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MIT student blogger Bryan O. '07

I Tried to Ford the River by Bryan

Are you even old enough to remember this?

So I just got this email:

Don Rawitsch, one of the original inventors of the Oregon Trail
computer game is coming to MIT and giving a talk about the game:

When: 5:30 pm this Friday (4/21)
Where: Dining room of Pika (69 Chestnut Street)

I don’t know how many of you had the luxury of playing this game in elementary school on those good ol’ 3.5″ floppy disks, but I did =)

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it to the event, BUT I will be at a formal on the 33rd floor of a building in downtown Boston.

The tradeoff isn’t too shabby.

12 responses to “I Tried to Ford the River”

  1. Actually, I had the pleasure of playing it on 5.25″ floppy disks. Oh, good times.

  2. Anonymous says:

    I loved Oregon Trail!!! The trick is to be a doctor so you get lots of money to start out with and you can heal everyone when they get sick. smile

  3. Jon says:

    oh man…..if i remember any computer games in school, it was definitely Oregon Trail in 2nd grade (and they always used big words….like dysentery….how the hell is a kid supposed to know what the “bloody flux” is?)

    oh, and whats with killing 5,000 pounds of beef, but only being able to carry back 200….talk about eradication of certain species

  4. Anonymous says:

    I loved that game! I think i always played one of the later versions though….

  5. nehalita says:

    I’m with Michael, I remember begging the computer teacher afterschool to stay in the “computer center” to finish my game of Oregon Trail. Good times.

  6. Zach says:

    whoo, i remember playing the second version of the game in 5th grade. ahh, the great memories smile

  7. Laura says:

    Does anyone remember Oregon Train? It was just Oregon Trail but you teamed up with the wagons of all of your friends in the computer lab. It was pretty sweet. Except it was elementary school, so people would just vote off the unpopular kids because everyone was immature like that…so….maybe not…

    I don’t think I ever played Oregon Trail on 5.25″ floppies, but Number Munchers totally came on those. =)

  8. Shannon says:

    Oh man, doctor was definitely the way to go. Was anyone ever able to raft down the entire Columbia River though? Seriously, I always died trying to do that…

  9. thekeri says:

    I remember skipping out on my 4th grade mainstream class to play Oregon Trail in the gifted classroom.

    That was such a great game.

    Wait, Laura had Oregon Train?! Unfair! I protest!

  10. Carmel says:

    oregon trail! what memories. that shit was installed on every single computer in my elementary school, no joke

  11. Jess says:

    I remember. I remember my brother and sister dying of DYSENTERY. And trying to ford the freaking river, but the oxen kept DROWNING!

    That game killed my hopes and dreams, man. And my uncle.

  12. Dude says:

    Dude, they should totally make an up to date, fps, high quality version of Oregon Trail!