It was during these times that they set out to make their creation come to a fruition and forever change the face of education as we know it today. A portion of their teaching degree work was assignments as teachers in local Minneapolis schools. Those three men, Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenger were all student teachers who were on a path which would have them graduating from Carleton in 1971. It forced us into decision making, history learning, economy of possessions, and of course actual fun and frustration, depending on which side of the game outcome you were on.

Whether on a CRT of the 1970s or on a ASR-33 Teletype as the original version was on, Oregon Trail was game that made us all appreciate the hardships faced by the original settlers of the west. Yes, that computer game, which every child of the past 40 years has played in one form or another. It has now been 50 years since three students at Carleton College created the game which single handedly changed the course of computing education and history forever. Running out of food, running out of time, freezing to death, killed by disease or some malady that the game threw at them. Most my fellow students who played the game did nothing to dispel this adage and each game ended much in a similar manner. From where I stood, it was more like the survival of running through the meat grinder. Simple enough play, yet difficult to win, if there was any such thing with the game.

The game was something called Oregon Trail and the objective was to get to Oregon without dying. In 1977, I was playing a game on a teletype at Ansbach American High School which had been written several years before.

TechAlliance Products Catalog Spring 1989.

Cyber Jack: Synergistic & Robert Clardy.

Oregon trail deluxe mac floppy