Ready Player One: 135 Easter Eggs & References Explained

The General 80s References

Though there are lots of references that don't come from the decade, Ready Player One has a very obvious love affair with the 1980s (it's sort of a big part of the book if you weren't aware), so there are inevitably a lot of references to movies, music and TV shows from the period...

102. Terminator 2

At the end when Aech sacrifices herself (and the Iron Giant vehicle she built herself in-game), she falls into a river of lava having helped her team-mates across a ravine when a bridge is shot out.

As the Giant dies, he cheekily offers the same thumbs-up salute that the T-800 gives when he destroys himself at the end of Terminator 2.

101. Beastmaster

At the end, Halliday's apartment has a Beast Master poster.

100. John Hughes (And Not John Hughes)

As he attempts to woo Parzival to come and work for IOI, Sorrento lies that the first thing he'd do if he got to take over the game would be to transform all high-schools into John Hughes' schools. As the pair verbally spar, Z tries to trip him up asking him to specify which schools (using ones from films that Hughes didn't make), but the 80s cultural expert in the villain's ear picks up the attempt to trip him up.

The sequence includes mentions of The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Animal House.

99. The Breakfast Club

One part of The OASIS is modelled on the detention room from John Hughes' seminal The Breakfast Club.

98. Ladyhawke

In a call-back to a line in the book, there's a poster in one of Halliday's memory recreations that reads "Ladyhawke is canon," referring to Richard Donner's 1985 fantasy starring Matthew Broderick, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer.

97. Fraggle Rock

The box that Aech keeps her miniature vehicles in in her workshop is in fact a Fraggle Rock lunchbox.