Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American author ErnErnest Clinest Cline. The story, set in a dystopia in 2045, follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality game, the discovery of which would lead him to inherit the game creator's fortune and the game itself.

Cline sold the rights to publish the novel in June 2010, in a bidding war to the Crown Publishing Group (a division of Random House).

The book was published on August 16, 2011.