The Oregon Trail

You all remember the old "edutainment" computer game right? Well I don't. I missed the whole thing apparently. It wasn't until I got to college and heard people talking about The Oregon Trail game that I even had a clue it existed. But I was sure interested in learning about it. Just the other day I was talking to a friend who teaches seventh grade history. She said she liked getting to teach the more exciting twentieth century history because, as she said, "that westward migration stuff is boring." Ahem. I happen to be quite interested in that westward migration stuff. I might even elect to switch programs and write a thesis about some aspect of it. I'm also a fan of old school computer games, so this Oregon Trail thing is right up my alley.

Before today I could only listen to the stories about how great the game was and imagine myself fording rivers and hunting for deer to feed my typhoidal family. But now I get to play it for real! I finally see what all the excitement is about! A friend sent it to me and I've played two games so far. First we all died near Boise, and I got to write my own epitaph, but in my second game I made it to Oregon City with only one death! We didn't really need that fifth person anyway. I do, however, need to get better at hunting. So I won by reaching the West weak and half starved, but I didn't have nearly enough points to make it into the top ten. It seems the number one player will remain, for a while, Sambo Flojo.