Run Lab Rat Run Easter Egg Hunt – Done

Welcome to the official Run Lab Rat Run Easter egg hunt. This friendly contest is a search for secret references subtly hidden in Run Lab Rat Run, and offers players a chance to win cash, fame and eternal glory. Or at least cash. It’s also a way to have fun and for me to engage more with my readers. So, bring your positive attitude, nerdy insights, (not just) SF wisdom, sense of humor and…join the hunt!

Read the book – Find the Easter Eggs – Win the $$$
(Buy the book)

This hunt is OVER with NO WINNERS.
So sad ;(

Easter Egg Hunt Details

What the Heck’s an Easter Egg?

In this case, obscure references to other books, moves, people, quotes, events and other stuff in the book. More generally:

An Easter egg is a message, image, or feature hidden in software, a video game, a film, or another, usually electronic, medium. The term used in this manner was coined around 1979 by Steve Wright, the then-Director of Software Development in the Atari Consumer Division, to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game Adventure, in reference to an Easter egg hunt. – Wikipedia

One of the most famous Easter egg hunts in science fiction is in Ready Player One, but this one won’t make you rich. Maybe it’ll help you buy a nice dinner and a movie. Depending where you live.

More importantly, you will be forever hailed as the victor, first among equals, king of the hill, top of the salad, queen of the hive, prince or princess of perspicacity, mightiest of the mighty and all that jazz.

Easter Egg Hunt Schedule & Spoils

The hunt will run quarterly until there is a winner, starting on October 1 (Q4 2021). So, here is the planned schedule and possible cash victory type spoils:

Quarter	Dates	Submissions Due	Spoils	Status
Q4, 2021	Oct 1 – Dec 31	Midnight – Jan 3	$250	No Win
Q1, 2022	Jan 1 – Mar 31	Midnight – Apr 3	$350	No Win
Q2, 2022	Apr 1 – Jun 30	Midnight – Jul 3	$450	No Win
Q3, 2022	Jul 1 – Sep 30	Midnight – Oct 3	$550	No Win

So, for each quarter there is no winner, the victor’s spoils will increase by $100. If there is a winner, the hunt ends that quarter. If there is no winner by the fourth quarter, I’ll sadly keep the money but still announce whomever came closest. You will still be famous but, you know, slightly less fantastically wealthy.

Easter Egg Hunt Victor & Announcement

When someone wins, I’ll announce the winner on here and my social media accounts and arrange payment. At that point, the contest is over. There can only be one winner or collaboration team. There is no debate, dispute or argument. This is meant to be fun, not a screaming contest, so please treat it that way. The announcement will be within two weeks of the end of the applicable quarter, barring unforeseen circumstances. There will be much celebration.

What Else Do you Win?

Well, if glory and cash aren’t enough, I’m also happy to do an interview with you about the process and how you found the eggs, help promote your book on this site (if you’re an author and it’s non-erotica, not political, etc.) and other stuff if I think about it.

Easter Egg Hunt Eligibility

It’s pretty simple. You read stuff.  You find stuff. You do stuff. You tell me (privately). And then hope to win the draw (if there’s more than one correct submission). In more detail:

Stuff You Must Do

1. GET THE BOOK and read it

Or download it for free and read it. No purchase is necessary; you just have to get your hands on Run Lab Rat Run (without stealing it). You can buy it here on Amazon.

2. Subscribe to my Newsletter

See the sidebar on this site. Don’t worry, you can always unsubscribe after the hunt is over, but I’ll need your email to match the one you send your Easter egg hunt details from. That was terrible English. You get it.

3. Leave a Review on Amazon

There’s no requirement that it’s a positive review, though that’d be great. It just has to be there (w/o any Easter egg spoilers).

4. Leave a Review on GoodReads (OPTIONAL)

If this comes down to a drawing, you get one entry for each review you leave. So, if you leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads (w/o any Easter egg spoilers), you get two chances to win.

5. Find 10 of the easter Eggs

There are more than ten in the book, but you only have to find ten of them. Be sure to check out the details of what is and isn’t an Easter egg in the FAQs, below, before submitting.

6. Send Me Your Submission (on time, properly formatted)

All submissions must be sent to [email pending] within 72 hours of midnight PST on the day each contest quarter ends. So, if the contest ends on Friday the 13th, I have to get your submission to me by midnight on Monday, the 16th. If you survive the cursed Friday. You can of course send them earlier. If you send them in late for a given quarter, but no one wins the hunt in that quarter (and the hunt is still active), your submission will roll into the next quarter.

All submissions must include ten legitimate Easter eggs and should be in a list that isn’t a pain the ass to read. The strongly suggested format is as follows:

#. “[Exact Text],” in chapter [Chapter Name]. This is a quote / reference to [The Original Source].

So, for example:

1. “That’s the spirit” in chapter “It Really Was Bears” is a quote from Blade Runner.

If you feel like adding more detail or specificity, great, just keep it neat and easy to read.

Other Silly But Real Rules

A. No Whining, Complaining or Grumpiness

I’m doing this to engage more with my readers and have a little fun. Yes, I’m also doing it for marketing, but if it’s not fun, it’s just not worth it. I reserve the right to disqualify you for being a pain the ass, mean, hostile, hateful, etc. (in any public context), though this is infinitely less likely if you’re a funny pain in the ass.

B. No Family, collaborators or Associates

You can’t win if you’re family, were a beta reader, ARC reader, editor or otherwise have inside information about the book. My Facebook, Twitter and other friends are welcome to play, if and only if they never had any inside information about the book at any time. You know who you are. But you’re still welcome to participate privately (even if you can’t win), and share this hunt online. In fact, both would be great.

