Moon Easter Egg Guide (BO1): Richtofen’s Grand Scheme Step by Step

Moon Easter egg overview: two parts, two rewards

These are original BO1 rules, not the solo rules of BO3 Zombies Chronicles.
Part (original BO1)	Players and prerequisites	Finish and reward
Cryogenic Slumber Party	Solo or co-op; no earlier quests needed for this half	Open the MPD and reveal Samantha; everyone gets a 90-second Death Machine
Big Bang Theory	At least two online in Wiki/CODZ; Game Rant says four. Earlier quests required; see below	Soul exchange, then three rockets hit Earth; permanent perks for the team

Moon Easter egg requirements: players, achievements and equipment

The Call of Duty Wiki and Call of Duty Zombies guide allow Cryogenic Slumber Party solo, but require at least two players online for Big Bang Theory. Solo and local split screen do not complete the full unmodified BO1 quest. Game Rant’s 2026 BO1 guide instead asks for four players. Plan a team of four for the stricter setup; the two-player minimum remains the Wiki/CODZ account, not a promise for every port.

You need the co-op Call of the Dead achievement Ensemble Cast and Shangri-La’s Time Travel Will Tell. The latter itself needs four players in BO1. Sources disagree about who must hold the achievements: the Grand Scheme Wiki page says at least one teammate, the Ensemble Cast page ties the item to Richtofen, and Steam reports also include an all-players claim whose author later questioned it. The safest setup is for the Richtofen player, the host in BO1 co-op, to have both. Confirm the Vril Device icon beside Richtofen’s grenades, including its central red stone, before committing to the finale. Do not assume solo Stand-in replaces Ensemble Cast.

Collect the Hacker, Wave Gun (combined Zap Guns), Gersh Device, Q.E.D. and a grenade or other suitable explosive. Gersh and Q.E.D. have different jobs; you will need to obtain them at different stages.
Excavator Pi must breach Tunnel 6. This is random, so a run can wait many rounds for the right excavator.
The 2026 PS4/PS5 port sells Moon through the US$29.99 season pass, separately from the US$39.99 base game. Prices checked on 2026-10-24. We found no confirmation that its quest or prerequisite rules changed.

BO1 platforms, DLC and online help

Part 1: Cryogenic Slumber Party, step by step

This order follows the BO1 Wiki and CODZ guides. Some tasks can be done earlier, but CODZ warns to finish the color puzzle and lab buttons before bringing the sphere to the pyramid.

Turn on the power. From the Receiving Bay, take Tunnel 6 or Tunnel 11 to the MPD pyramid room and pull the switch. The map guide below covers the route and equipment.
Complete Samantha Says. Outside the Receiving Bay near the Tunnel 6 entrance, use the four computers at the cliff. Left to right they are red, green, blue and yellow. Watch the sequence, then press Interact on the matching screens in order. Each sequence grows, up to five colors. All four flash green on success; red means retry.
Hack a starter button. Pick up the Hacker in the labs; it occupies the P.E.S. equipment slot. On the second lab floor, find the four wall buttons left of the stairs to the third floor, near the Bowie Knife. Hack one for 500 points.
Finish the timed panels and red buttons. Within 60 seconds, hack the four white panels glowing green across the three lab floors; four of eight positions are active. Listen for their hum. Return to the four red buttons and press them quickly in succession. There is no longer a timer at this stage. Fandom describes rapid left-to-right inputs; CODZ calls for simultaneous activation but describes running/jumping along them. This does not establish a four-player requirement. The buttons close/flash red, a tone and announcement play, and the MPD front socket opens.
Let Pi breach Tunnel 6. Do not stop this excavator before the breach. Afterwards, hack its control at the Receiving Bay to withdraw it and clear the tunnel. Withdrawing it does not restore the lost air.
Move the black egg to the MPD. Find the Vril Sphere by the M16 wall weapon in Tunnel 6. Knife or shoot it along the tunnel, opening doors for it. When it reaches the satellite dish above the Receiving Bay, shoot it with the combined Wave Gun. Follow it into Tunnel 11 and use splash damage when it catches near the ceiling: the Wiki places this by the Stamin-Up barrier, CODZ by the Semtex wall-buy. These descriptions differ; we have not confirmed whether they identify exactly the same spot. It then travels to the opened MPD socket.
Fill the first soul container. Kill 25 zombies very close to the glass tube raised at the pyramid’s front-right corner. Look for souls entering the tube. Once full, pull the nearby wall switch to open the pyramid and reveal Samantha. This completes Cryogenic Slumber Party and gives the team a 90-second Death Machine.

