The Oregon Trail (1971) is a computer game developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Warren Robinett. It was originally released for the Apple II and was later ported to other platforms. The game is a simulation of the Oregon Trail, a 19th-century journey that many people took to settle in the American West. It is a text-based strategy video game developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) beginning in 1975. It was developed as a computer game to teach school children about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. In the game, the player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon via a covered wagon in 1847. Along the way the player must purchase supplies, hunt for food, and make choices on how to proceed along the trail while encountering random events such as storms and wagon breakdowns. The original versions of the game contain no graphics, as they were developed for computers that used teleprinters instead of computer monitors. A later Apple II port added a graphical shooting minigame.
In the game, players assume the role of a wagon train leader who must guide their group of settlers across the country. Along the way, players must manage their supplies, deal with natural disasters, and fend off attacks from Native Americans. The game is known for its high level of difficulty, and many players have lost their entire party while playing.
The Oregon Trail was a critical and commercial success, selling over 6 million copies worldwide. It is considered to be one of the most influential educational games of all time, and it helped to teach millions of people about American history.
Here are some of the milestones of The Oregon Trail:
- It was the first commercially successful educational computer game.
- It helped to popularize the genre of educational games.
- It taught millions of people about American history.
- It is considered to be one of the most influential video games of all time.
- It was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2015.
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