Reborn ‘Oregon Trail’ video game takes trip down nostalgia lane.
Modern arcades celebrate history of video games, teach about life in 1800s
“Oregon Trail” was both a game and a rite of passage for millions of students from the 1970s to early 2000s. Many a middle schooler suffered a virtual death of dysentery in a computer lab, trying to negotiate their 1800s wagon party across the U.S.
Now the game has returned, with two playable home builds of the classic game at High Scores Arcades in Alameda and Hayward.
“Oregon Trail” may be the ultimate video game nostalgia trip. Developed in 1971 by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, it flourished during the home computer boom of the 1980s and 1990s. Apple computers sold to schools in bulk often came bundled with the game.
High Scores owners Shawn and Meg Livernoche say the “Oregon Trail” build is part of their plan to celebrate video game history, with artistic, one-of-a-kind arcade games. These latest consoles were installed Tuesday, June 19.
“It just seemed like Oregon Trail fit that bill perfectly. It’s educational. It’s something that was once used as
a tool to integrate children into computing and learning history,” Shawn Livernoche said. “Why can’t we manifest that into a physical machine and share it with people again?”
The text-based game with simple animations is remembered for its unpredictability and harsh life lessons. Players in “Oregon Trail” travel across the U.S. by covered wagon, rationing resources to try to stay alive. “Carol Ann has died of dysentery” or “Marcus has drowned” were both common fates.
But while “Oregon Trail” was played across many platforms, it never existed as an arcade game. High Scores has committed to an annual custom arcade game build, to give their arcades more of a museum feel and surprise customers. Last year they premiered a “Legend of Zelda” arcade cabinet that features dozens of 1980s Nintendo Entertainment System games.
“A big part of our business is people walking in and getting blown away by something that they didn’t even have in their memory anymore,” Meg Livernoche said. “We love that moment, where someone says, ‘I haven’t even thought of that game in 30 years.’ Like they’re a kid again.”
High Scores commissioned Denver artist Sam Bahman to build the cabinets, which include hand-burnt wood construction, brushed copper metal accents and other touches — so, as much as it’s possible for a video game, this one would look as if it were built in the 19th century. Artist Brandon Hovet was hired to handdraw the cabinet artwork, which includes game instructions.
“In order to make it more of an authentic experience, I wanted this thing to look like it fell off the back of a wagon when it was being transported across the country to Oregon or San Francisco,” Bahman said. “Instead of just using regular wood, I have to actually make it look like a box, something that was manufactured back then.”
The game also uses an old IBM keyboard. High Scores manager Jonathan Williams built an interface that includes dozens of older computer games, including the 1970s text-based game “ZORK,” the computer lab favorite “Lemonade Stand,” Sierra Online’s “King’s Quest” designed by adventure game pioneer Roberta Williams, and others including “Lode Runner” and “Leisure Suit Larry.”
Joanne Gross visited the Hayward arcade over the weekend and was pleased to see her 7-year-old grandson, Sebastian, immediately gravitate toward the game — which was nestled between “newer” games including “Robotron” and “Defender.”
“I remember having the old Apple IIGS computers in my classroom when they were the new thing, and having this educational game to teach math and problem solving,” said Gross, a retired educator in the Pleasanton Unified School District.
High Scores was designated as a museum when it opened in 2013 out of necessity; an archaic ordinance restricting coin-op arcades was still on the books in Alameda and other Bay Area cities. The ordinances were passed in the 1980s, when parents and politicians feared “Pac-Man” and “Q*Bert” might turn their children into “zombies.”
Now, the games are part of history, and the education is happening inside the arcades.
“When it comes to things like ‘Oregon Trail,’ or the games we played in computer labs … all those things seem like they’re being forgotten,” Shawn Livernoche says. “This was our way of finding a way to preserve those games, along with the others, in a public space and sharing them with new people.”