Q 01/05

Three student teachers from which Minnesota school wrote the original Oregon Trail in 1971?

A) Carleton

B) Macalester

C) St. Olaf

D) Gustavus Adolphus

Answer · why

A) Carleton

Don Rawitsch, Bill Heinemann and Paul Dillenberger built it in about two weeks for an eighth-grade history unit, then deleted it from the school distr...

Q 02/05

In what year did the very first version of The Oregon Trail debut in a Minneapolis junior-high classroom?

A) 1974

B) 1978

C) 1982

D) 1971

Answer · why

D) 1971

It ran on an HP 2100 minicomputer that students reached through a single teleprinter, so the game had no graphics at all.

Q 03/05

In the original teleprinter version, what word did players have to type to fire their gun while hunting?

A) POW

B) FIRE

C) SHOOT

D) BANG

Answer · why

D) BANG

Later versions randomised the word between BANG and POW, and typing it faster earned more food; a misspelling meant the shot did nothing.

Q 04/05

Which four-letter organisation produced and distributed The Oregon Trail from 1975?

A) PLATO

B) MECC

C) SRI

D) TIES

Answer · why

B) MECC

The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium was state-funded and gave the game to Minnesota schools for free while selling it elsewhere.

Q 05/05

Which future music superstar was among the Minneapolis students who play-tested the first version?

A) Prince

B) Bob Dylan

C) Morris Day

D) Jimmy Jam

Answer · why

A) Prince

Heinemann and Dillenberger let students at Bryant Junior High try it, and the kids stayed late at school for another turn.