WADE: I was born in 2027. After the Corn Syrup Droughts, after the Bandwidth Riots. After people stopped trying to fix problems and just tried to outlive them.
Ready Player One
46.2s
WADE: The challenge is to find three keys, but in five years, no one has even gotten one key. And the big scoreboard? Still empty. Some long-forgotten gunter cracked the first clue and found the first challenge. Then, this portal appeared. But the challenge to win the first key was a race designed by Halliday that was so hard, no one had ever finished it. The only ones still trying are the gunters, as in "egg hunters," like me and Sho and Daito, and my best friend, Aech. Oh, and of course, the Sixers. The Sixers work for IOI... COMMANDER: Sixers! WADE: ...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 Halliday's contest. Buckle up!
Ready Player One
52s
The first person to find the 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, and total control of the OASIS itself. In the form of my avatar, Anorak the All-Knowing, I created three keys. Three hidden challenges 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.
Ready Player One
26.3s
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, Aech? Saved you a spot. Thanks, bro. (BEEPING) I gotta go to the back. Ugh. So you can skim coins from crashed cars? -That's just sad, man. -Fuel's low. Oh, but you still had enough to pay for that Something About Mary hairdo. (ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING)
Ready Player One
17.5s
Sit in! WADE: We call 'em "Sixers" 'cause that's the company rule. No name, just numbers. They have a support team made up of Halliday scholars. Like me, they spend all their time studying pop culture that Halliday was obsessed with, trying to find clues to solve the contest.
Ready Player One
26s
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 that's located somewhere up here. Let the hunt for Halliday's Easter egg begin. (ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
Ready Player One
22s
Hello. I am James Halliday. If you're watching this, I'm dead. Before I died, I created what we in the biz call an "Easter egg." A hidden object in a game that gives special powers to whoever discovers it.
Ready Player One
6.2s
They're just following the orders of the head of IOI, this dickweed named Nolan Sorrento.
Ready Player One
5.4s
-(ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING) -And what he left behind changed everything.
Ready Player One
30.1s
Those were key. Halliday 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, but depending on your level of armor, they're risky. (LAUGHS) You see, everyone starts the same, but the more coin you make... -Mom! Mom! -...the more you level up. If you get killed, your avatar can come back to life... Go get your dad! ...but you lose all your stuff.
Ready Player One
9.9s
This an artifact hunt? Yup. Gregarious 120. Turn into any giant robot for two minutes. That's rad. WADE: Artifacts.
Ready Player One
1.7s
(BOTH SPEAKING JAPANESE)
Ready Player One
12.1s
-WADWhat's up, Aech? -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. Is that Daito? Daito and Sho.
Ready Player One
9.2s
Aech is my best friend in the OASIS. He's my best friend, period. Even though I've never actually met him in the real world.
Ready Player One
13.6s
Aech located. Sector 12. Planet Doom. WADE: Planet Doom, the most dangerous place in the OASIS, and a pretty great place to pick up coin. Figures Aech would be there.
Ready Player One
1m12s
All your money. (SHOUTS IN OTHER LANGUAGE) Your clothes. (SCREAMS) Your weapons. Since people spend most of their time in the OASIS... (SHOUTING IN JAPANESE) ...losing your shit means... Well, losing your shit. (1980s POP MUSIC PLAYING) Aech, 10 minutes until the race starts. AECOkay, Mom, I heard you. WADE: You see, the OASIS was the brainchild of James Halliday. He and his partner, Ogden Morrow, released the first OASIS build in 2025. It was an instant success, and it made them both very rich. But Morrow was out of the picture after a few years. And Halliday? He wasn't just the owner of the world's biggest company. He was like a god. People loved him. They worshiped him as much as his creation. Maybe we should stop talking about it and start, uh, showing it. If you all wanna reach under your seats, you'll find that there's nothing there. (CHUCKLES) -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING) -But we're gonna... we're each gonna bring you one now. WADE: And then, on January 7, 2040... (MUSIC DISTORTS)