1990s kids play Oregon Trail


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1 comment.

Many of us in the Apple II community were first introduced to the computer in its heyday. And for some younger members, that introduction occurred in the classroom, playing Oregon Trail.

If that wasn’t our last encounter with the Apple II, then we wouldn’t be surprised if we booted Oregon Trail today and saw blocky graphics and heard rudimentary music — that’s typical of an early 8-bit computer. But if we graduated from that classroom and never looked back, then we might be surprised that Oregon Trail isn’t quite what we remember — if we remember it at all.

That’s what Buzzfeed set out to test in a react-style video: it recruited adults who grew up in the 1990s (a bit after the Apple II’s height of popularity) — adults who have apparently never played modern adaptations of Oregon Trail, such as Organ Trail — and asked them to play Oregon Trail.

Despite the hardware and software being from their youth, both seem absolutely foreign to these players. They expect mouse input where there is none; they’re surprised by the amount of text and lack of real-time interactivity; the keyboard controls for hunting are indecipherable (I’m guessing it’s IJKM); and one couldn’t remember where the Oregon Trail led. (Hint: it’s in the title.)

Even if this video is a rough reintroduction, the gamers nonetheless seemed to enjoy themselves. Their exasperation at the various maladies that befall their parties has an undercurrent of amusement. One test subject even says he might go home and play Oregon Trail. Now that would be a win!

In the end, these players congratulated themselves — not on making it from Independence to Willamette Valley, but on playing the game at all. They commented, "Kids these days would hate this game… They wouldn’t have the patience." Is that true? Stay tuned…

  1. Given that they were playing the PC version of the game, it was arrow keys, enter to move/stop moving, spacebar to shoot: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y7DQrOa70yk/hqdefault.jpg

    And, they did a teens play version a year later: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sydBjmxI1Vs