Gilmore.
Corn Syrup Droughts, Bandwidth Riots
outlive them
make it
Columbus is the fastest-growing city on Earth.
Halliday and Morrow started Gregarious Games.
bummer
when you're running on an omnidirectional treadmill
with quadraphonic, pressure-sensitive underlay.
Surf a 50-foot monster wave in Hawaii.
ski down the pyramids.
Mount Everest
Check out this place. It's a casino the size of a planet.
go in there
a different species, live-action
It's all your call.
feel like changing it.
Sector 12. Planet Doom.
and a pretty great place to pick up coin.
Figures Aech would be there.
He's my best friend, period.
- What's up? - Hey, what up, Z?
Next race is in 20 minutes, and I can't do the late one.
What the hell are you up to?
Man, gettin' my kills on, bro.
Daito?
Sho.
This an artifact hunt?
Yup. Gregarious 120.
Turn into any giant robot for two minutes. That's rad.
made sure the OASIS was littered
with enough randomly powerful stuff
that anyone could win if they had the skills.
Death matches and artifact hunts are a good way to coin-snatch,
Everything you've ever worked for.
10 minutes until the race starts.
brainchild
out of the picture
worshiped him
If you all wanna reach under your seats,
But we're gonna... we're each gonna bring you one now.
And what he left behind
Before I died, I created what we in the biz call an "Easter egg."
I've hidden somewhere inside the OASIS
will inherit my stock in Gregarious Games,
currently valued in excess of half a million do...
Uh, half a trillion dollars' worth,
Anorak the All-Knowing,
test for worthy traits
revealing three hidden keys to three magic gates.
And those with the skill to survive these straits
will reach the end, where the prize awaits.
Off you go, keys.
The keys aren't just laying around under a rock somewhere.
I suppose you could say they're invisible,
hidden in a dark room that's at the center of a maze
Let the hunt for Easter egg
begin.
The challenge is to find three keys,
but in five years, no one has even gotten one key.
And the big scoreboard?
Some long-forgotten gunter cracked the first clue
and found the first challenge.
Then, this portal appeared.
that was so hard, no one had ever finished it.
The only ones still trying are the gunters, as in "egg hunters,"
the Sixers.
IOI...
...Innovative Online Industries.
They're the second-largest company in the world
with designs on becoming the first.
Which is why they're putting everything they got
into winning contest.
Buckle up!
Sit in!
We call 'em "Sixers" 'cause that's the company rule.
No name, just numbers.
They have a support team made up of scholars.
Like me, they spend all their time studying pop culture
was obsessed with,
trying to find clues to solve the contest.
They're just following the orders of the head of IOI,
this dickweed named Nolan Sorrento.
How'd you get here before me?
Well, I didn't make a pit stop at the hair salon.
- What up, Z? - What's up?
Saved you a spot.
Ugh. So you can skim coins from crashed cars?
Oh, but you still had enough to pay for that Something About Mary hairdo.
are you seeing this?
Yeah, I see it. That's Kaneda's bike from Akira.
It's a licensed skin over a standard frame.
No, not the bike. Forget the bike.
The girl, I think it's Art3mis.
The Sixer Fixer?
I've seen all her walk-throughs, her Twitch streams.
It's her. It's definitely her.
You got it, you got it!
Balls.
She's not gonna make it.
Bail! Bail out!
Bail!
Where did you find an Iron Giant?
- Find it? I'm building it. - That's a commission.
Oh, yeah. is top-rated on the mod boards.
Oh, hey, check this out!
Hey. Z, yo.
- The Galactica, of course. - These are my babies, all right, man?
Sulaco, from Aliens.
Dude, how are you showing off my shit?
Valley Forge, from Silent Running. Oh, where's the Harkonnen Drop-Ship?
That thing is sick. Folds space like a boss.
I mean, you can get from Incipio to Arrakis in three seconds...
Fingers!
You'll have to excuse him.
He gets a little nervous around pretty girls.
Yup. He's pretty great.
I assume you and Shoulder Blades are clanned up.
Nah.
Oh, 'cause you're Parzival,
as in the knight who found the Holy Grail by himself.
Goddess of the hunt. Clans must be killing to sign you up.
GoldenEye.
- Playing as? - Oddjob
Favorite game variant?
Game variant was "slappers only."
