Ready Player Zeller: The Secrets of the OASIS

With the Fall 2021 semester coming to an end, Appenzeller House was plagued with a mystery. What is the OASIS? Who is Mr. Holiday? And most importantly, why did he instruct us to gather on the 20th of November? A zoom link appeared in the Appenzeller chatroom 5 minutes before the gathering was to start. As students assembled into the Zoom meeting, they were greeted by two hosts. The hosts seemed to be handpicked by Mr. Halliday to introduce the world of OASIS. It was now apparent that Mr. Halliday was the CEO of a very important corporation called OASIS and that he was retiring. And with his retirement OASIS was experiencing a power vacuum. Someone had to step up and take control of it. Mr. Halliday gathered these students in one place to announce a competition, the winners of which would inherit OASIS and win unimaginable prizes. The students were then overcome with determination to win the competition. 

[Image 1: Ready Player Zeller]

The competition started with a quest that tested one’s knowledge of Geography. An interesting picture appeared on the screen, full of stars, big and small, positioned in a certain order. An arrow was pointing at a small star. What did this positioning mean? What was the purpose of stars? Many students guessed that the stars were representative of landmass, and someone even proposed that it was the map of Oceania.  As the students were deliberating in the chatroom, the hosts were given a second document, showing a map. They were right, it was the map of Oceania and Mr. Halliday finally revealed the purpose of the first quest – find out where he was born. As the night went on, more clues were revealed and a lucky student guessed that Mr. Halliday was born in Tuvalu, a small set of islands in the Pacific Ocean. With the first mystery solved, and the first inheritor of the OASIS known, the hosts continued introducing new quests to test the students on their knowledge of History, Science, Mythology, and so on. With the last winner announced, Halliday himself appeared in the meeting and congratulated them. With the OASIS in good hands, he disappeared once and for all.

[Image 2: Ready Player Zeller]

Download Image