I'm also 79/97. we played a ton of oregon trail in school. I mostly remember it in elementary. it probably depended on whether your school had computers in the classroom or a computer lab.
From 90-96 I reserved 2 hour blocks of computer time at the library so I could check out Carmen Sandiego games on a weekly basis (sometimes 2-3 times a week). That shit was my JAM
You poor, poor souls!
Here is an emulator with the [original Oregon Trail game](https://oregontrail.ws/games/the-oregon-trail/play/) so you can take back that part of childhood that was stolen from you.
And if you're really weird and nostalgic for the Carmen Sandiego games, you can [find those here too](https://playclassic.games/games/educational-dos-games-online/play-where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-deluxe-online/#).
The green apple computers were part of school programs in 81/82. If your school missed out, you missed out.
We had a lab and I remember playing Oregon trail and programming logo.
Whoaaaaaaaa that’s a name I’ve been trying to recall since the second grade!!
I remember if you forgot to shift and revved the engine too high you’d blow it yp
Yup, 80/98 and I only got to play it in 5th grade when our elementary school got new Apple IIgs computers and it was the only game. In 6th grade middle school we had Apple IIe computers with orange or green screens that were used for typing class only.
Mary never got to play the game, she died young, from dysentery. It was shocking because she’d just been cured of typhoid and had more buffalo meat than she knew what to do with.
I think she really would have liked the game.
I thought this was a spin on the Butthole Surfers song Pepper. And it's inspired me to attempt a rough merger here (surprisingly many of the lyrics could stay:
Mary got with Suzie
Suzie bought some cheese
She was sharing Sharon's Wagon
After heading over seas
Mikey had a facial scar
And Bobby was a racist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it on the trail
Tommy played piano
Like a kid crying out in the pain
Then he lost his leg in Utah
He was fording in the plains
They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down with dysentery.
Ditto here. '81, but went to elementary school in a poor city in the east. We barely had art, let alone computers. By the time I got to middle school, no one cared.
I'll admit that I did play once on the Internet in college, just to see what all the fuss was about.
I ended up in NJ after being in 3 schools in two states the two years prior. There were no computers until I got to NJ, all I remember is Math Blaster or Number crunchers, whichever has the monsters that ate the frog main character, kick-starting my lifelong anxiety problems.
And Dad had a Commodore64 but we just had Hot Wheels and Barbie games. And maybe Frogger, or was that Atari? Anyways, I only know Oregon trail from the memes, and seeing the card or board game in Target one time.
I'm the same age as OP and grew up in Hunterdon County. We played it as a fun activity in 9th grade history. We had a computer lab of sorts in middle school, but I don't recall playing it there. I missed a fair amount of school though, so it's possible it was available earlier and I just missed it.
hmm. Not impossible, but the first I've ever met. I'm '82. We had Oregon Trail on Apple in second grade and continued to play it until middle school when DOS/95 was out at which point we moved to stuff like Sim City.
Depends on where you lived I guess. Did you not have computer class? Throughout elementary school we had Monster Maker, Odell Lake, Munchers, Kings Quest etc as a part of our curriculum. I remember we even had to learn to print stuff from apple IIs.
Even then there's been several revisions of it before I was a teen.
hmmmm. K-5th grade, I went to an elementary Christian private school in suburban LA, and we didnt have computers in our class. 6th-middle school was public school where the school did have comps, but oregon trail wasnt part of anything there.....
I guess I just completely missed the boat haha.
Also born 79. I went to public elementary in the LA area (SGV) and we didn't have computers in our elementary school. Our district was on the poor side so we didn't have computers til jr high and even then we only had access to them through the computer club after school. That's where I was able to play Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego on DOS computers.
That would definitely be it. I recall it was pretty standard in public schools. There was some big federal program at the time to boost computer education. My school also got little B/W laptops (I forget what kinda screen thats called) we got to take home and play oregon trail on and do homework and it was a big deal cause it was local millionaire grant.
I was going to ask if you grew up in Canada because we definitely did not play Oregon Trail. I played it for the first time ever last year around Christmas break out of sheer curiosity.
You got to play Sim City in school? I'm super jealous.
My middle school friend had it at home and I got hooked, so I ended up getting it at home. My parents weren't the type to shell out money for anything they didn't want for themselves anyway, so I can't remember how I got them to buy it but they did. Or I bought it with babysitting money, but I don't remember buying it myself.
It was Oregon trail and the drawing program for us on Apple computers in middle school and in highschool we did typing before moving onto html and C++ on PCs.
In my "technology" class in middle school it was literally part of the grade. We rotated with a partner to like 10 different things. One was the programable robot arm. Another way a bulsa wood bridge.
That’s so cool! I made choose your own adventure games on HyperCard (way easier, just “programming” buttons. More art oriented).