I know what "slappers only" means. Racer?
Turbo. And his favorite food was Hot Pockets.
Favorite restaurant was Chuck E Cheese.
Song was Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles.
Video Take on Me by A-ha.
"come away thinking"
"ingredients on the back of a chewing-gum wrapper
Lex Luthor.
Oh! I mean, I've got tons of plans in the real world.
Now I know why you stopped short.
No one ever makes it past Kong.
Well, then you know it can't be true. hated making rules.
- No, I'm not!
takes over the world.
There you go.
Thanks for the fix-up, my man.
I'll wave to you from the finish line, McFly.
Captain Big Mouth.
Where the hell are my gloves?
Shit. I gotta go.
ANNOUNCE X1.
When I'm after gold on Planet Doom, I need every edge I can get.
Get ready for the feel, the feel of real. X1.
The X1 is like wearing a second skin.
A skin that kicks ass.
I zeroed out 'cause of your broke-ass gloves.
Why don't you just respawn and level up like everyone else?
I bought all these power-ups for this challenge, and I lost it all.
That artifact was gonna pay for the house!
Wait.
How much of our house money did you spend on upgrades?
Well, all of it, but I was gonna win.
That was our ticket out of here.
You idiot.
No, but I only lost 'cause of the bad gloves.
Our house! Our goddamn house!
My boys were in that challenge.
You couldn't have beat them in a bootsuit, you noob.
No, we are not calling the cops.
Go to your room, Rick.
Aw, come on, Alice.
Why do you put up with this guy? He's a shitshow.
I ought to kick the both of you out. I swear to G-O-D, Wade Watts,
if I catch you touching my stuff again,
My dad picked that name
alter ego,
like Peter Parker or Bruce Banner.
But he died when I was a kid.
My mom, too, and I ended up here,
living with Aunt Alice
and her endless string of hard-loving losers.
Why is that line sticking in my head?
Maybe it's 'cause, and she's hot.
Maybe it's because she called me out,
sitting here in my tiny corner of nowhere,
protecting my small slice of nothing.
Or maybe...
Maybe it's because that line means something
The day the contest was announced,
Journals appeared.
He told us to look in his brain. This was the next best thing.
At first, it was jammed with gunters looking for answers.
Now, the once-crowded halls of memories
are left to people like me.
Oh, joy!
And how will you eat up my valuable search time today?
Gregarious Games, 2029... Office party.
Yes, you've only seen it a thousand times.
Each entry into Journals is meticulously assembled
from personal photographs, home video recordings,
surveillance, and nanny cams.
All rendered into a three-dimensional virtual experience.
archived
located on the mezzanine.
No weapons or mature-themed avatars are permitted within the Journals.
Please enjoy your time with us, and happy gunting!
I like cleaning up.
Okay, Jim, I'm, uh... I'm going.
Everything changes, Jim. Everything evolves.
Some things are perfect just the way they arAsteroids.
People don't live inside an Asteroids arcade cabinet.
I know that.
Yeah, well, people are living inside the arcade we built.
- I built. - Uh, well...
Right. Well, I guess you can say whatever you want.
I don't really wanna talk about it anymore.
No, of course you don't wanna talk about it.
You're forcing me out.
Closer on.
Look, invention comes with responsibilities
you didn't ask for.
All right, if you make something people want or need
then it's up to you to set the limits. You have to make some rules.
I don't wanna make any more rules.
We created something beautiful, Jim, but it's changed.
Okay? It's really not a game anymore.
I liked how things were when they were...
When it was a game.
And we're back to where we started. But that's the point, isn't it?
Things move forward whether you like it or not.
Fine.
Why can't we go backwards, for once?
Really put the pedal to the metal, you know?
Why can't we go backwards, for once?
Backwards, really fast. Fast as we can.
Really put the pedal to the metal, you know?
Bill and Ted did it.
Nice racing, Padawan.
and how the hell is he winning?
Well, here's a better question. Who cares?
contest is vitally important.
I mean, it's nothing less than a war for control of the future.
He's not even clanned up.
He's alone. We have an army.
And yet, he's got the first key.
Our stock dove 6% yesterday.
profits of 28%. F'Nale.
Debt Services dwarfs Hardware.
Now, you really wanna talk to me about stock prices?
The shareholders won't be happy.
but once we launch this little baby, they're gonna flip.
