Remember the Oregon Trail
The Apple II was absolutely amazing to me when I was a kid. It did so much. You could type, even draw and paint in AppleWorks. But most importantly, you could play Oregon Trail. This was definitely one of the most popular ways to use your time when I was younger. Much more educational than homework, and more entertaining than after school specials. Maybe you remember it?
It taught me all sorts of useful things I have used my whole life. Like geography.
Even how to avoid illness and stay healthy. I mean, the last thing you want is to catch something serious while trying to make your way across the country by wagon.
Oregon Trail even provided vital insights as to the thoughts and feelings that these courageous pioneers had throughout their incredible journey.
I can’t count how many times I had thieves steal my oxen during the night. Bummer. I often wonder how many oxen I lost while trying to cross rivers. All of this I just chalked up to bad luck. But I never understood how my poor oxen became randomly injured. I guess this was supposed to teach me that sometimes, life just isn’t fair.
But in the end, if you actually made it all the way to Oregon, you could brag to all your friends. I wonder why the banker was the only one who seemed able to get a group to Oregon. The real challenge was trying to play a whole game in the school library before anyone showed up that wanted to do real work on the school’s only computer. There was no saving games to the lone cassette tape. Those were the days.
Tags: Apple, Gaming, History, Mac, Oregon Trail
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