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Gunters?

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:40 am
by Noodle
I'm kind of surprised that we don't have a thread about this yet, but are any of the board members participating in the Ready Player One easter egg hunt?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll give you a quick run-down. In the book Ready Player One, the plot revolves around video game easter eggs. In the future there is an alternate reality video game that includes many references to video games of the 1980s and the creator of the game programmed in an easter egg hunt that became a huge contest. Well, in the book, Ernie Cline included his own easter egg. There is a URL hidden somewhere in the book and if you visit the site, you can play a game. In that game there is another easter egg that is a clue for another game. Three total games and the first person to beat all three wins a Delorean!

I don't have the print copy of the book, and apparently the easter egg isn't in the ebook copies, so I can't play without buying a hard copy. But I was wondering if anyone here was playing? If so, have you found the first gate? Have you cleared the first gate? I'm really curious about this, and I think it sounds like a great promotional scheme.

Re: Gunters?

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:42 pm
by Bean_wannabe
That sounds awesome, almost ARG-like. But no, never heard of it. I assume if one was to find the initial link from another source then one could participate in the rest?

Re: Gunters?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:36 pm
by Noodle
http://www.ernestcline.com/rp1contest/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I assume that yes, if you were able to find the first link, you could participate in the rest, though it's very possible that a knowledge of the books would be advantageous in playing the games.

Re: Gunters?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:22 am
by Noodle
Having read the book, I sat down and thought about URLs that would make sense with the plot and I stumbled upon the first gate with no problems. Actually, there is one domain name that just fits with the story so well that it's fairly obvious.

Getting to the first gate I played the Atari 2600 game based on a location in the books and beat it after about 45 minutes of play time. A good chunk of that playtime was tracking down the easter egg needed to unlock the second gate. The rules of the game state that you need to take your picture with the QR code that appears on screen and email it to the contest email address to verify that you did it. So, I was so focused on taking the photo that I forgot to scan the QR code and get the URL for the second gate. I guess I'll have to play the first gate again tonight. Heh. And after all that the picture didn't even turn out that well... Don't I feel dumb.

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