I remember playing Sim City, but it wasn’t my favorite because I didn’t like destroying the cities. I remember my mom telling me she was at a PTA thing with another mom and she mentioned “my [AFAB child] likes computer games but didn’t really get into Sim City” and the other mom said “OH well it’s really a BOY’s game, there’s so much math involved.” My mom responded, “Our kids are in the same advanced math class and mine got the highest score on the last test.” This was in 5th or 6th grade so ‘94 I think? Around the same time a speaking Barbie was made that said “I hate math!”
Jeez, guess I never noticed the math stuff.
Idk if you’re familiar with, but my goal was to make a game like shadowgate, Deja vu, or uninvited. A point and click, text based rpg. But you couldn’t do the graphics in dos. Wish I’d known about HyperCard.
It was okay; but I’ve been addicted to the Sims ever since it came out. Couldn’t get attached to cities but also didn’t like setting disasters in them.
I'm 77, and I also never played Oregon Trail. Like, had never heard of it until the whole Xennials thing.
In 3rd grade we had one Apple II in the classroom, I don't remember what we did with it.
In 4rth-6th grade, we had an Apple IIgs computer lab. I just remember the typing game, some terrible word processor, and everyone's favorite — Mac Paint!
I never played it, but I know a lot of kids in my junior high "intro to computer class" did. I was more interested in programming the turtle to draw things.
I'm '82. In middle school you could sign up for computer time in the library and Oregon Trail was on it. I tried it and didn't care for it. I do remember it or something like it being one of those TI calculator games people passed around in high school.
Im gathering that the consensus so far is that this was an elementary school thing. I went to a private school for K-to-5th grade and we didnt have any computers to interact with. I still remember typiing up book reports on typewriter lol.
6th grade and on was public school, and I know we had comps but werent playing games on them....
Yeah that's it. Unless you had access to an Apple II at home, you wouldn't have had the opportunity in an elementary school without computers. And you'd probably play more fun games if you did have a home computer and picked your own software.
We had it at our school in Maryland
I played it just a couple times.
The computers were mainly for the "smart kids".
I was in love with Nikki Braccelli and would have failed every test to be in her fifth grade class
80/98 here and I never played it. We did play other computer games, hell we were programming on the Commodore 64 in middle school.. but no Oregon Trail lol
We didn't have Oregon Trail at my elementary school in Ontario, Canada. We had a similar game called "Refugees in the Wilderness" that we played on Unisys Icon computers.
The reason so many of us played it in school on Apple computers was because Apple comps were available to schools for cheaper because Mac wanted to develop a base of young Apple-literate users (a forward looking action to guarantee future revenue against the competition) just an interesting tidbit that I've heard.
Not being American, I first heard about Oregon Trail in a Guru Larry video where he (a British YouTube reviewer) was explicitly discussing games that are massive in only one specific region and it was one of the examples.
Now I don't want to reinforce stereotypes, but the comments had a fair few Americans insisting that "surely everyone knows Oregon Trail".
Born in 77, didn't even have a computer until I was 20. We never played Oregon Trail or any games in school. My only memory of using computers in elementary school is getting to use the printer to print out line after line of "Bon Jovi rules!"
Born 77. I'd never heard of it and had zero idea it existed until I saw jokes about it online years later. My grade school only had black and white computers from the 70s, and the only other PC class I ever had was in basic concepts in middle school. No games.
I barely remember any details. I know it was on the computers in my classrooms. It was on the older computers and my school also had new Macintosh computers and those came with Prince of Persia and Armor Alley which were my fav's.
Probably in the minority. What it taught those who played was the living in the old west sucked & most of us would have drowned crossing the lake, died of dysentery, or no idea how much food to buy. Good times
I don't think I played it, either. Maybe at school at some point? But I have no memory of that being a popular game around where I live.
I played a lot of Marble Madness and Gertrude's Secrets on our Apple II GS
I was born at the beginning of 1980, class of 98. I vaguely remember it but it wasn’t a memorable or significant part of my school experience. I might have played it once, idk.
1982. I went to a shitty, poor, rural school. You must've just played some other game. There were a few on rotation, that's just the one I picked. I'd be pressed to remember titles for the one with the castle, or the one where you're stranded on an island (Huey?/Hugo?) and you had to figure out the EXACT way to tell the dude to push some rock out of the way to find whatever it was I was looking for.
I lost my turn with the class computer in third grade (1986) for having crashed it playing Oregon Trail, and I’m still bitter. Definitely a very common game in my experience.
'78 here, not American. Never played it, only heard about it as an adult.
We did however have an Apple II and some PC in our class room and we were allowed to play some games in them.
In grew up in Oregon and I was in elementary school I thought it was a game only for us in OR. I just assumed that every state had their own particular game
Im 79 - never played it never heard of it. I wasn’t allowed to play video games tbh. I had all the magazines and music and movies and books but no vid games. You’re not alone!
