There are few video games more fondly remembered than the Oregon Trail. It has inspired countless gamers and spawned countless memes. Still, it is hard to say how much of the fondness gamers feel towards this storied title is due to the fact that Oregon Trail was literally the first (and in some cases, the only) video game many children played. Much of its exposure came in classrooms, due to its educational nature.
By the standards of the time in which the 1990 “Classic Edition” was released, much less those of today, there's very little actual substance to Oregon Trail, and many will find it either tiresomely repetitive or only good for a brief jaunt down nostalgia lane.
Gameplay in the older versions of Oregon Trail consists mostly of hunting every day to make the most of your food supply (a minigame where you shoot at a variety of game) and waiting for your party to reach the next landmark.
Later versions, including the 1992 Oregon Trail Deluxe and the 1995 Oregon Trail II offer vast improvements on both graphics and gameplay. In fact, many adults in their 30s today are far more likely to have grown up on either of those than the variants of the Ur Oregon Trail.
Still, this remains an artifact for the curious. While this is a step up from the days of having to type “Bang” and “Pow” to shoot game in the earliest versions, a quick play of Oregon Trail: Classic Edition will show kids (and many adults) how lucky they've had it compared to Generation X, who had to walk to school through snow, uphill both ways, to get to their vidya.
Review By P. Alexander
English 
Comments and reviews
Oregon Trail was my first real taste of "educational" gaming holding my attention as a kid. If anyone wants a quick nostalgia fix that runs straight in the browser with no download, https://www.hahagames.com has a solid free library worth a look.
I Played This Game 🎮 In Elementary School
what is the Windows 3.x version? i have never seen this version of the oregon trail.
First time ever playing the original Oregon Trail, got a score of 3786 on my first attempt! Awesome classic game.
fun fact: the phrase "you have died of dysentery" doesn't actually come up anywhere in the game. It will print "[Name] has dysentery." then "[Name] has died."
do with this information what you will
Haven't seen this game since elementary school. 1988 or 89.
Got the dos version. The zip includes only oregon.exe. Running it Freedoe 1.3 it says "must be run from a floppy disk. The Mac version contains 2 floppy images. The DOS version Does not
This sucks. Original was way better.. how can the computer people figure this out??
I had died many times, and I wrote: SNK NEO GEO
Seeing “penis died” for the main preview perfectly hits the nostalgia - 10/10
Where can I find an original file that APK that I could download onto Android or zip file that I can extract that is suitable for Android's new systems I would love my daughter to play it can I get it from APK files.com or CNET?? Thanks in advance
I loved this game in elementary school I can’t wait to play it agsin
@PG I'm 53 years old and I'm happy AF that today's technology and internet which is now known as the online community has brought the world together to learn from each other and grow together as a race, the HUMAN race, and not as we were before with the ignorance of not knowing our neighbours around the globe.
I know you probably miss the days when some people thought that Christopher Columbus discovered America ( although it was really Amerigo Vespucci where we got the name America, and America is North, Central AND South America, not just the United States, this I learned from researching online...oops, I meant the "internet" :-D)
And you're probably referring to Asians as Orientals and referring to other races by other offensive names that I'm sure you know about, and the bliss of ignorance of having your head buried in the sand like an ostrich content not knowing anything more than what you can read from the newspaper at the corner liquor store, maybe The Inquirer or The Sun newspapers, yea I'm sure THOSE were the days, huh? :-/
In which case you shouldn't have any need to be commenting here, since today's illiterate society can't possibly relate to someone as intelligent as you, right? :-D
Anyway, this game the Oregon Trail is an all time classic and should ALWAYS be available for future generations to learn how it was back in the colonizing days. I have played this game 25 years ago for the first time on my IBM PS/2 that my older brother gave to me and I can't wait to play it again and relive those days. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Abandonware, for making this game available :-)
Works amazing and i love this text based game its sequel and deluxe tend to little annoy me a bit for being more gui but still good game to play if you like text based environment.
Well this certainly brings back memories of elementary school
This colored one definitely came later... I remember a version with only green pixel dots. The "squirrels" were hilarious!
What? No screenshot of "You have died from dysentery"?
