The Story of The Oregon Trail

Thanks for your patience with this one! I hope it brings back lots of great memories.

This could almost be a Ken Burns documentary. Gaming Historian’s quality never disappoints and is always improving.

I teach 5th grade social studies, and a few weeks ago, I showed my kids the game. I played it for them, and the kids cheered loudly when I shot a buffalo. The kids got hooked on the game. It's amazing a game so old can still get kids in 2024 excited about learning.

My entire generation owes so much to the trio of Dillenberger, Heinemann, and Bouchard. I only wish this trio got more recognition for their massive contribution. Excellent and inspiring documentary.

Massive respect to these educators for creating a game that reached so many lives!

There was never enough time in class to finish the game. One day, my friend and I shut off the monitor, but not the computer. Later that day, we both snuck out of class, went to the computer lab, and finished the game. We could finally say we beat Oregon Trail!

When my school got Apple II’s they’d give each class a chunk of time on Fridays to do whatever we wanted on them. There was 25-30 of them in the “computer room” and you’d see Oregon trail on every single one. Thanks for introducing us to the people who made it happen. It’s so cool to learn that the game we loved as kids was created by caring teachers and not soulless software mills.

"When you're an educator, you're encouraged to write and publish. Paul and Bill and I, when you get right down to it, we were teachers. We have the teacher mentality. And so to get rich off of this would have been nice, but not as important as having donated something to the world of education" -Don Rawitsch This really warmed my heart. My God, if this quote doesn't embody the true altruistic nature and spirit of an educator, I don't know what would. No one would blame these guys if they were bitter or restful for having their original game modified and sold for profit to the extent of making OTHERS rich, but these gentleman are not only magnanimous about that fact but they are just happy that their inspiration was able to teach millions across the world. Isn't that just truly beautiful? THAT, my friends, is a teacher.

I’m about 20 minutes into this, and it’s giving real “teacher comes rolling into class with the TV and VCR” vibes. And I love it.

Hearing them talk about not caring about their lack of payment, basically because "That's what heroes do." Legit got me choked up a bit.

These guys, Paul Dillenberger , and Bill Heinemann are a true American heroes releasing the code for public consumption. They deserves more recognition for sure. Gaming Historian deserves kudos as well for bringing people like this to light.

Part of my beloved childhood. I am 53 and still consider this one of the greatest games of all time. The creators should have received more recognition both publicly and financially. They are true legends. Such an amazing video and I appreciate all your hard work in making this.

Can I just note that every other documentarian would do this on Kickstarter, release the DVD and blu-ray, tour it at video game conventions... Gaming Historian does all the work and posts it on YouTube for free. Norm rules.

There are History Channel docs that don't even come close to the quality that you bring to us. Simply amazing.

I did know that Oregon Trail was developed for use in the classroom. I didn't know that it was three student teachers crunching in a school building after hours because one said "I need a teaching tool for American westward expansion, and I need it in two weeks." That is damn impressive. These men are all a class act in both teaching and technology.

As a teacher it’s just so completely heartwarming to see these guys talk about their genuine love of the practice. Teachers do that everyday - they just do stuff because they know it will help their students learn and it’s the most beautiful thing to help them do just that.

fun fact: there are currently 349 games on the "list of video games considered the best" on Wikipedia and Oregon trail is the earliest

Mr. Dillenberger was a frequent substitute teacher of mine in middle school. He was one of the kindest most genuine people I've ever met! It's so cool to see you share this incredible story that hits so close to home!

I was one of those kids who played Oregon Trail in school on the black and green computer monitors. One of my best memories. ❤

This made me tear up. I played old MECC games as a VERY young child, and Oregon Trail was always the top tier, well ahead of Word/Number Munchers. Great upload. Keep em coming❤