The Story of The Oregon Trail

Gaming Historian・2 minutes read

Albert Bierstadt's painting inspired the creation of the Oregon Trail game, developed by Don Rawitch, Bill Heineman, and Paul Dillenberger to enhance teaching methods, leading to its success as a popular educational tool for students and teachers alike. The game revolutionized education by blending entertainment with learning, showcasing the impact of technology in the classroom and the significance of historical journeys like the Oregon Trail.

Insights

Albert Bierstadt's painting "Immigrants Crossing the Plains" inspired the creation of an educational simulation game based on the Oregon Trail, developed by Don Rawitch, Bill Heineman, and Paul Dillenberger, which aimed to enhance teaching methods through historical accuracy and innovative gameplay.
The Oregon Trail game evolved over time, incorporating new features like river crossings, hunting, sickness, and interactions with other characters, to enhance player engagement and provide a varied, immersive experience that combined entertainment with education.
The success of Oregon Trail in schools and the home market revolutionized educational gaming, showcasing the effectiveness of integrating technology and fun into learning, ultimately influencing the development of the edutainment games industry and demonstrating the potential for enjoyable, interactive education.

Get key ideas from YouTube videos. It’s free

Recent questions

What inspired the creation of the Oregon Trail game?
Bierstadt's paintings of the Rocky Mountains.
Who were the main creators of the Oregon Trail game?
Don Rawitch, Bill Heineman, and Paul Dillenberger.
What impact did the Oregon Trail game have on education?
Enhanced teaching methods and student engagement.
How did the Oregon Trail game evolve over time?
Added features like River Crossings and Tombstones.
What led to the widespread popularity of the Oregon Trail game?
Integration of entertainment and education.

Related videos

Summary

00:00

"Oregon Trail Game Inspires Educational Innovation"

In 1869, Albert Bierstadt, a German American painter, completed a famous work known as "Immigrants Crossing the Plains," commonly referred to as the Oregon Trail, depicting the American frontier.
Bierstadt's paintings of the Rocky Mountains, created before the era of photography, sparked interest in moving westward.
In 1971, three student teachers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, developed an educational simulation game based on traveling the Oregon Trail.
The game gained popularity due to the rise of personal computers in classrooms, selling over 65 million copies and entering the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
Despite the game's success, the original creators did not aim for financial gain but to enhance teaching methods.
The game's impact extended to changing the software industry, education, and the lives of millions of students.
Carlton College in Northfield, Minnesota, was a small liberal arts college with a focus on equalizing students through tuition and socialistic principles.
In 1971, seniors Paul Dillenberger and Bill Heineman, math majors at Carlton, began student teaching assignments in Minneapolis.
Don Rawitch, a history major, joined Dillenberger and Heineman in their student teaching experience, focusing on innovative teaching methods.
Rawitch's unit on Westward Movement led to the creation of an educational board game, which inspired Dillenberger and Heineman to develop a computerized version based on the Oregon Trail, incorporating various elements like supplies, wagon weight, and food consumption.

18:11

Oregon Trail Game Development and Impact

The Oregon Trail was a significant part of American history, involving farmers, ranchers, business people, missionaries, miners, and families seeking a better life.
The game based on the Oregon Trail was developed by Don Rawitch, Bill Heineman, and Paul Dillenberger, with Rawitch focusing on historical accuracy and suggestions for the game.
Heineman was the main programmer, creating flow charts and writing most of the code by hand, while Dillenberger worked on debugging, subroutines, and testing the game.
Each turn in the game represented two weeks, allowing players to buy oxen, supplies, and food by inputting numbers and making decisions based on historical probabilities.
The game included hunting activities with time inputs to determine success, as well as options for players to choose gravestones or priests if their characters were dying.
The development of the game took place in a small computer room at Bryant Junior High, with the game becoming popular among students and faculty.
Concerns arose about the game's portrayal of Native Americans, leading to changes in the language used in the game to avoid negative stereotypes.
The Oregon game was introduced in a classroom setting at Jordan Junior High, where students engaged in group decision-making, learning history, math, and reading skills.
The game's success led to its removal from the Minnesota Public Schools computer system due to unauthorized access, prompting the creators to print off the game's code and delete the program.
After graduation, Don Rawitch became a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, finding a job in public service through the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, focusing on making computing accessible in rural areas of Minnesota.

