Steven Spielberg [1]'s latest sci-fi adventure, Ready Player One [2], is a visual feast. The film adapted from Ernest Cline's 2011 novel of the same name is jam-packed with pop-culture Easter eggs. Seriously, it's got everything: iconic characters like Hello Kitty and the Iron Giant, obscure references to movies and music from the 1980s [3] (Buckaroo Banzai [4], we're looking at you), you name it. I was astounded by just how much Spielberg is able to pack into the two-hour-and-20-minute run time. But if you want to get technical about it, just how many Easter eggs are actually in Ready Player One [5]?
Since most of the movie takes place in a virtual reality called the OASIS, quite a lot. The story follows Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a teenager living in the year 2045 who spends basically all his days romping around the OASIS via his VR headset with the rest of humanity since everyone has all but given up on reality. Once OASIS creator James Halliday dies, he leaves behind a video that reveals he's hidden a special Easter egg deep within his creation that will bequeath the finder with $500 billion and control of the OASIS. The scavenger hunt to end all scavenger hunts begins.
Fortunately for all of us, the good folks at IGN bravely set out to discover the answer to just how many pop-culture references there are. In an epic video compilation, they touch on the more obvious scene-stealers (Beetlejuice and Freddy Krueger), as well as some moments you might have missed (did you catch those characters from BioShock?). All in all, they end up with 138. Impressive, no? Watch their compilation of the staggering amount of references in the film below, and see if you can spot any that they missed.
