-
Beginning
The main character, Wade, is introduced after he wakes up to gunfire in his home in the stacks, neighborhoods made up of trailers stacked on top of each other, joined together by metal. The rest of the chapter is the main character giving exposition about the setting and story, and we are introduced to Halliday's contest, where the players in the OASIS must find a set of keys to win Halliday's fortune, which after several years, no one has completed. He also introduces the antagonist(s), IOI. -
The first key
Wade uses the first clue to find the first key, by using and old "dungeons and dragons" map to find a dungeon that leads him to play an arcade game, "joust" with a monster, which he wins and is given another clue and the second key. While trying to leave, Wade runs into Artemis, another player who has been trying to obtain the key for weeks, and becomes angry that Wade has gotten it before her. -
Second key
After conversing with Artemis, Wade leaves the dungeon and heads out to find the second key. Wade reads the second clue and immediately goes to another planet in the OASIS world, where he must play an old computer game and beat it to unlock the second key. After wade beats it, he is inserted into a simulation of the movie "wargames" where he must play the role of the main character of that film, which he does, and then goes to sleep. -
Period: to 1 CE
Video Link/Info link
-
IOI Meeting
Once Wade wakes up, he turns on the news to see everyone is talking about the contest, and then goes through his emails to see that IOI, an internet provider that wants to take over the OASIS, has emailed him about joining them in their hunt for the treasure. Wade accepts to see what this is all about. -
Tragedy Strikes
Wade enters an online meeting in the OASIS with IOI's CEO, Nolan Sorrento, who offers him a proposition. Wade can join them in their hunt for the egg in return for a fixed salary of $4 million and housing, or they will blow up his house. Wade refuses, and soon after, his house in the stacks is blown up; But fortunately, Wade was in his hideout in an abandoned van, and is not hurt, but must flee for his own safety to the city of Columbus, Ohio, where he rents an apartment to continue the hunt. -
Period: to
Timespan
A few weeks pass by before Wade is able to decipher the meaning of the next clue and obtain the next key. -
Dance Party
Wade and Artemis go to a dance party together, hosted by the co-creator of OASIS, Ogden Morrow, but shortly after arriving, the party is attacked by IOI's goons, and Artemis and Wade barely escape alive. -
3rd key
Wade heads to a planet called Archaide, where he finds an underground arcade, where he finds an unusual PAC-man machine, which when he completes it is given a special quarter and the 3rd key. -
4th key
After at least a month of doing nothing, Wade finally heads out to find the third key, which is solved by bringing several trophies to a shuttered white house, which is a reference to a text based computer game called "zork". Wade completes the puzzle and gets the third key. -
5th key
Wade heads out again to find the fourth key, and goes to one of the pyramid buildings from the movie "Blade runner" and takes a test, and then goes through a gate to a bowling alley, where he must beat an old arcade game called "black tiger", which he beats and gains a key and an item which allows him to become a giant robot, and gets another clue and a key. -
6th key
Wade studies for a bit to find where to go next, and heads out to a fictional city mentioned in an obscure rock song from the 80's, where he must play a guitar hidden in a cave to get the next key, which he gets -
The Attack
The next chapter begins with Wade's apartment being raided by IOI soldiers, who take him away to their headquarters to become a debt slave, where he must work as tech support until he can pay off his debt to IOI, which he never will with that job. In actuality, however, he changed his identity so this would happen so that he could sneak into IOI headquarters to shut down a magic shield that was blocking him from finding the last key and finishing the challenge. -
The escape
After a few weeks of being a debt slave, Wade manages to escape and disable the shield surrounding the castle that holds the final puzzle to the contest, and now he must gather everyone to help destroy the IOI soldiers gathered around the castle. -
The calling
Wade goes to an OASIS station and broadcasts a video on OASIS where he calls everyone to help him attack the castle. Wade is then contacted by Ogden Morrow, who then gets him and his friend Aech on a private jet to his house, where they will fight the battle. -
Final Battle
Wade and everyone else in the OASIS gathers outside the castle where the final puzzle is held, and a battle ensues where the players are victorious, until IOI activates an item that kills everyone on the planet, except for Wade, who had an item that gave him an extra life. Wade then procedes to finish the final puzzle, where he must reenact the movie "Monty Python and the holy grail", and then he must complete another old game, and then, finally, he is given the prize: The OASIS.
