The Oregon Trail (series)
Updated: 12/20/2025, 1:08:56 PM Wikipedia source
The Oregon Trail is a series of strategy computer games. The first game was originally developed by Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) in 1974. The original game was designed to teach eighth grade schoolchildren about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley via a covered wagon in 1848.
Infobox
Genre
Edutainment
Developer
MECC
Publishers
Broderbund The Learning Company Gameloft
Creators
Don Rawitsch Bill Heinemann Paul Dillenberger
First release
The Oregon TrailDecember 3, 1971
Latest release
The Oregon TrailApril 2, 2021
Spin-offs
The Amazon TrailThe Yukon TrailMayaQuest: The Mystery TrailAfrica Trail
Tables
The Oregon Trail games · History › Games
2022
Gameloft
Role(s)
Nintendo Switch, Windows
| Title | Year | Developer | Publisher | Platform |
| The Oregon Trail | 1971 | Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger | Not published | HP 2100 |
| OREGON | 1975 | Modified by Don Rawitsch | MECC (on timeshare system) | CDC Cyber 70, HP2000 |
| OREGON | 1978 | John Cook (ported from timeshare version) | MECC (as download) | Apple II |
| OREGON (part of Elementary Volume 6) | 1980 | Unchanged from 1978 version | MECC (on floppy disk) | Apple II |
| Oregon (part of Expeditions) | 1983 | MECC (ported from 1980 Apple II version) | MECC | Atari 8-bit |
| Oregon (part of Expeditions) | 1984 | MECC (ported from 1980 Apple II version) | MECC | Commodore 64, Radio Shack TRS-80 |
| The Oregon Trail | 1985 | R. Philip Bouchard (designer), MECC | MECC | Apple II |
| The Oregon Trail | 1990 | MECC (remake of 1985 Apple II version) | MECC | DOS |
| The Oregon Trail | 1991 | MECC | MECC | Macintosh (B&W) |
| The Oregon Trail Deluxe | 1992 | MECC (ported from 1991 Macintosh version) | MECC | DOS (with mouse support) |
| The Oregon Trail | 1993 | MECC (port of The Oregon Trail Deluxe) | MECC | Windows 3.x, Windows |
| Oregon Trail II | 1995 | Wayne Studer (designer), MECC | SoftKey | DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows, Macintosh |
| The Oregon Trail 3rd Edition | 1997 | The Learning Company | The Learning Company | Windows, Macintosh |
| The Oregon Trail 4th Edition | 1999 | The Learning Company | The Learning Company | Windows, Macintosh |
| The Oregon Trail 5th Edition | 2001 | The Learning Company | The Learning Company | Windows, Macintosh |
| The Oregon Trail | 2009 | Gameloft Shanghai, Gameloft New York | Gameloft | DSiware |
| The Oregon Trail: Gold Rush | 2010 | Gameloft | Gameloft | J2ME |
| The Oregon Trail HD | 2010 | Gameloft | Gameloft | Windows Phone, Android, iOS |
| The Oregon Trail: American Settler | 2011 | Gameloft | Gameloft | iOS, J2ME |
| The Oregon Trail | 2011 | DoubleTapGames LLC | Crave Entertainment | Wii, 3DS |
| The Oregon Trail Card Game | 2016 | Pressman Toy Corporation | Pressman Toy Corporation | Card game |
| The Oregon Trail | 2018 | Basic Fun! (ported from 1990 DOS version) | Basic Fun! | Handheld device |
| The Oregon Trail: Journey to Willamette Valley | 2018 | Pressman Toy Corporation | Pressman Toy Corporation | Board game |
| The Oregon Trail: StepTracker | 2022 | Gameloft | Gameloft | Apple Watch |
| The Oregon Trail | 2021 | Gameloft | Apple | Apple Arcade |
| 2022 | Gameloft | Nintendo Switch, Windows | ||
| 2023 | Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | |||
| 2024 | PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 |
References
- "The Legend of The Oregon Trail"https://web.archive.org/web/20130731090300/http://mentalfloss.com/article/51930/legend-oregon-trail
- Yester: Then For Nowhttps://web.archive.org/web/20180830073852/https://yesterthenfornow.kinja.com/an-interview-with-the-teacher-turned-developer-behind-o-1529659314
- "Oregon Trail: How three Minnesotans forged its path"https://web.archive.org/web/20110123012937/http://www.citypages.com/content/printVersion/1740595/
- "Hewlett-Packard HP 2000 Time Shared BASIC"http://www.decodesystems.com/hp2000/
- The Philipendiumhttps://medium.com/the-philipendium/4626ea09e184
- The Atlantichttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/09/the-true-story-of-real-life-oregon-trail/380730/
- Creative Computinghttps://archive.org/stream/creativecomputing-1978-05/Creative_Computing_v04_n03_1978_May-June#page/n139/mode/2up
- format.comhttps://www.format.com/magazine/features/design/you-have-died-of-dysentery-oregon-trail-design
