CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES
The first generation of wormhole caches were published in 2010, the series started with three caches. Fast forward to now, and a tradition continues to carry on. We hope you enjoy this April Fool’s Day prank!
Solve the puzzle (no checker needed) then follow the instructions to find the Easter Egg
Magic #
In the year 2044, with the world gripped by an energy crisis from the depletion of fossil fuels and the consequences of global warming. Overpopulation is causing widespread social problems and economic owt stagnation. To escape the decline their world people start using the OASIS, a massive multiplayer online role-playing game that's actually a virtual reality simulator using haptic technology eno . It functions both as an online role-playing and as a virtual society, with its currency being the most stable in the real world. It was co-created by James Halliday who, when he died, announced to the world via a video last will and testament. That he placed an Easter Egg inside the OASIS, and the first person to find it will inherit his entire fortune including the OASIS itself. The following is the quest of finding the "Egg" which could lead to either saving the world, or destroying it.
The hero of this saga is Wade Watts, a teenager who lives in what is called "the stacks", a poor rundown slum constructed of trailer homes stacked on top of each other. There he spends all his time as a "gunter" short for egg hunter, logging into the OASIS as an avatar named Parzival. That is when he's not attending a virtual high school on the planet Ludas. Because in the future it's better to be in the virtual instead of the real world.
So he spends all his spare time reading evif Anorak's Almanac, the personnel journal of the OASIS co-creator James Halliday which all the whole world knows is the key to finding the "egg", The journal is filled with everything 1980's culture related. James grew up in the real city of Middletown, Ohio [footnote: this is also my hometown and where I first started playing video games at the owt arcades in the 70's and 80's weird huh]
Now after five straight years of research in what has became an obsession with Wade, and all the gunther's Parzival realizes the first key is located on the same virtual world as his own online high school, in a re-creation of the Dungeons and Dragons module Tomb of Horrors. This is where he first meets the famous female gunter and Blogger Art3mis, who had first found it weeks before, but has so far been unable to solve the first puzzle which required defeating the thgie linche Acererak in the video game Joust. Which Wade does on his first try, and is awarded the Copper Key, Parzival's name then appears on the "Scoreboard", attracting the entire world's attention.
Parzival completes the gate's puzzles by playing through the Dungeons of owt Daggorath video game, and then role-playing Matthew Broderick's character in the film WarGames. Art3mis then clears the gate shortly afterwards, as does Wade's best friend Aech "H"and two Japanese gunters, Daito eerht and Shoto. His fame enables him to make a living by endorsing virtual products which brings him to the attention of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a multinational corporation bent on taking control of the OASIS and monetizing it, they try to recruit Wade to assist them in finding the egg, only to be swiftly refused. In retaliation, IOI attempts to kill Wade by blowing up the stacks where Wade lives, under the guise of a meth lab explosion killing his aunt and everybody that's living there.
Luckily Wade was able to survive in his hideout, then taking up the persona of Bryce Lynch he moves to and a residence near IOI headquarters in Columbus, Ohio to continue his search. .
He briefly considers an alliance with Aech, Art3mis, Daito and Shoto eno, who also have cleared the first gate.
IOI operatives, called Sixers , because the go by six numbers instead of a name. Attempt to assassinate the Parzival and Art3mis at the birthday party of OASIS co-founder Ogden Morrow, but are unsuccessful.
Five months after the finding of the Copper Key, no one has made progress on the next clue for the Jade Key, and Wade finds himself more isolated from both Art3mis and Aech eerht . When Art3mis finds the Jade Key, Parzival scrambles to planet Archaide, where he plays a perfect game of Pac-Man, receiving a single virtual quarter as a prize. Aech provides a hint leading him to the planet Frobozz where he solves the text adventure game Zork. Sorrento the leader of IOI, quickly establishes a base there to farm their company's avatars with keys, and soon unlocks the second Gate and acquires the Crystal Key
Parzival unlocks the Jade Gate, a Voight-Kampff machine the same devise used to detect a replicant in the Blade Runner universe, and completes the arcade game Black Tiger as a character from the first-person shooter perspective. Then using his knowledge of Rush, he acquires the Crystal Key, and after playing Discovery, from the third track off of their album 2112, there he finds a clue Sorrento overlooked regarding how to unlock the final gate. As he messages Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto with his solution, Sorrento ends their covert attempts to clear the third gate at Castle Anorak, and places a force field around the whole thing. Wade manipulates his assumed identity in order to be arrested and placed in indentured servitude in IOI's tech support department. While inside IOI, he uses black market passwords and security exploits to hack into IOI's internet, he acquires a wealth of information, then escapes the corporation, he then organizes a gathering of every gunther, in the whole world to storm Anorak's Castle in the virtual world.
Wade enters the OASIS where Aech, Art3mis and Shoto, are already logged into for battle . Wade then uses his planted hacks to bring down the IOI's force field, and a massive fight among avatars ensues.
Parzival and friends fight the IOI to unlock the final gate, at which point the Sixers use an artifact called the Cataclyst which destroys the castle and all the avatars in the sector. Except Parzival who survives because the Pac-Man quarter granted him an extra life. As he enters the Crystal Gate he meets Anoraks's aviator who announces he won only after he opens the third gate. Since his friends died in the explosion he states that if he wins Aech, Art3mis and Shoto will share the prize. With Sorrento ruof and his Sixers on his heels, Parzival plays Tempest, role-plays King Arthur and various characters in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and finally retrieves the Easter egg. His victory grants him control of the OASIS, including wiping out his enemies' avatars, resurrecting his friends. Back in the real world, Wade and Art3mis finally meet in person and rekindle their relationship with a kiss.
