‘We can do that’
For as great of an impact asThe Oregon Trailhad on me as a kid, I know so very little about the circumstances surrounding its development. As it turns out, they’re fairly remarkable. AMental Flossprofile of the game recounts the story of three student teachers who wanted to bring the subject matter to life in their classrooms.
The original version of the wildly successful educational software was played using a teletype, which involved physical rolls of paper. This was 1971, after all. “Despite the lack of graphics, students who played weren’t students anymore,” said co-creator Don Rawitsch. “They were settlers crossing a wasteland. Their decisions were a question of life or death.”
