Tournament of Kings
- Where
- Excalibur Arena, Excalibur
- Runtime
- About 90 minutes
- Dark nights
- Sunday, Monday
- Ages
- All ages welcome; children 3 and under attend free sharing an adult's lap/meal, children 4+ need a full-price ticket and get their own seat/meal
Here is the first thing to get straight, because almost everyone gets it wrong: Tournament of Kings is not an evening dinner show. It runs in the afternoon. If you have it penciled in as the thing you do after a late dinner, you have already booked your night around a show that will have finished hours earlier.
That one fact reshapes the whole plan, and it is exactly the kind of detail the big ticketing sites bury under the marketing copy. So let me lay out what this show actually is, what eating a medieval feast with no fork really involves, and whether it earns a spot on a Vegas itinerary that already has too much on it.
It is an afternoon show, and that changes everything
Tournament of Kings runs Tuesday through Saturday at 3:00pm inside the Excalibur Arena. It is dark Sunday and Monday. There is no late seating, no 9pm option, no dinner-and-a-nightcap rhythm to it.
Treat that as a feature, not a flaw. A 3pm show is the single best slot in Vegas for a family with younger kids, because it lands before the meltdown hour and leaves the whole evening open. It is also the move if the rest of your day is booked with pool time or a Grand Canyon tour that gets you back mid-afternoon. Just do not plan a separate dinner reservation for right after, because you will already be full.
This show has gone dark before, which is the whole point of checking
People assume a Vegas institution just runs forever. This one did not. It opened in June 1990 as King Arthur's Tournament, ran roughly 6,000 performances, then actually closed in January 1999. It reopened the very next month under the name it carries today.
By the mid-2020s the show was marking more than three decades at Excalibur and had been cited as one of the longest-running productions on the Strip. That history is the reason I never tell anyone a show is running without checking the live calendar first. Currently-running is a status, not a guarantee, and this show is the proof.
You eat the whole meal with your hands
The medieval conceit is not just set dressing. The three-course dinner is served with no utensils. None. You eat the soup by drinking it, and the rest by hand, because that is the bit, and the show leans all the way into it.
Kids love this. Adults split into two camps: the ones who find it a genuinely fun break from Strip formality, and the ones who spend the whole meal wishing for a fork. Know which one you are before you book. Practical tip that nobody puts on the ticket page: bring a small pack of wet wipes. You will want them.
You get sorted into a kingdom, and you root for a knight
The arena is not general theater seating. The way these tournament shows are built, your section is a kingdom, and that kingdom has a knight it cheers for during the joust. So the section you land in is not only about sightlines, it decides which storyline you are emotionally attached to for the next 90 minutes.
What this means in practice: there is no single best seat to chase. Any section in the arena puts you close to the dirt and the horses. The louder your section, the more your knight feeds off it, so the experience rewards leaning in rather than sitting back and judging it.
Bringing kids: energy, noise, and who needs a ticket
This is a loud, bright, stomping-and-cheering show. Horses, pyrotechnic flashes, a real crowd roar. Kids who love spectacle are in heaven. A toddler who spooks at loud noise may not be.
On tickets: children 3 and under attend free sharing an adult's lap and meal, and children 4 and up need a full-price ticket, which gets them their own seat and their own dinner. It is billed as all ages, and it genuinely is a rare Vegas show built for the whole family rather than tolerating kids.
- Great fit: kids roughly 5 to 12, grandparents who want a show with the grandkids, anyone who wants dinner and entertainment handled in one 90-minute block.
- Harder sell: very young toddlers sensitive to noise, and adults who want a sit-back, sophisticated night out.
Who should skip it
Skip it if your idea of a Vegas show is a polished, quiet, adult evening. This is theatrical, corny in the way it means to be, and built around participation. It is not trying to be Cirque, and holding it to that bar will only disappoint you.
Also skip it if you cannot make a mid-afternoon slot work. A show you have to leave a pool day early for, or rush back to the Strip for, stops being fun and starts being a logistics headache.
Getting the timing right around a 3pm start
Because it runs at 3:00pm Tuesday through Saturday and goes about 90 minutes, you are out and fed by roughly late afternoon with the entire evening ahead of you. That is the planning advantage nobody talks about.
Build the day so the show is the anchor: something low-key in the morning, the show mid-afternoon, then a proper Vegas night after. Do not stack a big lunch right before, because a full three-course meal is part of the ticket. And confirm the date on the live calendar, given this show's dark Sunday and Monday and its history of pauses.
Book it if you are traveling with kids or want dinner and a show handled in one afternoon block. Skip it if you want a grown-up, sit-back evening.
Tournament of Kings is one of the few shows in this town that knows exactly what it is and does not apologize for it. As a family outing, or a grandparents-and-grandkids afternoon, it is genuinely hard to beat: dinner, spectacle, and a hard finish time all in one ticket. As a date night or a sophisticated evening, it is the wrong pick, and something like a Cirque production or a variety show would serve you far better.
My honest lean: if there is a kid in your party, book it without overthinking. If there is not, be sure the medieval feast is the vibe you actually want before you commit, because the afternoon slot and the no-forks rule are not for everyone.
David X Las Vegas earns a commission on bookings made through this link, at no extra cost to you. It never changes my honest take.
Make it a night
Because this one wraps in the afternoon and feeds you on the way out, the real question is what to do with the wide-open evening it leaves you. That is a nicer problem than most Vegas nights hand you, and the Strip after dark is where to spend it.
Frequently asked
Is Tournament of Kings really an afternoon show?
Yes. It runs Tuesday through Saturday at 3:00pm and is dark Sunday and Monday. There is no evening performance, so do not plan it as a late-night activity.
Do you really eat with no utensils?
Yes, that is the whole medieval conceit. The three-course dinner is eaten by hand, so bring wet wipes and come in with the right expectations.
Is it good for young kids?
It is one of the most kid-friendly shows in Vegas, best for roughly ages 5 to 12. Children 3 and under are free sharing an adult's lap and meal; children 4 and up need their own full-price ticket.
How long is the show?
About 90 minutes, dinner included. You will be out by roughly late afternoon with the rest of the evening free.
Thinking about Tournament of Kings?
Check the live calendar and what seats are going for, then call it.
David X Las Vegas earns a commission on bookings made through this link, at no extra cost to you. It never changes my honest take.