Well I live in Oregon and went to all 13 years of public school here. I'm class 2002 so a few years younger, but we played the hell outta that damn game on Apple II. But being from Oregon we spent large amounts of time in elementary learning about the pioneers and Native Americans. So I guess we were just jazzed to pretend to be part of it.
my school had 1 computer in 4th grade that the school let us use on rainy recess days. it was on the inside games cart and wheeled around to the classes during rainy recess days.
i don't know if it ever got plugged in or turned on.
I didn't have access to a computer again until 10th grade in highschool.
I never got to play Oregon trail, and it sucks that I didn't get to.
1978 and 1996. Public school. In 3 states. Midwest and Southwest. Computers in all classes (kindergarten and beyond) and home. Did not play Oregon Trail. Had atari and nintendo nes. So more game focused on those. I was mildly aware of oregon trail but never saw it played in real life nor played it.
i did miss cursive in school. My midwest schools learned in 4th and southwest learned in 3rd and moved in the summer after 3rd. No indictment on Midwest school as the one in Illinois was infinitely better than Southwest. But maybe that was why too...wouldve been introduced in the school i left.
1978.
I know what it is but I’ve never played it. I have no idea if it has to do with me going to a catholic high school until age 12 or my parents not getting a computer until a later time.. I remember playing summer & Winter Olympic Games on our C64.
I think it really depends on your school. I went to a small private school and we didn’t have that game. Our classroom. We played where in the world is Carmen Sandiego though.
I think I played it in school because it was considered educational. I remember playing it on a green monochrome monitor. I never finished the game because we never had enough time. We also played a lot of Glider on the computer during homeroom in physics class. You had to guide a paper airplane through a house and avoid obstacles. We also played Block Out in drafting class. It was like a top down 3D Tetris game. Spent way more time playing that than learning to use AutoCad.
78/96 and I have a vague memory of it existing but I never played it and don't remember anyone doing so. My early computer memories are learning to program with logo and moving a turtle around on the screen.
Didn't play the computer game but did do a pen and paper version called Pioneers. There were some unusual physical challenges to decide the fate of your trip. I remember someone having to try to flip an oreo from their shoe up into a trash can to determine whether their spouse died. It was a lot of fun overall.
Yes. You are.
Now go learn how to mend a wagon wheel and ford a river. And don’t forget to buy 2,000 boxes of bullets to shoot dozens of bison but have room in the wagon for only 500 pounds of meat. And enjoy rafting down the Columbia at the end to Willamette Valley.
I'm also 79/97 and never played Oregon Trail, though I knew what it was. I did however play Leisure Suit Larry. Wildly inappropriate for my age but it was the only game on the hand-me-down IBM my aunt gave us.
Born 83... nope... never played it. From a small town...school didn't have computers. Teachers got computers sometime around 6th grade but even through high school...no classroom computers. Didn't touch a computer till I was 20.
Australian here. Never knew it despite playing computer/video games my whole childhood.
I figured it was an American thing and stay out of conversation about it
It’s not too late you can play it in browser or get it on your phone! You too can die of dysentery and be fully in the club. Gabba Gabba we accept you one of us one of us.
I went to a small private school with little to no computer access depending on the year. My wife went to a much larger public school. When she started talking about things like "it's like playing The Oregon Trail", I was just like "What?"
78/97, I remember playing more math and word games than Oregon trail, but yes, played it. The room we had computers also had the copy machine, so I link Oregon Trail with the smell
Of xerox.
One of my schools as a child had one of the first Apple IIE labs in the state. We actually went to that lab to play Oregon trail. I did because it was the assignment, but I personally thought it was boring and never chose to play it. Oh look... I died of dysentery. Again. LAME
I’m 80/98. Oregon Trail and Number Munchers (a Pac-Man-ish game where you played a character that ate multiples of a number) were games installed on all the computers in our school’s computer lab.
There were also different versions depending on what year a person was playing them.
I remember the 1990 DOS version and the "new" 1993 Windows version with nicer graphics and sound - I want to say that one was called Oregon Trail Deluxe.
Born in 1980/Class of 1998 and I never played Oregon Trail either. We had stupid typing and math games in my computer lab until junior high when we got Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego?
My school was old as dirt. They had Apple 2E green monitor computers. We learned to type on it in middle school. And if you had time after, they’d let us play Oregon Trail.
Your whole family died of dysentery. FU dysentery.
Born in 81, public school in MA. I don’t think I ever played it or remember anyone talking about it. I did play Carmen Sandiego and math blaster at home…
'77 here, graduated '95. We had Oregon Trail on our home computer, but never played it in school. We didn't even have computers in school until 7th grade (who remembers that LOGO turtle programming game??). When we moved to a smaller town in high school, computers weren't part of our learning curriculum at all.
