Our nerdy heroes, however, soon gain the attention of Nolan Sorrento, the head of the 'Oology Division' at Innovative Online Industries. Aiding him in his quest for the Egg are his 'gunter' (a portmanteau of 'egg hunter') mates: Art3mis, his best friend Aech, and the brothers Daito and Shoto. Though Wade is an expert at classic arcade games, and a human database of 80s pop culture knowledge, he doesn’t know everything.

In order to claim the Egg Wade has to solve the series of puzzles hidden in various classic arcade games and media from the 1980s, as Halliday was mad about the era. The wacky genius has left clues to the Egg’s location in puzzles scattered around his virtual worlds which, when solved in order, lead to the location of the prize – whoever discovers the Egg will inherit his entire estate, including management and control of the OASIS itself a prize worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Like millions of others, Wade dreams of discovering a virtual Easter Egg that lies concealed within one of thousands of virtual worlds by the OASIS's creator, the late James Halliday. Like most of humanity he escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia. Orphaned 18-year-old Wade Watts lives in the 'stacks', dwellings, literally, formed from stacks of old cars, trailers, RVs, etc. Society is high tech with glowing neon everywhere.

Chrome and glass skyscrapers soar into the heavens towering over buildings as grey and miserable as the dystopian, Bladerunner-esque weather. The year is 2045 and life in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, resembles scenes from every Hollywood sci-fi, dystopian flick you’ve ever seen.

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