Responding to gerald.
Unzip the file and open OREGON.EXE with DOSBox
how tf do i run this on dos box idk how computers work
i play it in school i play in house i play it in bathroom i play it in shower i play it in coffin
If your trying to run this game on a Windows 10 PC, you will need DOSbox to run it as it won't run normally in this version of Windows.
This is my first time playing it. it's sooooooooo good!
I had never played the original, only the deluxe version. This is fun :-)
Bear Vs. Salmon, you can convert one of the mainframe versions, they're pretty small and entirely in BASIC. Otherwise this is almost identical: http://www.atariarchives.org/bca/Chapter02_WestwardHo.php
why does it skip when on the trail unless something happens i'm playing on windows xp
I remember playing the Classic Oregon Trail on IBM Networking computers as a kid.... That and Primary Editor Plus, Where in the World/USA is Carmen Sandiego, and other "Educational" classics... Talk about Nostalgia....
I am looking for a copy of the original version of Oregon trail on 51/4 floppy disk for apple ll
It's a shame. 'Pg' is using an online platform (likely with a decent device) to ban a generation about their access to technology.
I am a millennial. I remember playing in school. That's why I am on this page in the first place. Just kind of food for thought to those predisposed do decide others morals based on age. At least last millennials are discriminatory by a LARGE margin. But that's numbers not opinion.
I'm glad to see this on here so I can reminisce the days when nothing could go wrong.
this game is awesome even though i just finished it yesterday lol
I review The Oregon Trail here: http://youtu.be/KHXThZGUWrw
It works under SheepShaver running 9.04.
Works just fine in M.E.S.S. on Ubuntu.
I remember playing this game back in 1990 while I was in the sixth grade. I used to love going to the computer lab with my class each week, just so we could play The Oregon Trail on those Old School Apple computers. Each of us were so enthralled by the game, it was the only time that an instructor didn't have to tell us to be quiet. Kids today (Millenials) will never understand how fun and educational The Oregon Trail was for our generation. Sadly, the main reasons they use computers is to connect on Social Media (which has led to Cyber Bullying),
Hacking/Stealing personal information, and other nonsense. Only Xennials can comprehend how Awesome this game is, was and always will be! We grew up during a time when life was simple, and technology had not overstepped it's boundaries by consuming the entire world, and turning everyone into illiterate zombies that can't function without an Iphone in their hand.
It won't run on my TI-83! Halp.
I can't play it on my iPad
Every public school in America had a copy of this back in the day, even the tiny school in rural Idaho I grew up in. Many younger people might find it boring, and wonder what we see in it. In all honesty, with the nostalgia glasses off it might not seem like much, but dagnabit yunguns it was fun!
I cant play it on my mac :(
Best Game Ever!!!
Need to make one for tablets! I hate the settler game. Want the real game on tablet! So does everybody else. Everybody's asking for it.
Will it run on OS X 10.12?
won't work on my Mac :(
I can't play the game on my browser
loving this game
How do you set it up for macbook?
wow. i love this game and havent played in years! i recently installed mini vmac-- here goes gaming:)
Can you play this without downloading?
amazing loved it
Why are you all using JUST DOSbox? Use the far superior LaunchBox *(Which includes DOSbox and many more emulators) that does a lot of this behind the scenes work for you? I got the newest version *(4.6 as of this typing) and it works like a dream for me.
I wanna play this so badly but my PC is messed up.
This better have the peperony and chease epigraph...
If only they had had Viagra. :o(
Windows 7? You'll need DOSBox to run any DOS-based games on Windows 7. That, or find an old 286/386.
this game relate the live the people to living in contry the oregon .
this good for learn the history the civilizacion.
nice screenshot!
does not run on windows 7
WoW !!! I was in 6th/7th grade when this game came out been looking for a few yrs for a copy. Always loved coming upon a river and deciding how to handle it. A lot of times would forge the rivers but not always the wise way to go. Current would usually tip you over and cost you supplies. LOL Oh well....
old time goodness
Long live the days of surviving and dying from dysentery...
We've ALL died of dysentery! :(
how many died of dysentery? ^^
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.