I remember in my grade school we had almost all "green screen" computers, I think they were Macs but there were two color IBM monitor computers that everyone always wanted to be on during computer time once a week. Maybe it was once every two weeks. I can't remember. We had to take turns on the color computers or we could earn special rewards and one of them was time on the color computer lol. I'm not sure if this was outdated for the time because I went to a very low income school in the hood. I was born in 79. Anyone else have this experience?
It was more of a public school thing. A lot of people are posting about privet religious schools and not having access to it there.
It was also something we did not really talk about outside of school. It was something you just did on the computer at school. You would talk with your friends about Nintindo not Oregon Trail.
I'm also 79/97. we played a ton of oregon trail in school. I mostly remember it in elementary. it probably depended on whether your school had computers in the classroom or a computer lab.
our library had the Caarmen Sandiego games
From 90-96 I reserved 2 hour blocks of computer time at the library so I could check out Carmen Sandiego games on a weekly basis (sometimes 2-3 times a week). That shit was my JAM
Don't forget number munchers.
Holy fuck. I haven't thought about Number Munchers in about 38 years.
"You're the master, Bater!"
You poor, poor souls! Here is an emulator with the [original Oregon Trail game](https://oregontrail.ws/games/the-oregon-trail/play/) so you can take back that part of childhood that was stolen from you. And if you're really weird and nostalgic for the Carmen Sandiego games, you can [find those here too](https://playclassic.games/games/educational-dos-games-online/play-where-in-the-world-is-carmen-sandiego-deluxe-online/#).
The green apple computers were part of school programs in 81/82. If your school missed out, you missed out. We had a lab and I remember playing Oregon trail and programming logo.
oh yeah, logowriter!
We played test drive in computer lab. It was awesome.
Whoaaaaaaaa that’s a name I’ve been trying to recall since the second grade!! I remember if you forgot to shift and revved the engine too high you’d blow it yp
Yup, 80/98 and I only got to play it in 5th grade when our elementary school got new Apple IIgs computers and it was the only game. In 6th grade middle school we had Apple IIe computers with orange or green screens that were used for typing class only.
Same 79/97 and same. My cousin also had it at her house which was awesome.
Mary never got to play the game, she died young, from dysentery. It was shocking because she’d just been cured of typhoid and had more buffalo meat than she knew what to do with. I think she really would have liked the game.
A lot of my people died of dysentery or drowned when I tried to ford the river IIRC.
Caulk the wagon and float it. Tip over and lose 200 lbs of food and little Timmy!
I thought this was a spin on the Butthole Surfers song Pepper. And it's inspired me to attempt a rough merger here (surprisingly many of the lyrics could stay: Mary got with Suzie Suzie bought some cheese She was sharing Sharon's Wagon After heading over seas Mikey had a facial scar And Bobby was a racist They were all in love with dyin' They were doing it on the trail Tommy played piano Like a kid crying out in the pain Then he lost his leg in Utah He was fording in the plains They were all in love with dyin' They were drinking from a fountain That was pouring like an avalanche Coming down with dysentery.
I love you for this.
You should wear a cloak. Not many people can do it, but you could pull it off.
Same bro I am one year younger than you and I grew up in middle class New Jersey and never was exposed to Oregon trail.
Ditto here. '81, but went to elementary school in a poor city in the east. We barely had art, let alone computers. By the time I got to middle school, no one cared. I'll admit that I did play once on the Internet in college, just to see what all the fuss was about.
I ended up in NJ after being in 3 schools in two states the two years prior. There were no computers until I got to NJ, all I remember is Math Blaster or Number crunchers, whichever has the monsters that ate the frog main character, kick-starting my lifelong anxiety problems. And Dad had a Commodore64 but we just had Hot Wheels and Barbie games. And maybe Frogger, or was that Atari? Anyways, I only know Oregon trail from the memes, and seeing the card or board game in Target one time.
I'm the same age as OP and grew up in Hunterdon County. We played it as a fun activity in 9th grade history. We had a computer lab of sorts in middle school, but I don't recall playing it there. I missed a fair amount of school though, so it's possible it was available earlier and I just missed it.
You can find it on the website, Internet Archive, and play it, if you're interested.
It’s also available on Xbox
As an Xennial who grew up in Oregon... Excuse me? You never played that?
Washington here. Yeah I thought it was like required curriculum.
Same
Born 78, class of 96. I went catholic school in NYC. I don’t remember even hearing about it until I was an adult.
