The Oregon Trail, originally created in 1971, has been a best-seller for years and shows no signs of slowing down. In 1998 the Trails series led the Upper Elementary educational software market. On May 13, 1999, The Learning Company announced the release of The Oregon Trail 4th Edition.

 

Don Rawitsch:
I think the Oregon Trail has endured over 25 years because of its original design goals, which are still important. The first version, using teletype and mainframe computers, offered a real context, challenge, variables and empowement. The Oregon Trail is historically situated---the students are reliving an experience that occured in 1848. There is challenge--you have finite resources and have to determine the best way to endure the challenging trip. There are variables in simulation--a simulation never happens the same way twice, there is a lot of replayability. The user is also empowered to make his/her own decisions.

Steve Powers:
In a world in which software lifetime is often measured in terms of a few years or even months, 25 years is absolutely phenomenal and practically unheard of. Yet Oregon Trail, a favorite of many generations of schoolchildren has achieved that milestone and shows no signs of slowing down. A software game based on long-ago pioneers' trek to Oregon by wagon train, Oregon Trail has both entertained and educated in its many incarnations. --Computer Currents 1996

Wayne Studer:
The introduction of The Oregon Trail in Elementary Volume 6 to the country marked the birth of the educational software industry. The Oregon Trail may well be considered the first educational "hit" of microcomputing. Originally designed by three teachers for the classroom in 1971, it has moved from versions for teletype and mainframe, to 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" disks, to CD-ROM. --Interview on 5/10/99

All versions of The Oregon Trail since 1982 are still available today, proof of its longterm appeal to children and adults alike. Versions include:

Creative Writing: Writing along the Oregon Trail
Wagon Train 1848
The Classic Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail II
Oregon Trail III
Oregon Trail IV