Ready Player One: 135 Easter Eggs & References Explained

By Simon Gallagher /

91. Cocktail

Buena Vista Pictures

There are a number of 80s references in Aech's apartment, but easily the best is the Cocktails & Dreams sign in honour of classic Tom Cruise movie Cocktail. It's the name of the bar that Cruise's character Brian Flanagan dreams of opening (he eventually opens one called Flanagan's Cocktails & Dreams).

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90. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

As well as the mention Nolan Sorrento gives it, again, in the apartment, there's a Save Ferris slogan from John Hughes' seminal slacker movie.

Aech's workshop also has the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California that belongs to Cameron's father.

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89. Buckaroo Banzai & Purple Rain

20th Century Fox

When Z is getting dressed for his date with Art3mis, he chooses the grey suit and striped tie combo that Peter Weller wears as the titular character in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!

Prince appears on the soundtrack - as you'd expect from an 80s-obsessed film - and his Purple Rain outfit is one of Parzival's options when he is getting read.

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88. Thriller

Michael Jackson's iconic red leather suit from the Thriller video is also one of Z's suggestions to wear for his date.

87. Thundercats

Wikipedia

Away from his nightclubbing outfit, Parzival's "normal" avatar outfit includes a nod to classic 80s kids TV in the form of a Thundercats belt buckle.

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86. Conan The Barbarian

He's only seen very briefly, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian appears in the Distracted Globe sequence.