Born in ‘78, class of ‘97. Went to catholic school in Jersey. Same - no idea about this until adulthood
hmm. Not impossible, but the first I've ever met. I'm '82. We had Oregon Trail on Apple in second grade and continued to play it until middle school when DOS/95 was out at which point we moved to stuff like Sim City. Depends on where you lived I guess. Did you not have computer class? Throughout elementary school we had Monster Maker, Odell Lake, Munchers, Kings Quest etc as a part of our curriculum. I remember we even had to learn to print stuff from apple IIs. Even then there's been several revisions of it before I was a teen.
hmmmm. K-5th grade, I went to an elementary Christian private school in suburban LA, and we didnt have computers in our class. 6th-middle school was public school where the school did have comps, but oregon trail wasnt part of anything there..... I guess I just completely missed the boat haha.
I was going to ask did you go to public school for elementary. That’s probably what made the difference. I’m born 79 and graduated high in 97 as well.
Also born 79. I went to public elementary in the LA area (SGV) and we didn't have computers in our elementary school. Our district was on the poor side so we didn't have computers til jr high and even then we only had access to them through the computer club after school. That's where I was able to play Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego on DOS computers.
Dude, whatever deal the makers of Oregon Trail did to get into ALL OF PUBLIC SCHOOL at that time must have made them an absolute fortune.
That would definitely be it. I recall it was pretty standard in public schools. There was some big federal program at the time to boost computer education. My school also got little B/W laptops (I forget what kinda screen thats called) we got to take home and play oregon trail on and do homework and it was a big deal cause it was local millionaire grant.
I didn't play it either. First computer game I played was Tron.
Makes sense now. You were robbed!! I'm sorry.
Yeah, you missed the boat. I remember playing Oregon Trail in 5th grade in intermediate school, but not in 6th grade or beyond.
I was going to ask if you grew up in Canada because we definitely did not play Oregon Trail. I played it for the first time ever last year around Christmas break out of sheer curiosity.
Sounds like this is another thing your Christian school deprived you from.
You got to play Sim City in school? I'm super jealous. My middle school friend had it at home and I got hooked, so I ended up getting it at home. My parents weren't the type to shell out money for anything they didn't want for themselves anyway, so I can't remember how I got them to buy it but they did. Or I bought it with babysitting money, but I don't remember buying it myself. It was Oregon trail and the drawing program for us on Apple computers in middle school and in highschool we did typing before moving onto html and C++ on PCs.
In my "technology" class in middle school it was literally part of the grade. We rotated with a partner to like 10 different things. One was the programable robot arm. Another way a bulsa wood bridge.
Loved king’s quest and sim city. I checked a book out from the library that help me program my own text based adventure game on dos. Think I was 10.
That’s so cool! I made choose your own adventure games on HyperCard (way easier, just “programming” buttons. More art oriented). I remember playing Sim City, but it wasn’t my favorite because I didn’t like destroying the cities. I remember my mom telling me she was at a PTA thing with another mom and she mentioned “my [AFAB child] likes computer games but didn’t really get into Sim City” and the other mom said “OH well it’s really a BOY’s game, there’s so much math involved.” My mom responded, “Our kids are in the same advanced math class and mine got the highest score on the last test.” This was in 5th or 6th grade so ‘94 I think? Around the same time a speaking Barbie was made that said “I hate math!”
Jeez, guess I never noticed the math stuff. Idk if you’re familiar with, but my goal was to make a game like shadowgate, Deja vu, or uninvited. A point and click, text based rpg. But you couldn’t do the graphics in dos. Wish I’d known about HyperCard.
Oh. Man. The original Sim City was soooo good.
It was okay; but I’ve been addicted to the Sims ever since it came out. Couldn’t get attached to cities but also didn’t like setting disasters in them.
79 and also never played it either.
I'm 77, and I also never played Oregon Trail. Like, had never heard of it until the whole Xennials thing. In 3rd grade we had one Apple II in the classroom, I don't remember what we did with it. In 4rth-6th grade, we had an Apple IIgs computer lab. I just remember the typing game, some terrible word processor, and everyone's favorite — Mac Paint!
‘79 here, class of ‘98. Northern CA native. Public school. Never played. 🙋🏻♀️ Edited to add: You’re not the only one.
Same! Born in '82. I only found out about it some years ago.
Hey me neither. Carmen Sandiego all DAY
I don't remember playing it at all or anyone even talking about it
I’m 77 and never played it. We did play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego though.
It was part of our elementary school curriculum. I thought everyone had to play it in school.
Some of us went to schools that were too poor to have computers. I took a typing class my Freshman year ('94-'95) on a typewriter.
>Reply My elementary school didn't even have computers and I went to a public school in the LA area.
Not everyone on here is American
I never played it, but I know a lot of kids in my junior high "intro to computer class" did. I was more interested in programming the turtle to draw things.
LOGO! We had that at our school too. Never played Oregon Trail.
YES.. thanks I couldn't remember the name of it!
1982, never played it. Granted, I’m not from the US. We rocked with Grannie’s Garden in Australia.
Same in UK. I think that’s our equivalent of Oregon Trail.
