Playboy X's Penthouse

The apartment housing Playboy X's penthouse. The main entrance into the penthouse is located on the left side of the building.

Playboy X's Penthouse or the Northwood Safehouse is one of Niko Bellic's safehouses in Grand Theft Auto IV. It is located in Northwood on the south-east corner of the Xenotime St-Galveston Ave intersection.

Getting the safehouse

The safehouse was originally purchased by Dwayne Forge before he was arrested. After Dwayne went to prison however it was taken over by his protege Playboy X. Playboy lived there until 2008 in the events of Grand Theft Auto IV where if the player decides to kill Playboy in The Holland Play, Dwayne will give Niko the penthouse as a gift.

If the player decides to kill Dwayne, the safehouse remains Playboy X's, but the player can still gain access by landing a helicopter on the roof - the patio doors are permanently open, although none of the features inside can be used. The player can also access the penthouse by parking an SUV or other high-roofed vehicle at the bottom of the fire stairs and climbing up them. The safehouse can also be entered these ways in The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. The player can also park vehicles in the parking space; Playboy's gold Patriot is also parked there.

Around the same time this safehouse is aquired, Roman buys another one in Algonquin. Together, the Algonquin safehouses are vastly superior to the South Bohan Safehouse and the safehouse that follows in terms of their condition and facilities.

Amenities

The penthouse terrace.

The penthouse is lavish. It has a Panoramic wide screen television, jacuzzi, pool table, punching bag and an outfit based on the clothing style of Claude from Grand Theft Auto III; the penthouse itself has no internet, but you can use the guard's computer downstairs, in the lobby - interestingly, the monitor bears the Tw@ desktop when not in use. Niko can't play pool by himself, but can play against friends and dates. This pool table does incur quite a few unwanted glitches. Animations of characters setting up shots are often in incorrect directions and the balls often fall off the table when hit very hard towards corners. When the player picks up a friend or date, it won't be listed on the map, but the player can still walk through the door and take the elevator, regardless. The penthouse also includes photographs of a child Playboy X and Dwayne, evidence of the penthouse's previous owner and his associate.

From the bedroom there is an open double-door which leads out onto a wood and stone-floored patio. There are deck chairs and a sunshade, a hot tub and a gas barbecue outside with an explosive gas canister. The player can exit the patio by going down the fire stairs at one side, or can jump across to the adjacent building and take the internal stairs straight to street level. A fall from the patio will kill Niko.

Gallery

The living space of the safehouse, its pool table a unique feature among the five safehouses. The bedroom of the safehouse.

Trivia

• Like three other safehouses (except for the Middle Park East Safehouse), there is gang presence with the North Holland Hustlers.
• This is one of two safehouses that are located on a street running east-west as opposed to north-south, the other being the Alderney Safehouse.
• There is also an adjacent housing project that can be accessed on Galveston Avenue between Xenotime Street and Wardite Street, which is used in the chase of The Holland Play if the player chooses to kill Playboy X.
• On the coffee table, there is a magazine entitled "BJ". If examined closely the front of the magazine has a member of the North Holland Hustlers.
• On the table, there is also a book titled "Baseball's greatest legends", which can also be found in Luis' Apartment.
• There is a glitch with the pool table: if you shoot it a few times with a shotgun on the playing surface, it will make the "craters" larger.
• The penthouse is similar to the Shoreside Vale Safehouse in GTA III; this similarity is reinforced with Claude's clothing being available inside the penthouse if Playboy X is killed during The Holland Play.
• With a helicopter, you can bring your friends/dates to play pool here at any time, but it is extremely difficult to get them off of the roof.
• The penthouse can still be accessed (but none of the features can be used) in GTA IV's episodes. Just either get a helicopter and land on the roof or go to the adjacent building's roof, use a car cheat and jump to the penthouse roof. It's necessary to use a car cheat in the latter option because if not used most likely the player will fall and die. You can also jump on the blue dumpster across from the fire escape and climb onto the fire escape and just walk up the stairs.
• There is a rare glitch where players who have beaten the game, who chose to kill Dwayne, can still play pool, watch TV, and change clothes, but still not be able to save. Some players have suggested a theory that this glitch is more common in the version of the disc that comes with Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition, which also gives the player The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
• The parking spot can be used from the very beginning of the game when Algonquin is still locked. It can also be used to save vehicles even if the player chooses to kill Dwayne.