C. No Public Collaboration or Sharing of Easter Eggs

In other words, I don’t want to find Easter eggs posted on Reddit, Facebook, etc. I can’t stop you from doing this, of course, but if you do, you’re out of the contest. And if this gets to be a problem, I reserve the right to cancel the contest immediately, retroactively, without recourse or appeal, and no one wins a thing. Don’t ruin it for everyone else.

Note: Once the hunt is officially over, I’ll post all Easter eggs on this site and social media as part of the celebratory announcement of the glorious winner.

D. Multiple Winners I (Collaborators)

If you want to do this with a group of friends and collaborate, great, just do it in private. But keep in mind that everyone in the group must be mentioned in your submission, and each of them must individually meet the requirements. Or close. I’m not going to be a jerk about it. And if you win, I need to know one person to send the payment to. It’s up to you to distribute it or throw a party or whatever.

E. Multiple Winners II (tied Draws)

If or any reason there is more than one winner after the draw, which would be amazing, I’ll award victory to the ones how have posted reviews of the book on the most sites (w/o any Easter egg spoilers). Your blog. Your social media. I don’t care, as long as it’s legitimate, public, and mostly positive. So list everywhere you’ve posted stuff in your submission.

F. Reserve the right to end the contest at any time

I reserve to end the hunt at any time for any reason whatsoever, meaning the immediate cessation consideration of new submissions. However, any already-submitted lists will be evaluated at that time. I’m not gonna cancel this thing retroactively except for violations of the rules (e.g., public sharing of Easter eggs). That wouldn’t be fair.

G. Your Submission is Permission to Use Your Name

The goal here is to announce your glory with great fanfare. So, submission is permission to link to use your name, link to your social media, display which Easter eggs you found, etc. If you have a serious issue with this, like you’re in witness protection or an alien secretly living among us, let me know in the submission. I’ll ponder a possible exception. Maybe.

H. Submissions will be Confirmed but Not Validated

In other words, I’ll let you know you’re submission’s in, but nothing else until the winner is (or isn’t) announced–unless you’ve included accidental Easter eggs (see FAQs), and then I’ll let you know you can resubmit. I will NOT let you know if you’ve submitted erroneous Easter eggs or if there are other issues.

Easter Egg Hunt FAQs

Q: What Stuff Might Be Easter Eggs?

The easiest way to give you an an example of an Easter egg is from a scene where Jessica and Media are having a bit of a tussle. Media pulls a weapon and Jessica swats it away, saying, “That’s the spirit!” (mini spoiler). This is pretty clear reference to Roy Batty from Blade Runner:

So, the proper way to submit this would be:

#. “That’s the spirit,” in chapter “It Really Was Bears” is a quote from Blade Runner.

However, I can pretty much guarantee you that none of the real Easter Eggs are exact quotes because the internet makes this too easy and encourages uses of automated plagiarism-checking systems, etc. This is not going to be that easy.

Also, they might or might not be from other science fiction books or movies. Nothing is ridiculously obscure, but don’t assume Easter eggs are SF references only. Oh, and none of them are about me or my personal life, etc., so don’t go there.

Some other examples of Easter eggs in science fiction:

• 25 Coolest Easter Eggs in History (SyFy) – Taken Down?
• 8 Surprising Easter Eggs (MentalFloss)
• Marvel Easter Eggs (Ranker)

Q: What Stuff Is Not Easter Eggs

1. Any Barkley reference or Barkleyism. The book is packed with them, so, that would take about 30 seconds. Not so easy.
2. Any Chapter Title. For instance, “A Pleasure to Burn” is a reference to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a science fiction classic. And “Death, Destroyer of Worlds” is an almost cliched reference to Oppenheimer (about nuclear weapons) where he quoted the Bhagavad Gita.
3. Any Accidental Easter Egg. There are only so many words and phrases in the English language. It’s entirely possible you’ll find great Easter Eggs that were entirely unintentional. There’s no way for me to prove this, of course, so we’ll be on the honor system here. If anyone submits a list that is correct except for accidental Easter Egg, I’ll respond saying you got all but the specified one or two accidentals. In that case, and ONLY in that case, the hunter can resubmit an updated list in the same calendar quarter, provided the list no longer contains the original accidental EEs. If there are new EEs in the new list, this process can continue in perpetuity. Which would be fun, if nothing else.
4. Any Easter Eggs I’ve Given Away Here (esp. in the Glossary). So, for instance, the Blade Runner “That’s the Spirit” one is not acceptable in your submissions. This restriction applies to any post on this site.
5. Anything Attributed in the Book Itself. For instance, there is a reference to “genoism” from Gattaca in the book, but it’s attributed to Gattaca in the book. So, not an Easter egg. It’s just an egg.

Q: Do I Have to do Everything the Same Quarter?

Nope. You can do everything required at any time before or during the quarter of your hunt submission. So, if you’ve already got the book, fine. If you’ve already reviewed it, fine. You can send in your submission for a quarter during the quarter, and don’t have to wait until the end (the order of submission doesn’t matter). You just can’t do stuff after the quarter for which you’re submitting, because that would be silly.

Wait, I’m Still Confused!

Feel free to send questions to [email pending], in the comments below, or my FB author page (as long as it doesn’t give anything away). I’ll try to get back to you shortly.

Thanks, and may the odds be ever in your favor (not an Easter egg).

Other Run Lab Rat Run Stuff

• Run Lab Rat Run (Landing Page)
• Modified Glossary

Good luck!