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Ready Player One is a science fiction novel by Ernest Cline. The book was published by Random House on August 16, 2011. The audiobook was narrated by Wil Wheaton. In 2012, the book received an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association division of the American Library Association.
Warner Bros. purchased the rights to the film in June 2010, the day prior to the book being released.
Plot Summary
The year is 2045 and the world is in near-ruins. The Great Recession has taken its toll on the world's economy, and resources are scarce. The Internet and gaming culture has evolved into a creation known as OASIS, a massive multiplayer online simulation game created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Simulation Systems (GSS), formerly known as Gregarious Games. Halliday, with no heirs or other living family members, dies suddenly and leaves a video will to those in OASIS and a book that was dubbed Anorak's Almanac, which purports to be a volume written by James Halliday's avatar Anorak in OASIS. The video says that whoever can collect three keys (Copper, Jade, and Crystal) that are hidden throughout the universe of OASIS and pass through the matching gates will receive his fortune and controlling stock in GSS. This becomes known as the Hunt and people immediately begin the search for Halliday's Easter Egg. Those searching for the Egg are referred to as "gunters," a truncation of "egg hunters." Gunters devote an enormous amount of time to studying 1980s pop culture, the decade Halliday grew up in and was perpetually obsessed with, in the hope it will assist them with locating and solving the puzzles involved with the Egg.
Characters
- Wade Owen Watts/Parzival - The main character and narrator of the story; Wade lives in the stacks, mega-complexes of trailers stacked on top of each other, surrounding Oklahoma City. He is the first OASIS avatar to place his name on the Scoreboard, and goes on to win the Easter Egg Hunt.
- Helen Harris/Aech - Wade's best friend in the OASIS, and an arena combatant in the OASIS. Helen uses a male avatar inside the OASIS, which is not revealed until the end of the Egg Hunt. She lives in a recreational vehicle (RV) and goes from place to place.
- Samantha Evelyn Cook/Art3mis - A gunter blogger and friend of Parzival's, Art3mis located the Copper Key first but did not acquire it until after Parzival gave her help. She lives in Canada and has a large birthmark on the left side of her face.
- Toshiro Yoshiaki/Daito and Akihide Karatsu/Shoto — Japanese gunters who work as a team in their quest for the egg, they have a generally tense, sometimes-friendly relationship with Wade, Aech, and Art3mis. The two see each other as brothers, even though they have never met each other.
- Nolan Sorrento/IOI-655321 — A high-ranking official of Innovative Online Industries, the multinational corporation that serves as an Internet service provider for most of the world and hopes to take over and monetize the OASIS. Sorrento is head of IOI's Oology Division, and serves as the primary antagonist of the novel.
- James Donovan Halliday/Anorak — Co-creator of the OASIS, who left his entire fortune up for grabs when he died. He is based on the personalities of Howard Hughes and Richard Garriott.
- Ogden Morrow/Great and Powerful Og — Co-creator of the OASIS and best friend of James Halliday. He is among the few in the world who is rich and can afford luxuries that most people cannot. Despite this, he is humble and respects his deceased friend's game and the hunt for the egg. He married his high school sweetheart, Karen Underwood, who later died in an accident.
Pop Culture References In The Novel
Games referenced in the book
- Adventure including Warren Robinett's Easter egg.
- Akalabeth
- Action comics
- Mad Better or Verse
- Asteroids
- Astrosmash
- Battlezone
- Bedlam
- Berzerk
- BurgerTime
- Centipede
- Combat
- Contra
- Defender
- Dig Dug
- Donkey Kong
- The Empire Strikes Back
- E.T.
- Golden Axe
- Heavy Barrel
- Ikari Warriors
- Joust
- Kaboom!
- Knack 2
- Madness and the Minotaur
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Pac-Man
- Pitfall
- Pyramid
- Q*bert
- Quake
- Raaka-tu
- Smash TV
- Super Smash Brothers
- Space Invaders
- Starmaster
- Star Raiders
- Star Wars
- Street Fighter
- Swordquest, including the prizes for Earthworld, Fireworld, Waterworld, and Airworld
- Robotron: 2084
- Time Pilot
- Tron: Deadly Discs
- World of Warcraft
- Yars' Revenge
- Zaxxon
- Zork I II III
Games played in the simulation
- Black Tiger
- Dungeons of Daggorath
- Galaga
- Joust
- Pac-Man
- Tempest
- Zork
- Adventure
Computers and video game consoles referenced in the simulation
- Apple I and II
- Atari 2600
- Atari 400 and 800
- ColecoVision
- Commodore 64
- IMSAI 8080
- Intellivision
- TI-84 Calculator
- Sinclair ZX80
- TRS 80
- TI-99/4
- All Xbox and PlayStation consoles
References on the book cover
- The yellow key is an element of Adventure
- The "c" is similar to Pac-Man
Movies referenced in the simulation
- Airplane!
