrive, funding ran out. The rich inhabitants would remove their brains, implanting them in robots, in order to survive forever.

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Fallout TV show season one: What are the experiments in Vault 32 and 33?

Throughout the  Fallout television series on Amazon Prime, viewers were initially led to believe Vault-tec and the Vault dwellers are the good guys. But as it turns out, Vault-tec and its corporate body were performing experiments, and most vaults, like 32 and 33 , were subject to different experiments .

The Fallout series referenced three Vaults: 31, 32, and 33. The latter is where Lucy is from, and 31 is where the former Vault-tec employees are cryogenically frozen and released when needed.

So, while Vault 31 and its role in the interlinked system are explained, Vaults 32 and 33’s experiments aren’t easy to figure out.

What is the experiment in Vault 32 in  Fallout ?

Vault 32’s experiment involved overpopulation.  Two critical elements in the  Fallout  television series confirm this:

• The mice doco on TV when  Norm  and Chet explored Vault 32 in episode four.
• The executive of Big MT suggested the overpopulation competition idea in episode eight. 

In episode four, the narrator mentions overpopulation occurs when mice are given everything they need, like a place to sleep and all the food they can eat. At this moment, the mice fight for food and space, which is likely how most people of Vault 32 die—by killing and eating each other. But as the Vaulties of 32 appear to have known the truth regarding the Vaults and their experiment, this could have fueled their survival instincts.

In episode eight, Frederick Sinclair, the leading executive for Big MT, suggests the idea of overpopulation. He wanted to see a vault featuring people competing to survive, where only the best, brightest, and strongest win. This, more than likely, became Vault 32.

What is the experiment in Vault 33 in  Fallout ?

In The Beginning, which is episode eight, The Brain mentions that Vault 33 and Vault 32 were breeding pools for the Vault-tec employees  who were cryogenically frozen in Vault 31. By breeding with the Vaulties from 32 and 33, Bud (the Brain) hoped to create the ultimate human fit for management.

Because Vault 32 was overpopulated, exchanging people every three years helped ensure breeding between relatives did not occur and brought fresh blood into Vault 33. This also meant that only the smartest, strongest, and best people were exchanged between Vaults, enhancing the pools to create even better managers.

So, if you were wondering what experiments were occurring in the Vaults, re-watch episodes four and eight to uncover more Easter eggs , details surrounding their purpose, and who caused the explosion in  Fallout . 

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What Was Experiment of Vault 33? Fallout Series vs in the Games

Avid fans are giving their thoughts on Vault 33's origins.

Published: Apr 15, 2024, 12:55 pm Updated: Apr 15, 2024, 2:47 pm

If you're an avid fan of the action role-playing game (RPG) Fallout , you're pretty much excited about its live-action adaptation on Amazon Prime Video. After a few episodes, you might be wondering what happened to Vault 33 and if was it ever in the game series. Here's what you need to know.

Table of Contents

Where is vault 33, what happened to vault 33, is vault 33 experiment in the fallout game.

Spoiler Warning: This article includes spoilers for Fallout , so proceed with caution.

Pretty much the whole premise of the TV series, Fallout , takes place in Vault 33. This is also known as the home of the MacLean family from where the show's protagonist is from.

The show describes Vault 33 as a Vault-Tec vault that was previously in Santa Monica in Los Angeles, California. The TV series depicts it as the location next to the Santa Monica Pier.

As you watch Fallout , you get to understand that it is actually an experimental Vault. It is part of a tripartite society with two other Vaults: Vaults 32 and 31. This explains why they frequently trade with each other and intermarry.

RELATED: Fallout: What is the Site X Location in the Prime Video Series?

When Vault 31 was created, it was intended to preserve Vault-Tec Corporation management. This is why Vaults 32 and 33 were created as sister vaults to it. These two Vaults were used as breeding pools for individuals with good genetics. As a result, their offspring were physically healthy super managers.

But what happened to Vault 33?

The primary crop in Vault 33 is corn. Throughout its 200+ year run, there were no problems with the Vault. But because weevils were able to get inside the Vault and infect the crops, the Vault experienced a famine in 2277.

This led to several becoming starved and even a few casualties.

In the series, we also learn that Vault 33 got attacked by NCR raiders who thought they were from Vault 32. The show later revealed that the water chip failed, which led to confusion.

RELATED: Do Maximus and Lucy Get Together in the Fallout Prime Series? Are They Endgame?

With the show's release, avid fans of the RPG wondered if Vault 33 experiment was in the game. Although Vault 33 "technically" exists in the universe, there hasn't been any mention or sighting of it in the RPG.

Some fans couldn't help but wonder if this Vault was created specifically for Amazon.

But one fan explained it perfectly:

Do you think Vault 33 not being part of the game is a good thing too? Let us know in a comment below.

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