We call this Pure O2.
This is the first of our planned upgrades.
Once we can roll back some of ad restrictions,
we estimate we can sell up to 80%
inducing seizures, so picture this...
All of this implies we win the contest.
Dude, you won the key and 100,000 coins?
As soon as I took the key,
all the coins just appeared in my account.
I'll tell you what, I'm soiling my haptics right now.
What the hell's a Cataclyst?
A bomb. Kills every avatar on a planet, even the owner.
Who'd want that?
Twenty-thou for the holy hand grenade?
That's a steal!
Whoa! Zemeckis Cube!
X1 haptic bootsuit.
i-R0k
To be honest, I have kind of a neck thing.
It's like a carpel-tunnel deal
but with your neck, if that's even a thing.
So if you could just stand to... to your right.
Thanks, it's the repetitive stress. Oh.
Here he is.
The steampunk pirate king. I knew him well.
There are only three things in this world I hate,
steampunk, pirates, and tabbouleh.
I mean, why do they even have it?
Is there a reason we're meeting here?
The Orb of Osuvox.
It creates an impenetrable magic shield that can only be taken down
by a magic spell.
Now, I'm gonna need you to keep this for now.
I'm gonna let you know when I wanna use it.
Right now, though, I have another job for you.
Ah.
Can you do that?
Well, he's a superstar.
He made it through the first gate
and avatars are gonna be on him like hoes on Santa.
You never lick.
You bite straight to the chocolaty center
of the Tootsie Pop.
Remember that old commercial, with the owl?
Three times my normal fee.
Done.
Wait, really? I should have asked for five.
Is four still on the table?
There's five of us on the big board now.
was next, no surprise there.
She was on the track when I won. She saw me going backwards.
a tip, made him promise not to say anything, and then he won next.
I'm pretty sure he bragged to our pal,
'cause he won right after.
He totally totaled his car,
got it
"A creator who hates his own creation.
Retrace your steps, escape your past."
"A creator who hates his own creation.
"A hidden key, a leap not taken. Retrace your steps, escape your past.
"And the key of jade will be yours at last."
"Escape your past."
What part of your past are you trying to escape?
You're, like, totally my hero!
Over here!
Dude, you're amazing!
Right here! Let me get an autograph!
Watch it!
Oh, God.
Ugh.
Oh, God. Don't you get it?
have a disguise.
Okay, here.
Clark Kent glasses.
They hide your identity without changing your look.
The way your inventory bursts out when you die.
They didn't want any more blood.
This is right before the OASIS went live.
Six days prior. December 2nd, 2025.
Check this out.
You know who that is?
started as an intern.
He claims he learned at the feet of the master.
But ask Ogden?
You could have, like, different tiers of accounts,
like a gold member.
A person could be silver, platinum, bronze.
You know, depending on what they paid.
You know, highest one maybe being "Water" because "OASIS," right?
Hell of a latte.
Can you fast-forward to the stuff about date?
What? actually went on a date?
Kira, The Dark Crystal.
That's her gamer tag.
- Karen. - Karen.
Yeah, okay? Karen Underwood.
No, no. Karen Underwood, as in?
What'd you do?
Just once, years before they were even married, but yeah.
And despite that, and the fact that she died,
is only mentioned once in all of Journals.
It is. Look it up.
What we just saw is the only time she's ever mentioned.
She was an important part of both their lives.
That's her gamer tag.
purposely removed every mention of her except for this one.
It's like, it was just so painful for him
to have to see her face or hear her name.
Well, he loved her.
He couldn't tell that to.
Oh, that's sad. He should have told her how he felt.
Yeah, well, he missed his chance.
Look.
I found the clue to the race in the other scene, but...
I've always felt that the biggest clue
to the contest was hidden here.
Don't sweat it, Curator.
the Rosebud at the center of his story.
You know The Distracted Globe?
And I was starting to.
No. Have you considered that could be using you?
Hey, dude, she's giving me a clue. Maybe I'm the one using her.
Should I go more Thriller?
Punk?
Duran Duran.
Does it look like I'm trying too hard?
You have a massive cyber crush on this girl.
She's hacking your heart to get to your head.
I got it!
- Buckaroo Banzai?
Really? You're gonna wear the outfit from your favorite movie?
