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Niagara

(11,923 posts)
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 09:15 PM Apr 3

You have died from dysentery

The Oregon Trail was an educational and strategy computer game that I got the chance to play in junior high.


Players start in Missouri, a Midwestern state that marked the beginning of the American frontier in the early 19th Century. You select travel companions and choose supplies before facing obstacles on the trail, including broken wagon wheels, weather, snake bites and more. Activities along the way keep things interesting, including a hunting mini-game and managing the health of the party.


It wasn't an easy game to play either. I died from dysentery plenty of times. I believe that last time that I played as an adult and I drowned crossing a hardcore river in my covered wagon.







I think I'm going to play the game tomorrow morning after my house-keeping patrol duties are completed.


https://www.visitoregon.com/the-oregon-trail-game-online/

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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You have died from dysentery (Original Post) Niagara Apr 3 OP
Now you're bringing back memories! True Dough Apr 3 #1
Nostalgic computer games Niagara Apr 3 #4
Here's one more True Dough Apr 3 #8
Thank you, True Niagara Apr 3 #10
Designed in Minnesota IbogaProject Apr 3 #2
I was so fortunate to have the experience to play this game, Iboga Niagara Apr 3 #5
I discovered this with my kid IbogaProject Apr 3 #7
It's not easy peasy either lol Niagara Apr 3 #9
I loved it, was played in class as part of curriculum. JMCKUSICK Apr 3 #3
I love it as well, John Niagara Apr 3 #6
Was Alcove Spring in Kansas one of the locations in that game? highplainsdem Apr 3 #11
At least they didn't call it the "bloody flux". eppur_se_muova Apr 3 #12

True Dough

(27,092 posts)
1. Now you're bringing back memories!
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 09:22 PM
Apr 3

I had a buddy with a TRS-80 computer. He had a few word-based games where you make choices to decide your fate. I can't remember the names of all of them but one was The Oregon Trail and The King of Chicago was another one (that one was about the mafia).

IbogaProject

(6,007 posts)
2. Designed in Minnesota
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 09:27 PM
Apr 3

The game was loosely based on a statistical analysis from a large collection of diaries from folks who wagon trained out west in that period. It went through a few versions leading to the 1985 version some just slightly younger than my self encountered on the Apple IIe.

The Oregon Trail was created in 1971 by student teachers Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in Minneapolis to make history class engaging. Originally a text-based teletype game, it simulated a 19th-century westward journey, which Rawitsch later updated in 1974 for the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) to include more historical accuracy and Random events


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IbogaProject

(6,007 posts)
7. I discovered this with my kid
Fri Apr 3, 2026, 09:39 PM
Apr 3

We hacked through it one afternoon sometime in the last 10 years.

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