The Small Fries

Alright, fasten your seatbelts kids, it’s time for another…

RETRO REWIND!

In this edition of Retro Rewind, I’ll be reminiscing about the classic educational PC game, Oregon Trail. Whether you played it in its original format on the Apple II computer or you have the app downloaded to your iPhone, there’s no doubt that this game has had an impact. Throughout this Rewind I’ll regale you with my own personal memories of the game, as well as give some history about it.

The Oregon Trail was created in 1971 by Don Rawitsch. He originally created it as an aide to help his 8th grade class learn about the period in history where many American families were moving west with hopes of land and riches. The game immediately became popular amongst the students, and was soon adapted for the Apple II computer, making it accessible for students across the globe. Oregon Trail went on to be the most popular educational game of all time, and a defining part of any elementary school student in the 80s and 90s.

Everyone who grew up in the 80s and 90s has their own memories of Oregon Trail. When I was in 5th grade, I was put into this program during lunch for the smart kids who weren’t in gifted classes. It was called Explorers or Avengers or something. I’m not completely certain of its purpose because all we did was play Oregon Trail. I’m pretty positive that we were supposed to be doing other brain-enriching activities as well. Anyway, I have countless memories of creating families with names of fictional characters, buying a ton of supplies, and eventually dying of dysentery. I would compete with my fellow smart kid friends to see who had the least amount of family members die during their game. It was definitely a highlight of my school week.

Although Oregon Trail isn’t commonly played in classrooms any more, it lives on in the form of a mobile app. Now both kids who grew up on the game and their children can enjoy the entertaining and educational app.

--Julie