Z, you gotta be more careful about who you meet in the OASIS.
gets me. She'll get my outfit.
There's just this connection. I mean, sometimes, we even...
who lives in his mama's basement in suburban Detroit.
Chuck.
Come here, man. Hey, can we get a photo?
- Thank you so much! - Dude, you're my hero!
What a freak! I thought he was kind of cute.
Are you gonna kill their avatars? Zero them out?
They're both here at The Distracted Globe.
The Distracted Globe was one of the first clubs
But I double-checked
Right, and she was a serious dancer.
Maybe he thought he'd take her here,
As if that ever works.
But they never made it past the first date.
Who hates his own creation.
And the club is the thing he hates.
And "A hidden key, a leap not taken"?
We're not clanning up or anything.
What kind of haptics you rockin'?
You got the gloves and full visor, or a full body?
I got the X1 haptic bootsuit with the microfiber crotch inlay.
My, you did come prepared.
Maybe it'd be cool if we met up in the real world.
No, you'd be disappointed.
or my real face.
Are you crazy? You don't tell anyone who you are.
It's an ambush.
Did you hear what I said? I said I'm in love with you.
Watch out!
Pull.
Head back!
Zemeckis Cube.
I'm doing this to stop IOI.
I'm talking about real-world consequences.
People suffering.
- Actual life-and-death stuff.
- He borrowed gear. - He built up debt.
He moved in with the promise of working it off, but he never did.
IOI just raised his living expenses,
then he got sick, and he couldn't afford to get out.
which, if we're offering constructive criticism,
was a lame idea and only would've slowed him down.
Whereas my plan, which was cool because I rock, actually worked.
He's still on the board.
But he won't be for long.
I did a search for all the Wades
who had recently bought an X1 bootsuit,
cross-referenced that with public records, and voila,
which is French for... "And then I found out."
Are you loyal, Ms. Zandor?
Well, when you're at war,
you need people who are loyal to a fault.
People you can count on to get things done.
I just get people arrested for not paying their bills.
Yeah, 'cause there are some problems that require a physical solution,
but there are other times, particularly at war,
when you need a different set of rules.
So, this is one of those conversations that we're not really having.
Well, we've had these kind of conversations before,
and look where you are now.
You got a seat on the board, head of your own division,
The only question is, how far are we willing to go to win it?
IOI Plaza. You're a hologram in the real world.
That's a really cool rig.
Thank you. It's a brand-new Habashaw, OIR 9400.
You know, if you came to work at IOI, you'd get one of these.
You'd also get your own penthouse apartment in Columbus
You want the ship from Defender?
You know, the kind that can just jump into hyperspace?
You want the Millennium Falcon?
And if you do happen to find that Easter egg, there's a bonus.
I can see you're using emotion-suppressing software right now,
and why wouldn't you? It's smart, not to show your hand.
Well, I don't know about that. What, for the OASIS?
I guess if you're not a John Hughes fan...
is convert all the schools on Ludus to replicas
from The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller.
No way. That's a great idea.
Ridgemont or Faber?
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, not John Hughes.
Faber College from Animal House.
John Hughes didn't direct
Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Animal House.
Ferris Bueller and The Breakfast Club, they went to Shermer High School,
which is in Shermer, Illinois. I know what you think.
You think I'm a corporate asshole,
Man, that's not true. You know, when I wanna blow off steam...
Drink Tab, play Robotron, listen to Duran Duran.
I crack open a Tab.
I put on some Duran Duran. I play Robotron.
It just seems like he wouldn't want you winning it.
A fanboy knows a hater,
and I know you've got a whole department of oologists in your ear.
Your board of directors, you got them in the other ear?
Why don't you tell 'em this.
If they dump you, I'll consider it.
Wow, you really switched gears there.
From fairly reasonable to maniacal overlord.
You should be grateful
You won't be around to endure my maniacal reign.
I also know where you are. Unit 56K, Columbus stacks.
You were last seen entering your trailer three days ago.
in some ghetto trash rat warren in Columbus?
This bootsuit's pretty awesome. Thanks for that.
Rick! Rick, the place is gonna blow!
- Put Alice on! - Let me talk to him.
IOI came for me in the real world.
They gotta be coming after you, so wherever you are...
Sorry about the blindfold.
paranoid.
Showers are that way, clean clothes, too.
