Four Decades on the Oregon Trail
If one sign of a great game is staying power, then The Oregon Trail stands out for over forty years of enduring popularity. The game has also outlasted many different platforms.
If, like me, you played it growing up, you remember that the game challenges players to guide their wagon party across the great American West in 1848. To successfully traverse the continent, you must choose supplies, set your travel speed, cross rivers, trade with Native Americans, hunt for animals, survive disease and storms, and make wagon repairs. Choose poorly, and one or more of your party dies along the trail.
Three Carleton College students invented the game in 1971, when student teacher Don Rawitsch asked fellow seniors Paul Dillenberger and Bill Heinemann, “Can’t we do something with the computer in my history class?” They developed a text-based version of The Oregon Trail, and later, when Rawitsch joined the Minnesota Educational Computer Consortium (MECC), he made the game available to students throughout the state. The game play was primitive. Students dialed in on teletype machines and hunted by typing in “BANG.” Players who spelled the word correctly got the award message, “Good Eatin’ Tonight,” and some food for their travel party.
The Oregon Trail was not the only 1970s game to simulate historical adventures. Programmers turned to the ancient camel caravan trades, the rule of Hammurabi, and Civil War battles for inspiration. But unlike most of these other games, The Oregon Trail successfully migrated from mainframe computer to the newly popular microcomputers.
In 1979 MECC ported the game to the Apple II, and players could then hunt by shooting at graphics of deer, bison, or rabbits dashing across the screen. The game’s popularity expanded enormously in school districts all over the country, and as a result, in 1985 MECC released it to the general public. You can play an emulated version here. Continuously updated, the game is still a steady seller and has even migrated to the iPhone.
The Oregon Trail succeeded because it was simple, yet challenging, but endured because MECC, a stable and committed creator of educational software titles such as Number Muncher and Lemonade Stand, invested the resources to keep it updated and fresh and get it into classrooms so that teachers could easily tie it into the American History curricula. For the majority of children who didn’t have home computers in the 1980s and 1990s, The Oregon Trail was often not only the first computer game they played, but also their first introduction to computers. For a collection of people’s memories playing the game, see Dave Lester’s 2006 Facebook survey.
Today, there are many other historical simulations and many more opportunities for teachers to use games in the classroom. But 39 years after its creation, The Oregon Trail still stands out as one of the most effective simulation games. When children stock their supplies, load up their wagon, and head West, they start to understand the challenges of Western migration, build some valuable decision-making skills, and have fun. And hopefully no one dies of dysentery along the way.
Did you play The Oregon Trail in school? Share your memories!
In elementary school in Philadelphia in the late 1980s, I was pulled out of class a few times a week to participate in a mentally gifted program. Our teachers were creative. They taught us research methods and encouraged us to produce news programs, music videos, and research papers about the topics we were studying, such as dinosaurs and environmental conservation. They also gave us access to The Oregon Trail on a couple of Apple computers. Playing that game was the highlight of my day, even when I learned the hard way how difficult it can be to ford a river with your wagon intact.
About a decade ago, in a fit of nostalgia, I tracked down a newer version of The Oregon Trail. What a treat! Except… the program won’t let you leave home if the supplies you’ve purchased are too heavy for your wagon. I faced more hardship in the general store than I ever would out on the harsh open road to the West Coast. So much for “mentally gifted.”
I loved this game! In grade school, I would play Oregon Trail and a typing-based tank game in the computer lab, on old Apple machines. We would all insert those silly 5 1/4 inch floppy disks that seem so archaic now. Those were the days!
I remember having particular trouble crossing the river, it seems I always lost half of my supplies and a son or daughter in the process! If I made it to Oregon, my character was probably the only one who survived. I guess I wouldn’t have made it back then…
Lauren and Wes, I am right there with you! This game is fabulous!
It is the first computer game I remember playing! It was on 2 Apple computers in my 4th grade classroom. I remember my sister and I would check it out at the public library too. The following weeks would be filled with arguments over who’s turn it was to play! Ahh, such fond memories:)
When we took our cross-country road trip a few years back she and I drove along parts of the Oregon Trail and reminisced about this game:)!
I am going right now to see if the current version is available at the library!
I think I still play the original Oregon Trail more than any new games. Virtual Apple and emulators are great!
There is a great port for the I-Phone and a legal port being worked on for the DSI in the form of downloadable DSI-Ware.
This is a classic game. Everyone should read the WIKI about it to discover the changes that happened as the game “grew” older.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(video_game)
Of course I played Oregon Trail, and I’m waiting for the iPhone app to go on sale to introduce it to the kids. Now you can get your own Oregon Trail T-Shirt on one of my (other) favorite sites. Tanga.
http://tanga.com/products/oregon-trail-died-of-dysentary-t-shirt