GAME CLEAR No. 315 -- The Oregon Trail (1985)
video games game clear minnesota educational computing consortium apple iiThe Oregon Trail (1985, Apple II)
Developer: Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium
Publisher: Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium
Clear Version: Apple II
Clear Platform: Browser, Apple][js emulator
Clear Date: 9/28/26
| Why should I care? |
|---|
| It’s a cultural touchstone and an educational one at that! |
/wɪˈlæmɪt/
A little while back, I did a post about my favorite license plates in each U.S. state. I subsequently began collecting plates from each state I had been to to display them in my house, alongside the map of the U.S. I have with pins in it representing all the places I have visited in this vast country. In so doing, I have come across plates I did not even know existed while researching for that post (which was limited in scope to modern, currently available designs). One such plate was the Oregon Trail design, which was an optional plate issued from 1993 to 2000 commemorating its namesake. I picked it up at an antique store in Merced, California, and it reminded me that I really must play this classic of the American classroom. After an hour or so in a web-based Apple ][ emulator, I braved the eponymous, treacherous trail.
I did not actually grow up in classrooms with the renowned edutainment game installed on every computer. I was born a tick too late for that. Still, it certainly seems to have been a mainstay for the sub-generation a bit older than me. After a quick run through it, I can see why. It’s got solid resource-management chops and seems to actually feature a significant number of the major geographical features, population centers, and landmarks of the actual Trail.
You set off from Independence, Missouri, with a party of five in search of whatever it is out West that you think will make your life better. You get to name all five party members so you can really feel the pain when they succumb to some horrible death (or otherwise enjoy subjecting them to the harsh indifference of the Trail). Before leaving, you use the cash you have to buy initial supplies (taking care to save some for possible future needs). From there, it is a matter of making those resources last until the next outpost of civilization along your arduous journey to the Willamette Valley.
Between towns, simulated days pass as your oxen dutifully tow your covered wagon along. Each day is a chance for a new horror. Perhaps you will be beset by bandits, maybe someone will suffer an injury or contract a disease. Occasionally, you may actually experience the good fortune of finding an abandoned wagon with free supplies. A happy result of someone else’s misfortune.
Each day that passes consumes food and travels a certain number of miles in accordance with a couple knobs you can turn (so to speak). Traveling farther each day and eating less will make it easier to stretch your resources, but that obviously comes at the cost of wearing down the humans you’re trying to get to Oregon alive. Be sure to cross rivers carefully too. An overturned wagon is one of the most disastrous events possible in terms of resource loss.
The towns and forts that dot the trail all too infrequently are your welcome moments of respite. When you reach them, you’re greeted with some cute pixel art of the relevant area and a blasted rendition of a random song from the Great American Songbook on the Apple ][ sound chip. Lovely. You can rest at these places without risk of elemental or human hazards and also have opportunities to restock, barter, and potentially learn a thing or two from fellow travelers or townspeople.
All of the gameplay and events described above are pure menu navigation. There are some brief bits of action gameplay in the form of hunting and rafting. In the former, you must try to shoot down animals as they randomly skitter across the screen, and in the latter you must navigate the mighty Columbia River without crashing your damned wagon. Other than that, it’s all menus, number management, and chance, baby.
It’s pretty enjoyable spreadsheet stuff! A good number-maintenance game is good for the noggin once in awhile. Probably. It certainly scratches some itch.
In my first (and probably only) attempt, I managed to get just two poor souls all the way to Oregon. I enjoyed escorting them there. May my memory be a blessing.