Welcome to the rebellion,
We've been living this close to each other the whole time?
For the record,
I've lived with it my whole life. You don't have to pretend.
Why would that scare me?
- I just figured it out. - Figured what out?
We've been thinking about it too literally.
"The leap not taken,"
the leap didn't take, is with.
Yeah, but... I mean, he blamed her for breaking up.
The place where the leap wasn't taken.
Where the date was.
Okay, so our options for that week are The Fly remake.
Great flick, terrible date movie.
Say Anything... That would make sense.
We gotta remember the clue.
No side chitchat.
Absolutely positive.
Let's hope you have the belly for it.
Yeah, there are so many keys The Shining, though.
I had
Okay, so we got the key from room 237,
the keys to the Snowcat,
or the keys they give Jack at the beginning of the movie.
Well, if it's "the leap not taken,"
maybe the key isn't a key at all.
I know where the Snowcat keys are!
I say we split up.
We get all the keys
and then we meet back at the Torrances' apartment.
Little girls, y'all know how to get out of here?
Oh, uh, hi, naked lady. I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to interrupt, uh, your bath time.
Uh, I know self-care can be important.
Uh, but can you do me a favor and tell me, where are all the exits?
Okay, am I being punked?
'Cause you're likin' me a little way too much.
All right, you know what? I'ma go with it.
Ahh!
Time's running out.
Yo, Z, is pissed at me?
Dude, I'm pissed at you. You've never seen The Shining, have you?
You know I hate scary movies!
Sweet!
We ain't got no business goin' to room 237!
We should stay out!
Plus, there was this crazy, naked zombie lady in there.
There are no zombies The Shining.
Well, maybe it's not supposed to be like the movie.
Hey, y'all.
"Escape your past."
"The leap not taken."
greatest fear wasn't The Shining
His biggest fear was kissing a girl.
That's the leap he couldn't take.
The ballroom.
Zombies. Told you.
None of this is in The Shining.
Z, look. That's the zombie-circle level in Mayhem Mansion,
The whole Shining trivia is just a diversion.
One minute left.
How do we get to her?
Care to dance?
Jade Key.
Imagine that.
One of our oologists saw them enter the media library.
She cracked the clue.
Get her off me! Get her off me!
I know. I'll get back to you.
I got what you're looking for.
Freeze. This guy. The one with the lame tattoo.
Run him through our database, every IOI drone in Columbus.
Groceries are here.
All right. Gluten-O's...
"If you know the answer ultimate,
"divide it by the number magic,
"and what you need, want, and desire will be found in the fortress tragic."
"Tragic," that's gotta be referring to himself.
Because he was lonely.
He had no one to spend his life with towards the end.
Yeah, that's true.
The contest has gotta be somehow about connecting with someone.
Anyone.
He wants the person who cares for the OASIS
to be connected with the world.
That's what I think he's trying to tell us.
It's exactly why I think you'll win.
Really? You really think I'm gonna win?
Do not move!
Target identified!
Freeze! Don't move!
- This leads right to the alley. - You first.
I'm right behind you. Go now!
Come on!
the OASIS needs you.
- I'm gonna delay them. - Wait!
No, no, no, wait! No, no, no!
Freeze, freeze, freeze!
Don't move!
Samantha Evelyn Cook.
IOI has purchased and consolidated all of your outstanding debt,
currently in excess of 23,000 credits.
You will be remanded to the nearest IOI loyalty center
until your debt is paid in full,
including any interest, processing,
or late fees you incur henceforth.
Does anybody have eyes? Check down the next street!
- "First to the key." - "First to the egg."
Wait, what?
"Never trust someone you meet in the OASIS."
"She might be a 300-pound dude named Chuck..."
"Who lives in his mama's basement in suburban Detroit."
Helen. My dad called me "H." It kinda stuck. Let's go!
That thing's IDing my van.
Come on. They've spotted us.
My real name is Toshiro. Samantha got us a message.
She told us to meet you here.
Samantha, they took her to the...
The loyalty center, I know.
Look, in other awesome news, the Sixers found the third challenge.
- What? - Just come on, get in!
How did IOI find the third challenge so fast?
IOI cracked the first three lines of the clue,
so they knew it was sector 14
but they couldn't figure out "the fortress tragic."
So they sent every guide they had into that sector
until they found the right fortress.