- Interview with Dale Lafrenz. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (accessed July 1, 2012)http://purl.umn.edu/107423
- Oregon Trail Game Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machinehttp://www.abandon5000.com/download/educational-games/oregon-trail-deluxe.html
- "The Oregon Trail: 3rd Edition for Windows (1997) – MobyGames"http://www.mobygames.com/game/oregon-trail-3rd-edition
- "Amazon.com: Oregon Trail 4th Edition: Software"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000JLNL
- "Amazon.com: The Oregon Trail, 5th Edition: Software"https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005LBVS
- PocketGamer.bizhttps://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/24637/gameloft-primes-five-hd-games-for-windows-phone-7-us-launch/
- pressmantoy.comhttps://web.archive.org/web/20191107233317/https://www.pressmantoy.com/product/the-oregon-trail-card-game/
- The Vergehttps://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/3/24/17155538/the-oregon-trail-handheld-portable-game-review
- PC Gamerhttps://www.pcgamer.com/get-the-oregon-trail-handheld-game-for-just-dollar850-right-now/
- pressmantoy.comhttps://www.pressmantoy.com/product/the-oregon-trail-journey-to-willamette-valley/
- mashable.comhttps://mashable.com/article/oregon-trail-nintendo-switch
- "Educational computing for the masses"https://archive.today/20070628002639/http://siliconuser.com/?q=node/12
- David H. Ahl's BASIC Computer Adventures
- "The Oregon Trail: Contracting dysentery has never been so much fun"https://web.archive.org/web/20141102180504/http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Mobile/The+Oregon+Trail/review.asp?c=7058
- Facebook Oregon Trail Application: Social Networking Website's Version of the Original Educational Game
- "Oregon Trail iPhone Hands-On"https://web.archive.org/web/20141102182654/http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/25/oregon-trail-iphone-hands-on
- "The Oregon Trail Out Now-On"https://web.archive.org/web/20090314021427/http://theportablegamer.com/2009/03/the-oregon-trail-out-now/
- On the Trail of the Oregon Trail Archived July 6, 2011, at the Wayback Machine by Jimmy Maher on filfre.net (source codehttp://www.filfre.net/tag/the-oregon-trail
- "Classic games coming to Facebook"https://web.archive.org/web/20141102182902/https://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/classic-games-coming-facebook-348.html
- "Carmen Sandiego, Oregon Trail on Facebook will be no more next year"https://web.archive.org/web/20141102183341/http://blog.games.com/2011/12/19/carmen-sandiego-oregon-trail-facebook-close/
- GameSpothttps://www.gamespot.com/reviews/oregon-trail-review/1900-6347711/
- "Organ Trail"https://web.archive.org/web/20141102183505/http://hatsproductions.com/organtrail.html
- "Oregon Trail Live"http://www.oregontraillive.com
- "The Trail To Oregon!"http://www.teamstarkid.com/trail-to-oregon
- "The Oregon Trail Game 5K"https://web.archive.org/web/20150716081742/http://www.orcity.org/community/event/oregon-trail-game-5k
- "The Oregon Trail is back, but this time it's a card game"https://www.cnet.com/news/the-oregon-trail-is-back-as-a-card-game-and-includes-all-the-trail-traveling-anyone-could-want/
- "OG Trail"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tech.ula.ogtrail
- "'The Oregon Trail': The Iconic Video Game is Being Made Into Movie Musical [Exclusive]"https://collider.com/the-oregon-trail-movie-musical-josh-gordon-will-speck-benj-pasek-justin-paul/
- "'The Oregon Trail' Musical Film Adaptation in Development From 'Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile' Directors, Songwriting Duo Pasek and Paul"https://variety.com/2022/film/news/the-oregon-trail-game-musical-adaptation-in-development-1235394208/
- "'Oregon Trail' Action-Comedy Movie In Development at Apple (Exclusive)"https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oregon-trail-movie-apple-1236045454/
- Varietyhttps://variety.com/2024/film/news/oregon-trail-film-apple-pasek-paul-1236191400/
- "A New Spin On A Classic Video Game Gives Native Americans Better Representation"https://www.npr.org/2021/05/12/996007048/no-bows-and-arrows-and-no-broken-english-on-the-updated-oregon-trail
- "'The Oregon Trail' is back—and a little less racist"https://www.fastcompany.com/90645359/the-oregon-trail-is-back-and-a-little-less-racist