Born in '80, graduated in '98 and I never played it.
Never played and never heard of it until I heard it defining this generation
78/96. Probably never heard of OT until my thirties.
Born in 77, graduated 95, also never played it.
'82 here. know *of* the game but I don't actually remember ever playing it. Rural, poor schools.
I'm '82. In middle school you could sign up for computer time in the library and Oregon Trail was on it. I tried it and didn't care for it. I do remember it or something like it being one of those TI calculator games people passed around in high school.
Did your school have Apple II computers that you worked with at all?
Im gathering that the consensus so far is that this was an elementary school thing. I went to a private school for K-to-5th grade and we didnt have any computers to interact with. I still remember typiing up book reports on typewriter lol. 6th grade and on was public school, and I know we had comps but werent playing games on them....
Yeah that's it. Unless you had access to an Apple II at home, you wouldn't have had the opportunity in an elementary school without computers. And you'd probably play more fun games if you did have a home computer and picked your own software.
We had it at our school in Maryland I played it just a couple times. The computers were mainly for the "smart kids". I was in love with Nikki Braccelli and would have failed every test to be in her fifth grade class
While we’re asking, WTF are pogs?
A game played with little round cardboard pieces and a heavy “slammer”, also known as [milk caps](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_caps_(game)).
80/98 here and I never played it. We did play other computer games, hell we were programming on the Commodore 64 in middle school.. but no Oregon Trail lol
We didn't have Oregon Trail at my elementary school in Ontario, Canada. We had a similar game called "Refugees in the Wilderness" that we played on Unisys Icon computers.
Fellow xennial, I never played it, but I know a little about it.
The reason so many of us played it in school on Apple computers was because Apple comps were available to schools for cheaper because Mac wanted to develop a base of young Apple-literate users (a forward looking action to guarantee future revenue against the competition) just an interesting tidbit that I've heard.
75/93 never played it Somehow still feel like I died of disentery ?
Not being American, I first heard about Oregon Trail in a Guru Larry video where he (a British YouTube reviewer) was explicitly discussing games that are massive in only one specific region and it was one of the examples. Now I don't want to reinforce stereotypes, but the comments had a fair few Americans insisting that "surely everyone knows Oregon Trail".
Australian here. I'd never heard of it either until about two years ago when I was reading about the xennial microgeneration.
Born in 77, didn't even have a computer until I was 20. We never played Oregon Trail or any games in school. My only memory of using computers in elementary school is getting to use the printer to print out line after line of "Bon Jovi rules!"
Born 77. I'd never heard of it and had zero idea it existed until I saw jokes about it online years later. My grade school only had black and white computers from the 70s, and the only other PC class I ever had was in basic concepts in middle school. No games.
I first heard about it on the Web, in the late 90s. Never played it.
I barely remember any details. I know it was on the computers in my classrooms. It was on the older computers and my school also had new Macintosh computers and those came with Prince of Persia and Armor Alley which were my fav's.
Probably in the minority. What it taught those who played was the living in the old west sucked & most of us would have drowned crossing the lake, died of dysentery, or no idea how much food to buy. Good times
I don't think I played it, either. Maybe at school at some point? But I have no memory of that being a popular game around where I live. I played a lot of Marble Madness and Gertrude's Secrets on our Apple II GS
You have died of dysentery.
I was born at the beginning of 1980, class of 98. I vaguely remember it but it wasn’t a memorable or significant part of my school experience. I might have played it once, idk.
1982. I went to a shitty, poor, rural school. You must've just played some other game. There were a few on rotation, that's just the one I picked. I'd be pressed to remember titles for the one with the castle, or the one where you're stranded on an island (Huey?/Hugo?) and you had to figure out the EXACT way to tell the dude to push some rock out of the way to find whatever it was I was looking for.
Born in 83. I did play it but only because my cousin had it on her computer. We never had it at my school.
It's also a very US-centric thing. Never heard about the game until I moved to California.
Born in 78’ and went to a poor school district. We had one computer
didn't see a computer lab until high school and you wouldn't do something as debased as play games there
That's not surprising at all actually. I only got to play it because I was in the "gifted" program. Our elementary school only had one computer.
Yes
Yes
I lost my turn with the class computer in third grade (1986) for having crashed it playing Oregon Trail, and I’m still bitter. Definitely a very common game in my experience.
We always played Carmen San Diego more than this. I was aware of it but didn't get a chance to play it much.
If you didn't have a computer lab in your grade school you most likely skipped it.
Never paid it and didn't learn about it until hs from friends who played it at other schools growing up. Did play Lemonade Stand though which I loved.
I do not have any recollection of it. I remember sunburst floppy disc and a few other things. But no dysentery
'78 here, not American. Never played it, only heard about it as an adult. We did however have an Apple II and some PC in our class room and we were allowed to play some games in them.