Moon map route, power and Hacker reference

Part 2: Big Bang Theory, step by step

Use an online BO1 team with Richtofen and the prerequisite device. The plates, cable and charging tasks can be prepared while working on part one.

Collect the Casimir plates at Area 51. BO1 Wiki/CODZ place them on a shelf beyond the boundary to the right of the teleporter. Knock them down with a grenade, then land a Gersh Device on or immediately beside them to move them onto the pad. Teleport back to the Moon. Accelerated Ideas describes the spot relative to Speed Cola; BO3 guides may say left of the pad. We use the two BO1 sources’ right-of-pad description.
Move the plates to the computer. They appear on the floor in front of Quick Revive in the Receiving Bay. Throw a Q.E.D. at them; they move upright into the stand by the computer in the other corner.
Find and fit the curved wire. Pick up the long silver S-shaped cable at one of the locations below. Interact at the computer to connect it to the plate stand.
Charge and retrieve the Vril Device. Richtofen must place it between the plates, then repeatedly use the computer on the left through the keyboard sounds and dialogue. Continue until the conversation ends, the screen turns green and the device glows. Richtofen must pick the charged device back up.
Fill all four MPD containers. After Samantha’s reveal, each of the four corner tubes needs 25 close-range zombie kills, 100 total. Once full, Richtofen inserts the charged device in the front socket. Richtofen and Samantha exchange souls; the Richtofen player gains all eight perks, the announcer changes and zombie eyes turn blue. The device cannot be retrieved afterwards.
Raise three rockets with Samantha Says. Return to the four outside computers and complete three more sequences, starting with three colors, then four, then five. Each success raises a rocket.
Release the sphere with a Q.E.D. Throw it at the MPD front socket to send the black egg back beside the Samantha Says computers. This task and the three rocket sequences can be done in either order.
Launch the finale with a Gersh Device. Once all three rockets are raised, throw a Gersh at the sphere. Maxis’s dialogue and a countdown lead to launch; the rockets hit Earth roughly 30–40 seconds later. Big Bang Theory completes and the other players receive permanent perks too.

Moon wire locations in BO1

The silver S-shaped wire has one random spawn. Do not import a fixed eight-location BO3 checklist into BO1 without checking the version.

Both Wiki and CODZ describe the labs: floors and walls, boxes, Hacker tables or the space below them, and the stairs toward Deadshot.
The Wiki additionally lists the exterior teleporter approach, boxes beside the outside doorway and the Receiving Bay excavator controls. Only one independent source was found for those additional positions.
CODZ additionally mentions Tunnel 6 and an outdoor Mystery Box location. Only one independent source was found for those additional positions. The BO1 lists differ; we have not verified a complete spawn inventory.

Rewards and the ending

Cryogenic Slumber Party ends at Samantha’s reveal with the temporary Death Machine. According to Wiki/CODZ, Richtofen’s eight permanent perks arrive at the later soul exchange, and the rest of the team gets them at the rocket finale. Accelerated Ideas puts Richtofen’s reward at Samantha’s reveal instead; that conflicts with the BO1 Wiki/CODZ sequence used here.

