A VR arcade opens next door and Gene spends all his money. Meanwhile, Louise and Tina try to build a menu tower taller than they ever have before.
Ready Troper Gene:
- And Then What?: Louise and Tina question what to do after successfully building a menu tower to the ceiling. They decide on crashing into it and toppling it themselves, much to Linda and Teddy's horror, especially since Teddy was just about to take a picture of it.
- Bland-Name Product: In-universe: the VR place offers the game Beat Bakin' , a knockoff of the more popular in-universe VR game Beat Baking.
- Call-Back: Apparently, Bob managed to recently injure his arm while failing to high-five Gene while sitting on the couch. Cut to the end of the episode where both of them choose to spend the rest of ther VR time in a glitchy game where their characters' buggy arm flailing looks like dance moves to them, with Bob commenting that you'd get yourself injured trying to replicate them.
- Good Parents: Bob gets Gene a free hour at the VR arcade because he felt that bad that Gene spent $90 on the anticlimactic first hour (while the free hour goes pretty poorly as well, the intent was there). He also allows Louise and Tina to keep their menu tower standing overnight, because he doesn't want all three of his kids to have their hearts broken in one day.
- High-Five Left Hanging: Played with; Bob and Gene both want to go for one, but they each attempt it at their respective eye levels, leading them to kind of just awkwardly slap the air. Bob thinks it was their worst high-five yet, but Gene reminds him of the one that they tried on the couch recently and Bob comments that his arm is still sore from that one.
- Literal Metaphor: Gene calls spending his cash on the VR arcade all his birthday money down the drain. Turns out he was comparing it to that time he literally flushed his birthday money down the drain.
- Literal-Minded: When Bob tells Gene to sleep on his decision to spend all his money on the VR arcade, Gene takes it to mean he should sleep on top of his money. Despite Bob telling him that's not what he meant, Gene ends up doing just that.
- The Most Dangerous Video Game: A downplayed, realistic example: the VR games Gene and Bob play aren't any more dangerous to play than real-life VR games would be, but since they're all extremely glitchy and the only worker has a habit of stepping away when they want to switch games and the VR headgear is designed to only be removeable by another person not playing the game, they both start feeling nauseous shortly after playing them and need to spend a good 10 minutes just standing there with Bob struggling not to puke after they fail to remove the headsets on their own. Ultimately, they end up making most of the broken game they're trapped in by turning it into an impromptu dance game, repurposing the ingame characters' glitchy flailing as cool dance moves they couldn't do in real life and opting to spend the rest of their free hour doing just that.
- Opening Shout-Out: The Store Next Door, "Here VR", is plot relevant. It's not the first time overall, but it is the first time the business actually plays a role in the episode's main plot (the building was previously relevant in the Season 13 premiere).
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The episode title is a reference to Ready Player One.
- Serious Business: The kids take building menu towers very seriously. On two occasions where Bob and Linda accidentally cause them to topple, the kids immediately call for their heads. Teddy later brings a ladder (and mentions having brought scaffolding equipment) to help take it up to the ceiling.
- Shout-Out:
- The Exterminator Van is "Natural Swarm Killers".
- The first Burger of the Day is the "I'm Guacing Here Burger".
- When Bob and Gene leave for the VR arcade, Linda tells them not to turn into TRON.
- When it's not glitching, "Beat Bakin'" plays very similarly to Beat Saber.
- In the latest instance of Gene's "Give me strength!" Running Gag, he calls for Jamiroquai. In the context of this episode, it might also be a reference to one of Jamiroquai's most popular songs, "Virtual Insanity".
- So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe. The buggy Beat Bakin' VR game proves to be this when Gene begins to enjoy it as an impromptu dancing game. Bob pukes, though.
- Status Quo Is God: Nick's phone call with his boss (who is his dad) and his sudden queries about whether Bob would be interested in an investment opportunity regarding the arcade indicate the VR arcade isn't sticking around much longer, returning the Store Next Door to its usual vacancy.
- Stylistic Suck: The glitchy, low-polygon graphics of the VR games at "Here VR" leave a lot to be desired.