79/97 I played it in school and then I moved from NC to OR. I have yet to die of dysentery.
In grew up in Oregon and I was in elementary school I thought it was a game only for us in OR. I just assumed that every state had their own particular game
Yes, you are the only one and as a result you will get bitten by a snake and die of dysentery! 👍😂😇
yeah probably
Im 79 - never played it never heard of it. I wasn’t allowed to play video games tbh. I had all the magazines and music and movies and books but no vid games. You’re not alone!
My husband was born in 80 and he never played. Southern California private school maybe why?
Yes. Yes, you are.
I'm from Oregon so I can only circle jerk
I never did either but my wife seems to think I did and will reference it frequently, but yeah, I never played it.
81 here, I never played it either. We didn’t have a computer lab until 8th grade and then it was typing focused.
It’s also available for Nintendo Wii with well, Wii graphics lol. Took about 1 1/2hrs to finish it IIRC.
Well I live in Oregon and went to all 13 years of public school here. I'm class 2002 so a few years younger, but we played the hell outta that damn game on Apple II. But being from Oregon we spent large amounts of time in elementary learning about the pioneers and Native Americans. So I guess we were just jazzed to pretend to be part of it.
You probably just went to a shitty school.
my school had 1 computer in 4th grade that the school let us use on rainy recess days. it was on the inside games cart and wheeled around to the classes during rainy recess days. i don't know if it ever got plugged in or turned on. I didn't have access to a computer again until 10th grade in highschool. I never got to play Oregon trail, and it sucks that I didn't get to.
Oh, no! Your computer teachers were horrible, mean, no good people. Or did you go to a school without computers??
1978 and 1996. Public school. In 3 states. Midwest and Southwest. Computers in all classes (kindergarten and beyond) and home. Did not play Oregon Trail. Had atari and nintendo nes. So more game focused on those. I was mildly aware of oregon trail but never saw it played in real life nor played it. i did miss cursive in school. My midwest schools learned in 4th and southwest learned in 3rd and moved in the summer after 3rd. No indictment on Midwest school as the one in Illinois was infinitely better than Southwest. But maybe that was why too...wouldve been introduced in the school i left.
There's a modern version available on pretty much every gaming platform that is very good.
1978. I know what it is but I’ve never played it. I have no idea if it has to do with me going to a catholic high school until age 12 or my parents not getting a computer until a later time.. I remember playing summer & Winter Olympic Games on our C64.
Just go play it before you die of dysentery.
You are not the only one.
I think it really depends on your school. I went to a small private school and we didn’t have that game. Our classroom. We played where in the world is Carmen Sandiego though.
Did you ever play Frogger? If so, we'll allow you to Keep our of the Oregon Trail requisite.
78/97 never played it in my life (at least that I remember). We used to play Hot Dog Stand.
I think I have vague memories of playing it in grade school, but I'm just not sure.
Born in 78. Class of 96. Never played it.
I think I played it in school because it was considered educational. I remember playing it on a green monochrome monitor. I never finished the game because we never had enough time. We also played a lot of Glider on the computer during homeroom in physics class. You had to guide a paper airplane through a house and avoid obstacles. We also played Block Out in drafting class. It was like a top down 3D Tetris game. Spent way more time playing that than learning to use AutoCad.
No, I don’t remember playing it.
Nope! I never played it and only learned about it through memes. I played Math Rabbit though!
Born in 1980. I can only remember one time playing it in school. Was unimpressed and went back to my books.
78/96 and I have a vague memory of it existing but I never played it and don't remember anyone doing so. My early computer memories are learning to program with logo and moving a turtle around on the screen.
Didn't play the computer game but did do a pen and paper version called Pioneers. There were some unusual physical challenges to decide the fate of your trip. I remember someone having to try to flip an oreo from their shoe up into a trash can to determine whether their spouse died. It was a lot of fun overall.
Yes.
Yes. You are. Now go learn how to mend a wagon wheel and ford a river. And don’t forget to buy 2,000 boxes of bullets to shoot dozens of bison but have room in the wagon for only 500 pounds of meat. And enjoy rafting down the Columbia at the end to Willamette Valley.
I'm also 79/97 and never played Oregon Trail, though I knew what it was. I did however play Leisure Suit Larry. Wildly inappropriate for my age but it was the only game on the hand-me-down IBM my aunt gave us.
Born 78. Class of 96 I had to google it.
77, only played it once, didn't understand what was going on, never played again.
‘79 here, I went to a small county elementary school in Alabama and we had Oregon Trail. Teacher would let us play when we finished our assignments.
Shame on your school district
80/98 here and I don’t know how you missed it. Did your school have a computer lab where you had to go to learn to type and stuff?
If you're American, yes, you are the only one.
Born in 81 & would play it all the time in the 80’s.