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
- Back To The Future
- The Beastmaster
- Better Off Dead (film)
- Blade Runner
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Big Trouble In Little China
- Brazil
- The Breakfast Club
- Sharknado
- Jaws
- Click
- A Clockwork Orange
- Conan the Barbarian
- The Dark Crystal
- Excalibur
- Explorers
- Evil Dead trilogy
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off
- Fight Club
- Footloose
- Ghostbusters
- Goonies
- Gremlins
- Phineas And Ferb (Wade is partnered with Both of the Brothers)
- Hawk the Slayer
- Highlander (film) and Highlander II: The Quickening
- Heathers'
- The Iron Giant (robot reward selection)
- The Killer
- Ladyhawke
- Legend
- The Last Starfighter
- Lord of the Rings trilogy
- Mad Max (1-3)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- National Lampoon's European Vacation
- Real Genius
- Revenge of the Nerds
- Risky Business
- Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Say Anything
- Short Circuit
- Silence of the Lambs
- Sixteen Candles
- Sneakers
- Star Trek
- Star Wars, original and prequel trilogies, and made-for-TV Ewok adventures
- The Terminator
- Tron
- The Twilight Zone
- WarGames
- Weird Science
- The Matrix (1-3)
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Star Trek (the rest.)
- 2010
- Spiderman
Music referenced in the simulation
- "Verb: That's What's Happenin' " by Zachary Sanders (Schoolhouse Rock!)
- "2112" by Rush
- "II. The Temples of Syrinx" by Rush
- "III. Discovery" by Rush
- "Alladdin Sane" by David Bowie
- "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss (2010 soundtrack)
- "Atomic" by Blondie
- American rock band Devo
- English rock band Pink Floyd
- "A Million Miles Away" by the Plimsouls
- "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil
- "Change" by John Waite (Vision Quest soundtrack)
- Austrian rapper Falco (name of Parzival's planet stronghold)
- "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC
- "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo
- Ladyhawke soundtrack
- "Subdivisions" by Rush
- "Three Is a Magic Number" by Bob Dorough (Schoolhouse Rock!)
- Conan the Barbarian OST by Basil Poledouris
- Star Wars OST by John Williams
- "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia
- "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats
- "Don't Let's Start" by They Might Be Giants
- "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!
- "Like to Get to Know You Well" by Howard Jones
- "James Brown is Dead" by L.A. Style
- "Blue Monday ('88 Remix)" by New Order
- "Stick Stickly" by Radiohead
- "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol
- American rock band Bon Jovi
- American hard rock band Van Halen
- "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper
- "(Everywhere I Go) Kids Wanna Rock" by Bryan Adams
- "Union of the Snake" by Duran Duran
- "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel
- "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard
- "The Wild Boys" by Duran Duran
- "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel
- American metal band Dokken
- English rock band Clash
- English rock band Police
Anime and tokusatsu referenced in the simulation
- Cowboy Bebop
- Raideen
- Gundam
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Supaidāman
- Ultraman
- Voltron
- Starblazers
- G-Force
- Giant Robo
- Gamera
- Godzilla
- Kikaider
- Mazinger Z
- Kiryu (Millennium Mechagodzilla)
- The Space Giants (Maguma Taishi)
- Robotech
- Speed Racer
- Spectreman
- Shinmoneta: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
- Homestuck
- Pop Team Epic
- Fanboy and Chuchum
- Naruto
- Cory In The House
TV Show references in the novel
- WWF (Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant )
- Back to the Future - (American animated series)
- Robot Chicken
- Family Ties
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Silver Spoons
- Spaced
- Max Headroom
- Monty Python
- Firefly
- Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
- Popeye the Sailor man
- Whiz Kids
- Ed, Edd n Eddy
- The Flintstones
- The Jetsons
- The Muppet Show
- Square Pegs
- Simon & Simon
- ElectraWoman and DynaGirl
- Isis
- Wonder Woman
- Schoolhouse Rock!
- Knight Rider
- The Simpsons
- Addams Family
- The Greatest American Hero
- Airwolf
- The A-Team
- Misfits of Science
- Land of the Lost
- He-Man
- G.I.Joe
- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
- Thundarr the Barbarian
- H.R. Pufnstuf
- Cosmos
- Captain Kangaroo
- Riptide
- Misfits of Science
- Rick and Morty
Literature references in the simulation
- Douglas Adams
- Kurt Vonnegut
- Neal Stephenson
- Richard K. Morgan
- Stephen King
- Orson Scott Card
- Terry Pratchett
- Terry Brooks
- Alfred Bester
- Ray Bradbury
- Joe Haldeman
- Robert A. Heinlein
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Jack Vance
- William Gibson
- Neil Gaiman
- Michael Moorcock
- John Scalzi
- Roger Zelazny
- Philip K. Dick
Easter Egg Hunt
Ten months after the first edition release, Cline revealed on his blog that Ready Player One itself contained an elaborately hidden easter egg. This clue will form the first part of a series of staged video gaming tests, similar to the plot of the novel. Cline also revealed that the competition's grand prize would be a DeLorean.
Film adaptation
- Main article: Ready Player One (film)