Episode 5: The Oregon Trail

Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential video games of all time, 1971’s The Oregon Trail has educated and delighted players for over half a century. Before the game became a fixture of 1980s school computer labs—in all its black‑and‑green Apple II glory—it began its life as a student‑teaching project for a young educator and his computer‑savvy roommates. Try not to die of dysentery before you hear about the pop icon who acted as an early playtester.

The Real Oregon Trail

A 1907 map showing the route(s) of the Oregon Trail. Notice how the trail branches, offering a choice of routes in several places: choices you’re also faced with in the game.

The Game Through the Years

1975 text-based edition, which is as close to the original teleprinter version as you can get. The last line on the screen shows the original “TYPE BANG” shooting minigame, used for hunting and, in the early versions of the game, combat.

Apple II edition featuring the party naming screeen. Not exactly sure what device this is, but it’s definitely not an original Apple II. Still, this is how the game is meant to be played.

The Green Riving crossing from the full-color edition for later Apple IIs. River crossings like this were often a harrowing experience if you didn’t have access to a ferry.

The modern Apple Arcade edition, the most recent official release of the game.

The Team

The team behind The Oregon Trail: Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenberger at a 1995 ceremony held at Minnesota’s Mall of America honoring them, along with the printout of the original game code known as “the sacred scroll”

Playing the Game

You can find modern editions of the game for many devices, but, in my opinion, to really play, you have to go old school:

• Online version of the 1975, fully text-based version. This is the closest you can get to the original unless you have an HP 2100 minicomputer, teleprinter and sacred scroll. (Click the power button overlaying the screen to play).

• This online graphical version is similar to what I remember playing in the late 80s in my elementary school computer lab (albeit in full color).

Annoying Your Computer Teacher, Circa 1988

In the episode, I mention a little — and incredibly geeky — act of rebellion my fellow computer nerds and I liked to pull on our computer teachers. Running this three-line program on an Apple II causes it to print consecutive numbers on the screen, infinitely, until the computer is reset or its memory fills up. We’d write it when nobody was looking, set it running and leave at the end of the period.

10 A=A+1

20 PRINT A

30 GOTO 10

Credits

Royalty free music used in this episode from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com