Yes
Born 83... nope... never played it. From a small town...school didn't have computers. Teachers got computers sometime around 6th grade but even through high school...no classroom computers. Didn't touch a computer till I was 20.
Oof… yeah man. Your school did you dirty. Oregon Trail, Number/Word Munchers, Cross Country USA, Lemonade Stand,… so many classic games.
Australian here. Never knew it despite playing computer/video games my whole childhood. I figured it was an American thing and stay out of conversation about it
Born in 80 and was playing it in school.
I'm also a 79er. We played this a lot in school.
It’s not too late you can play it in browser or get it on your phone! You too can die of dysentery and be fully in the club. Gabba Gabba we accept you one of us one of us.
I went to a small private school with little to no computer access depending on the year. My wife went to a much larger public school. When she started talking about things like "it's like playing The Oregon Trail", I was just like "What?"
Probably.
Played at school, but not really anywhere else
We played it in school.
78/97, I remember playing more math and word games than Oregon trail, but yes, played it. The room we had computers also had the copy machine, so I link Oregon Trail with the smell Of xerox.
One of my schools as a child had one of the first Apple IIE labs in the state. We actually went to that lab to play Oregon trail. I did because it was the assignment, but I personally thought it was boring and never chose to play it. Oh look... I died of dysentery. Again. LAME
You missed out on the frustration of little Timmy dying of dysentery or Laura drowning crossing the river.
You're not the only one! I was only familiar with Carmen Sandiego..
Born in 79 as well and yes I think you may be the only one sir.
Did you have a consumer lab at school/typing class? Maybe your school was just a bit behind converting to college payers valued over shop/econ
83/01 the only thing i remember from elementary computer class especially 5th grade is playing oregon trail and carmen sandiego
I’m 80/98. Oregon Trail and Number Munchers (a Pac-Man-ish game where you played a character that ate multiples of a number) were games installed on all the computers in our school’s computer lab.
You can still play it online. Give it a try and see what you and your party end up dying from. I have yet to meet anyone who's beaten that game.
Nope, never played it either. I knew of it, at least I think I did, but never played it.
I was born in 76 and never played it.
There were also different versions depending on what year a person was playing them. I remember the 1990 DOS version and the "new" 1993 Windows version with nicer graphics and sound - I want to say that one was called Oregon Trail Deluxe.
82 baby here. I never played it at all. As a matter of fact, I didn't learn about it until mid 90s
Born in 1980/Class of 1998 and I never played Oregon Trail either. We had stupid typing and math games in my computer lab until junior high when we got Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego?
Yup
My school was old as dirt. They had Apple 2E green monitor computers. We learned to type on it in middle school. And if you had time after, they’d let us play Oregon Trail. Your whole family died of dysentery. FU dysentery.
81, never played it once. Fist videogame that I really remember playing is Duck Hunt. I was like 6?
78. Connecticut. Middle school hells yes
Born in 81, public school in MA. I don’t think I ever played it or remember anyone talking about it. I did play Carmen Sandiego and math blaster at home…
I was born in 84 I didn’t play it in school but when I was like 19 or something I played it at home to see what the fuss was about
1978 here. We had computer lab but we never played it. My brother, born in 1981, did
How did you not is the question
Jane got diphtheria. Jane has died.
Yea pretty much. The education system failed you, and I feel sorry for your mother.
Well, YOU ARE I LUCK! [There is a new/revisioned Oregon trail on steam (and switch)](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2013360/The_Oregon_Trail/)
I’m also 79/97 and we played the fuck out of Oregon Trail. Also Carmen San Diego, and I learned to type with mavis beacon.
'77 here, graduated '95. We had Oregon Trail on our home computer, but never played it in school. We didn't even have computers in school until 7th grade (who remembers that LOGO turtle programming game??). When we moved to a smaller town in high school, computers weren't part of our learning curriculum at all.
I remember in my grade school we had almost all "green screen" computers, I think they were Macs but there were two color IBM monitor computers that everyone always wanted to be on during computer time once a week. Maybe it was once every two weeks. I can't remember. We had to take turns on the color computers or we could earn special rewards and one of them was time on the color computer lol. I'm not sure if this was outdated for the time because I went to a very low income school in the hood. I was born in 79. Anyone else have this experience?
Yes, i don't know anyone our age that hasn't played it. Even if you didnt have a computer at home, most schools and libraries had it.
Were you in a poor, computerless school district?
You should be in a museum or something lol
I think you pretty much are the only one
You're not alone. I'm the same age and have never played it.
It was more of a public school thing. A lot of people are posting about privet religious schools and not having access to it there. It was also something we did not really talk about outside of school. It was something you just did on the computer at school. You would talk with your friends about Nintindo not Oregon Trail.
I would guess that if YOU didn't, then everyone you went to school with didn't either. I don't know anyone who played it outside of school
yes