The permanent perks last for the rest of the current game, including after being downed. Following Maxis’s instructions, the crew’s rocket sequence strikes Earth. Accounts differ on whether to describe Maxis or the remaining crew as launching them; the steps above describe the observable sequence rather than assigning the final button press.

Moon Easter egg not working: checks at each stopping point

Problem	What to check
No Vril Device icon	Check the online mode, Richtofen and both prerequisite achievements before attempting part two. Sources disagree on achievement ownership; use the host/Richtofen setup above.
The wrong excavator keeps arriving	Only Pi breaching Tunnel 6 advances this step. Selection is random; power alone does not release the sphere.
The sphere sticks outside the MPD	CODZ warns that bringing it here before Samantha Says and the lab buttons can block the quest. Only one independent source was found for this warning.
Lab panels reset	Finish four green-lit panels within 60 seconds. Another starter hack costs another 500 points.
Gersh fails to move the plates	Land it on or immediately beside the plates. CODZ warns that Samantha can remove a misplaced Gersh; only one independent source was found for that detail.
The soul tube does not fill	Kill close to the tube and look for the incoming souls. Distant kills do not fill it.
The charging step stalls	Richtofen must use the computer through the entire dialogue, then retrieve the glowing device.

Moon Easter egg songs: Coming Home and other triggers

“Coming Home” was composed by Kevin Sherwood and sung by Elena Siegman. Hold Interact on three bears wearing P.E.S. helmets. Only one independent source, the Call of Duty Wiki, was found for the bear locations and the minor computer triggers below. No lyrics or audio are reproduced here.

Outside the Receiving Bay, check the red crate stack near the Samantha Says computers and launch platform.
In the airlock between Tunnel 6 and power, look opposite the P.E.S. rack, behind the grating.
In Tunnel 11, find the helmeted bear in the wall opening opposite Stamin-Up.

Other music	BO1 trigger and source limits
“Nightmare” — Avenged Sevenfold	Plays when One Giant Leap is achieved: escape being trapped in the Receiving Bay through co-op revival. The Wiki is the only independent trigger source found; Wikipedia corroborates the song’s use in Moon.
“Re-Damned” — James McCawley	Use the lab computer beside the Bio-Dome doorway; audible locally. Only one independent source found.
“Coming Home 8-bit”	Use the computer equipment beside the radio at the Tunnel 11 end near the power-room door. Only one independent source found; composer credit not confirmed.
“Pareidolia 8-bit”	Use the computer in the left corner after entering the labs from power, described elsewhere as the bottom lab floor. Only one independent source found; composer credit not confirmed.

Moon Easter egg FAQ

Question	Answer
Can you do the Moon Easter egg solo in BO1?	Cryogenic Slumber Party, yes. The full unmodified Big Bang Theory finale, no: Wiki/CODZ require at least two online, while Game Rant asks for four.
Where is the Moon ball?	It starts by the M16 after Pi breaches Tunnel 6, travels to the dish above Receiving Bay, then Tunnel 11 and the MPD. The later Q.E.D. step sends it to the color computers.
Do four lab buttons need four people?	The BO1 Wiki describes rapid consecutive presses; CODZ uses simultaneous wording. Neither establishes that these buttons require four players.
Does the song complete the main quest?	No. The three helmeted bears are a separate music secret.
Does the PS5 port change the requirements?	We found no confirmation as of 2026-10-24. Do not assume BO3 solo rules apply to the BO1 port.

BO1 versus BO3 Zombies Chronicles

BO3 Zombies Chronicles allows the full Moon quest solo and gives Richtofen the prerequisite device without earlier quests. Its weapon landmarks and some music triggers differ. This page’s detailed route is for BO1.

How this guide was written

This reference guide was checked against the listed sources on 2026-10-24. We have not completed these steps in the browser version. This website does not host Black Ops game files. Fandom pages count as one independent source, even when several are listed. Conflicts and single-source details are marked above.

All BO1 Easter eggs and requirements