35:35

"Oregon Trail: Pioneering Educational Computer Game"

In October 1974, Don Rawitch joined Mech, an educational computing organization, pioneering the use of computers in classrooms.
Mech conducted workshops to familiarize teachers with computers, established a software Library for schools, and facilitated infrastructure improvements.
Rawitch noticed a lack of social studies programs in the software Library and decided to add Oregon Trail, a game he updated for accuracy and realism.
Rawitch collaborated with Bill Heinan to enhance the game, fixing issues like negative spending and updating the hunting mini-game.
The updated Oregon Trail was introduced to Minnesota schools in 1975, becoming a popular educational tool.
Mech transitioned to microcomputers like the Apple 2, selling over 500 units to Minnesota schools between 1978 and 1979.
Oregon Trail was converted to Apple 2 basic and became one of Mech's best-selling games, leading to inquiries from other states like Iowa.
Mech's software licensing model allowed them to sell products outside Minnesota, generating significant revenue.
In 1984, Mech rebranded as the Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation, focusing on the home consumer market.
Philip Buard led the development of a new version of Oregon Trail for the home market, emphasizing entertainment and education while fitting within the constraints of the Apple 2 computer.

52:48

"Oregon Trail Game Enhancements and Challenges"

Two-thirds of the kids were invested in reaching Oregon, highlighting the importance of resource management to ensure supplies didn't run out, crucial for survival in the game.
Random events occurring every two weeks added suspense and engagement to the game, keeping players on edge.
The original game's structure lacked geographical elements, prompting the introduction of a landmark-based journey divided into 16 segments.
A daily cycle was added to the landmark structure to allow for immediate reactions to events between landmarks, enhancing player agency.
River Crossings were introduced as a new feature, each with varying conditions and challenges, adding excitement and decision-making to the game.
Hunting was refined to focus solely on hunting for food, resembling an arcade-style game, with a simplified programming approach for efficiency.
Sickness and accidents were incorporated into the game, with six common diseases included, adding a personal touch and motivation for players.
Interaction with other characters along the journey, including immigrants, soldiers, and Native Americans, was introduced to provide a varied experience.
The final leg of the journey presented players with a choice between rafting down the Columbia River or taking the Barlow Toll Road, each offering unique challenges.
A scoring system, difficulty levels, and the option to write a tombstone if the journey was unsuccessful were added to enhance replayability and engagement, with the tombstone feature proving particularly popular among players.

01:06:55

"Oregon Trail: From School Success to Closure"

Bill Heinan learned about the devious actions kids could take during the development of Tombstones in the original game.
Beta copies of the product were sent to schools in Minnesota for feedback, leading to the discovery of profanity on the Tombstones.
The issue of profanity on the Tombstones was traced back to students, prompting the addition of a feature to reset Tombstones and high scores.
The game, Oregon Trail, was released in July 1985 for the Apple 2, featuring a 2,000-mile journey with landmarks and challenges.
Oregon Trail was a hit with students, parents, and teachers, leading to a controversy when it was not included in the site licensing package for schools.
After inclusion in the site license, Oregon Trail became widely known and successful, with students influencing their parents to purchase the Home Market version.
Philip Buard's father became engrossed in playing Oregon Trail, leading to a competitive drive to top the high score list.
Oregon Trail's success allowed Mech to dominate the school software market, but the retail world posed challenges due to evolving technology.
Mech eventually ported Oregon Trail to new platforms, but financial struggles led to the company's sale to North American Fund 2 in 1991.
The original creators of Oregon Trail never profited from the game but received recognition in 1995 at an Oregon Trail-themed celebration, later leading to Mech's acquisition by SoftKey and then Mattel, resulting in financial losses and closures.

01:23:52

Oregon Trail: Educational Game Revolutionizing Learning

The Oregon Trail computer program has been a pivotal educational tool for over 50 years, teaching students about the challenging journey people undertook in the 1800s. It revolutionized teaching by integrating games and technology into classrooms, sparking the development of the edutainment games industry and demonstrating that learning can be enjoyable.

Try it yourself — It’s free.