Show Notes: Trailblazers

The Oregon Trail was the perfect game to have inspired the personal computer revolution

The only thing missing is that awful grinding sound of the disk booting up

This is the penultimate full-length episode of the second season of the Everything is a Primary Source podcast. And what a season it has been! If you like what you’ve heard, please consider supporting the show over at Patreon.com/epspodcast and of course here on Substack, or by sharing, liking, reviewing, and following the show on social media, including YouTube and especially Instagram, and wherever you get your podcasts.

The Oregon Trail; that term evokes images of either pioneers making their way from east to west in the middle of the 19th century, or the computer game where, no matter what you do, at least one of your characters will die of dysentery. The game was such a staple of elementary school computer labs throughout the 1980s, and many of us who played it on the Apple IIe probably assumed that The Oregon Trail just fell into the mix of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? and Number Munchers as games developed all at the same time with the purpose of entertaining and educating our generation.

But The Oregon Trail has its origins earlier than with the personal computer revolution, making it and those who created it pioneers in their own right. Dan R. Morris, host of the fantastic history podcast, Tracing the Path, joined me recently to talk about the educational game and from where and when it came.

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