His real name is Xo.
But everyone else calls me Sho, no big deal.
Sho, you're the world's most badass 11-year-old ever.
We have to go save Samantha.
Well, we can't just go through the doors of IOI.
Look, I've been thinkin' about it. I got a better plan.
rig
Let's go after the man himself and make him give back to us.
But first, I have to know exactly,
how much about rig do you remember?
Maintenance, report to loyalty pod 31-B.
Security, please report to section 97 for escort.
Newbie
Lay those charges every six feet.
Keep it moving!
Hey, you!
Those are explosives!
IOI will not reimburse any lost coin if you zero out.
Keep it moving!
So what is this challenge, some sort of video game thing?
An Atari 2600, sir.
And every game ever made for it, thousands of possibilities.
Come up!
this is how you plan to resolve
the fate of the world's most important economic resource?
One minute into Centipede, the ice broke.
It has to be Joust!
still holds the world record on the 2600 port of that game.
Maybe we just need to beat his high score.
Pitfall! One of the only 2600 games that still hasn't ended.
And how about those Swordquest games?
Yes! The Swordquest games.
They were created for a contest Atari held with real...
how are we doin'?
To be honest, I think I need physical therapy because it's not...
Um, as you wish.
Ah...
How does it work?
Has it got, like, a remote or is there a button or something?
it's a level-99 magic artifact,
not one of your drones, so it is activated by a magic spell.
Would you care to do the honors?
That was a corporate decision. It was not personal.
You're gonna tell me exactly which rig she's in
Yeah, that seems appropriate.
Where's the rig?
We're in his account.
We grabbed him in transit just as he was logging out of the OASIS,
So, you basically just remotely hacked his rig.
A fixed rig is easy to locate, hard to hack.
Unless he's stupid enough to leave his password lying around.
Loyalty center, I'm in.
I'm tapped directly into your audio feed.
We got his password, hacked rig.
And there's more, they just put a force field
around Castle.
I heard one of the guards calling it
and the only way to take it down is from the inside.
She's right. Level-99 artifact,
creates a magic-resistant, impenetrable barrier.
No way through it.
All right, so I'm looking at a diagram of your rig.
Okay, inside the panel, there's a lever.
Grab it with your right hand and slide it to the left.
That should release you.
It worked. It worked, I'm out.
Loyalty pod 41-F,
you are on an authorized break for 10 minutes.
Pod 41-F, you are on 10-minute break.
Proceed to break area.
It's in the IOI war room, two levels above where you are now.
You need to raise an army.
I'm gonna take down that shield.
Wait, Arty, wait! You gotta get out of there!
This isn't real, you're tapping my feed.
they've hacked my rig. They're after the girl.
Pod 41-F, you have exceeded your break time.
Report to security
So, she just walks out of here, how does that happen?
They're smart. They knew what they were doing.
But we know they're in Columbus. And now, all five of them are together.
Wait. Wait, we know what? How do we know?
We have the make and model of the van. We'll spot them.
"We'll spot them"?
That sounds like a great inscription for our tombstones.
Why didn't you tell me this earlier?
It wasn't relevant yet.
We need to know. We need to find them!
They're kids, Man the hell up!
Do your job, and I'll do mine, unless you wanna take this
and go after them yourself.
The Complete Nancy Drew, Kegel Exercises for...
Bingo. Okay.
"Congratulations, you are the proud owner,
"a 99th level magic artifact.
"Read these instructions before deploying. To turn orb on, off."
Off! Yes, off.
"Utter spell within 10 feet of orb."
I'm here talking to all of you now because our future's being threatened
by people who will stop at nothing to win this contest.
Some of you already know this,
and you've lost much more than just your avatars or your weapons.
I only came here to escape the shitty hand that life dealt me.
I found a cause.
And yes, I know it's kind of a groaner, but...
And I don't wanna lose that
to this colossal douchebag,
He thinks that we're all too distracted to even notice...
put up a fight.
This is going out live!
The only thing let this guy do...
- ...was get him a cup of coffee.
And now, we're supposed to hand him the OASIS?
Oh, man.
Come on, come on. Give me this thing.
Left arm.
- Left arm! - Sir.
No, I need the left arm.
No, I don't care if... I want it on.
He thinks that we won't even put up a fight!
gunter clans in the gold mines of Gygax.
