Ready Player One: Chapters 0009-0017

by Ernest Cline
In this science fiction novel, gamer Wade Watts goes on a quest for riches in a virtual reality simulation called the OASIS. To find the prize hidden by the eccentric creator of the OASIS, Wade must solve a series of puzzles based on 80s pop culture.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 0000-0002, Chapters 0003-0008, Chapters 0009-0017, Chapters 0018-0026, Chapters 0027-0039
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. affectation
    a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display
    Instead, she slid her shades up onto her avatar’s forehead—a blatant affectation, since sunglasses didn’t actually affect a player’s vision—and looked me up and down, making a show of sizing me up.
  2. parry
    impede the movement of
    At the last second, I managed to tilt my own blade upward to awkwardly parry the attack.
  3. patronize
    treat condescendingly
    “Do not patronize me, OK?”
  4. dissipate
    cause to separate and go in different directions
    I watched them play from a distance until a few minutes later, when her Barrier spell dissipated.
  5. ramification
    a consequence, especially one that causes complications
    The full ramifications of the Scoreboard’s existence occurred to me for the first time.
  6. garish
    tastelessly showy
    I recognized the simulated wood-grain paneling, the burnt orange carpet, and garish furniture that looked like it had been scavenged from several disco-era yard sales.
  7. cacophony
    loud confusing disagreeable sounds
    Behind me, I could hear a cacophony of digital combat coming from dozens of other vintage arcade games.
  8. quintessential
    representing the perfect example of a class or quality
    In his autobiography, Morrow wrote that she was the “quintessential geek girl,” unabashedly obsessed with Monty Python, comic books, fantasy novels, and videogames.
  9. node
    any computer that is hooked up to a computer network
    Redundant mirror servers were located all over the world, but they were all linked to the main node in Columbus.
  10. precocious
    characterized by exceptionally early development
    He grinned at me like I was a precocious child.
  11. tentative
    hesitant or lacking confidence; unsettled in mind or opinion
    As my eyes began to adjust to the darkness, I let out a tentative sigh of relief.
  12. circumvent
    beat through cleverness and wit
    All of the large gunter clans immediately banded together to launch a full-scale assault on the Sixers’ force field, trying everything they could think of to bring it down or circumvent it.
  13. monolith
    a single great stone, often in the form of a column
    Finally, the cab pulled up in front of my new apartment building, a slate-gray monolith on the banks of the Scioto, just at the edge of the Twin Rivers ghetto.
  14. supplant
    take the place or move into the position of
    Somehow, without my realizing it, my obsession with finding Halliday’s Easter egg was gradually being supplanted by my obsession with Art3mis.
  15. revel
    take delight in
    Thousands of avatars came to every show, to sit in the stands and revel in the audience participation.
Created on Thu Feb 08 13:41:56 EST 2018 (updated Thu Aug 07 16:35:07 EDT 2025)

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