Scores of movies and TV shows have been set in Las Vegas, but none has more thoroughly explored the town's story lines or brought it more exposure than the long-running forensic science whodunit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.''

Now, Vegas visitors can immerse themselves in the sometimes gruesome but always fascinating world peopled by fictional lab sleuths Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, and Doc Robbins in an interactive attraction, ``CSI: The Experience.''

The exhibit, which opened at the MGM Grand's Studio Walk in mid-September, gives would-be criminologists an opportunity to sort out the puzzle of one of three crime scenes.

After visitors are greeted by Grissom (actor William Petersen) in a video introduction, they go about the task of figuring out what happened and who did it -- just as on the TV show.

``They observe the scene, they take notes, and then they go back to the lab,'' says Liz Kalodner, an executive with CBS Consumer Products.

The labs have workstations where visitors use databases for fingerprint identification, do DNA analysis of hair samples, and use reactive chemical agents to test for traces of blood. There's even an autopsy area, where special-effects projections show a corpse's organs.

In the end, you input your data and conclusions into a computer, and Grissom tells you how you fared.

``If you pay attention and follow directions and look at all the clues, you'll be able to figure out the crime,'' Kalodner says. ``By design, the experience is meant to be challenging but satisfying.''

For more information, go to www.csiexhibit.com.

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