Activate the Iron Giant.
In the name of James himself,
Squadron 14, armor up, you're in the lead.
One minute into Swordquest, the ice broke.
Well, all three Swordquests.
Dark Cavern, Laser Blast.
It's Adventure.
Released in 1979, for the 2600,
Adventure was created by Warren Robinett,
who was the first video game designer ever to hide his name. In fact...
I'd say about ten...
Yeah, about 10 million years, so we should be fine.
The Sixers are in the final challenge. It's an Atari 2600.
No, no, no. You gotta get out of there.
Created!
He was the first designer to ever hide an Easter egg in...
We're looking for a USPS truck, Ohio plates,
a drone spitter, 2036 model.
When are you getting into this fight?
I'm out. Inventory's empty.
Last clip for me.
Anti-personnel ordinance cannon!
Railgun!
fucking Chucky!
Mechagodzilla!
Get to the bridge. Go now, he's distracted.
He's only got 30 seconds
Hang on!
we've got this. You need to log out.
If the game is Adventure, why haven't they won yet?
Get it together, Sixer. Back to respawn.
Holy hand grenade! How much did that cost?
Less than it's gonna cost them.
Sir, the gunters are approaching the challenge.
Remember announcement.
The keys are invisible, and they're hidden in a dark room
that's at the center of a maze.
Well, there's a secret in Adventure, and you don't find it by winning.
You find it by wandering around in a dark room.
Until you get to the invisible dot.
It's pretty easy if you know what you're doing.
Let me finish it for you.
Why the hell would I ever do that?
Dude! That's the Cataclyst.
I'd just as soon never set foot in the OASIS again,
let alone have to deal with any of this absurdity.
But I know how important competition is to you, so...
Well, that's fine. Three easy steps. One.
Wait, I thought you were bluffing. You know that kills all of us, right?
I've got 10 years' worth of shit inside of me.
I'm not goin' out like that.
That's a camper move.
You don't even know how to activate an orb.
Hadouken!
Live feed in all OASIS channels.
's letting everyone watch the end of the contest.
God damn it, we tried Adventure.
No, we tried to win it.
But the hidden room isn't at the end of the game.
You've gotta go straight to the invisible dot at the start.
doesn't know what planet she's on?
Toshiro.
Yeah, I know. Not what you were expecting,
Yeah, I wasn't expecting a late '30s-model postal van.
Wait, I thought the Cataclyst went off. How are you still playing?
Ninjas
I've got a drone on their tail. I'm close.
Send me coordinates.
Maybe you should leave this to me,
What's goin' on out there?
- The game is over for them. - What are they watching?
He wanted people to know who was behind it.
That's why he created the first digital Easter egg
and to find it, you didn't even have to win.
You just had to blindly play, searching around
in rooms for an invisible dot.
You took the dot back to the main screen
and that's when you found the first Easter egg ever put in a video game.
The creator's name.
What's going on, man? I can't see shit.
just got the Crystal Key!
what the hell's going on?
Just practicing Mario Kart. What do you think?
IOI's trying to kill us, man!
Everyone watching, if you're in the Columbus stacks,
real-world, and we're gonna need your help.
head for the stacks!
Okay, hold on!
Stick the key in, how hard is it?
Now, you just sign these papers, and the OASIS is yours.
You will be its sole proprietor.
That ain't so bad, is it?
I'm gonna need a second.
sign over his shares in Gregarious.
I like to have him around from time to time.
tapeworm
The stacks are straight ahead!
You turn around and walk out of here while you still can.
because I never felt at home in the real world.
I just didn't know how to connect with the people there.
I was afraid for all of my life.
Right up until the day I knew my life was ending.
Now, that... That was when I realized that,
terrifying
Hooray.
Hold it!
Hands on your head.
Now, there are some people out here that would very much like to meet you.
clip
I'm splitting it with my clan.
We're gonna run things together.
how'd you get here so fast?
I flew from the stars on my magic sleigh.
Everyone's been watching.
Rosebud.
Oh. Well, look who it is.
It's my heroes, the High Five.
and the first thing we did
was sign to a non-exclusive consultancy.
The salary, per his demand,
was 25 cents. One quarter.
With his guidance, our second move was to ban
any loyalty centers from accessing the OASIS.
The third thing we did wasn't as popular.