I'm sure that this question has been asked before, but I cannot find any answer...

How many Sunset Sarsaparilla Star caps do you need to turn into the cowboy robot inside the Sunset Sarsaparilla Bottling Plant to get the REAL prize (which I think might be a giant robot)? I first turned in 49 and he told me that it wasn't enough and it gave me 'The Legend of the Star' quest. I found the one in the wall safe on the top level of the plant. I turned them in and he said it was enough and it told me the 'true story' behind the Sunset Sarsaparilla soft drink...but after he told me I had failed the quest. The robot Festus ( or something or other), after I asked him if this was a joke and where my real prize was, that I could go through the double doors and down the hall to the left and there will be a representative there to give me my prize.....there's nobody there of course.

Has anyone else had this problem? Or do I just not have the right amount for the REAL prize, or is this the REAL prize????

well, the person who's supposed to give you the prize has died a long time ago, but in the room there are a lot of caps in the crates and a unique laser pistol

So it doesn't matter how many I turn in? oh and where was that pistol? I never saw it. Could be that the pistol was supposed to be the prize.

You really haven't seen the dead guy yet? He had the same problem as you: he couldn't find a prize and shot himself in the head with the unique laser pistol

HAHA! no I haven't seen him yet... where could I find him in the building. I was sure that I combed that place!

go to second floor, there should be a hole in the ground somewhere (it's actually pretty hard to miss). From there on it should be easy, the guy is laying in the corner of the room.

Right... I think that was the one place that i didn't look, I saw it but completely forgot about it! haha Thanks man!

You need 50 Star Caps.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/A_Valuable_Lesson

After I give him the 50 caps though.... it tells me that i failed the legend of the star quest.

Are you sure it tells you that you've failed? It's supposed to start AND immediately finish the quest.

I think it is supposed to fail, because there is no prize anymore - the guys are long dead after all.

But in the process you can access a previously locked part of the building (a bit tricky to find) where you find a lot of caps and a nice unique laser gun.

This. The quest fails when you hand in the caps, because the legend is of course just an old marketing trick, made up hundreds of years before to get people to buy sunset sarsaparillas.

There is still a reward though, as the others have said (that and those badges make great markers for psychopathic murdering characters )

Yeah it gives me the quest when I initially talk to him...but after I have given him 50 star caps, and he tells me the story of S.S. soft drink, the quest log flashes that I have failed the legend of the star quest. then it gives me more dialect to ask him.

I have done this about three times and each time it tells me that I have failed... so I was just wondering if it was happening to other people and if there actually was a prize to get from it all.

How do the badges make 'psychopathic murdering characters'?? I don't quite understand that...

"Markers", not "makers". They're a way for the Psycho to "sign" his work- leaving behind a badge so everyone knows it was him.