This manifested itself in the game as a new event that could occur when players were struggling.
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In the diaries I read I probably should admit to being surprised by how often people wrote about the help they received from Native Americans who helped them understand where the trail was, where it went, what kind of food along the way was edible and which would make you ill.” “We were very concerned about the way Native Americans were portrayed, because the schools that we taught in had significant populations of Native American students. This was something he hoped he could insert into the game to combat the negative stereotypes that were prevalent at the time in other media. When reading old accounts Rawitsch was surprised by just how often Native tribes intervened to offer assistance to travelers that were struggling along the trail. I also kept score so I could get a sense of the frequency with which certain things happened: what percentage of the days were bad weather, what percentage of the days were they low on food and things like that.”Īnother consequence of the research was the sensitive portrayal of Native Americans. “I took several of those diaries and read them all the way through and kept track of the things that really did happen. “The most significant thing that I did in terms of research was to find published accounts of the actual diaries of people who travelled the trail,” he explains.
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It also formed the basis of a manual that guided teachers on how to use the program in the classroom. This information was used to alter the frequency percentages in the game, making the title more true to life.
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Using code from the original game, Rawitsch reworked the title to fix several errors and conducted some additional research. Work then began on bringing the Oregon Trail back into the classroom. Delighted with the proposition, they greenlit the project. MECC provided the perfect opportunity to accomplish this.Īfter seeking the permission of the co-creators Heinemann and Dillenberger, Rawitsch pitched Oregon Trail to his new employers at MECC. The condition for this was that he’d have to complete two years alternative service. In the intermediate years, he’d been drafted in the Vietnam War, but had been exempted as a conscientious objector. To solve this they hired a bunch of young and ambitious teachers to suggest original ideas. The only problem was that they were lacking programs. Its goal would be to bring computing facilities and support staff to educational institutions in Minnesota. In 1973 the Minnesota Education Computing Consortium (MECC) was created. This continued until the very end of the semester when Rawitsch removed it from the system. It became an instant hit, with the schoolchildren arriving early and staying late to play it. Moving the school’s machine into the classroom, he tested his creation on his students, one group at a time. This early version of Oregon Trail made its debut in Rawitsch’s History class in early December 1971. Given that there was no monitor on the machine, important information would be printed out and disclosed on a roll of paper. Programming the game into a Teletype machine, an electromechanical typewriter connected to a mainframe computer, they incorporated several scenarios that the player would have to respond to by inputting a numerical value. He quickly accepted.ĭillenberger and Heinemann spent the next two weeks putting together the original version of Oregon Trail with their friend. Upon seeing their friend stooped over theīig sheet of paper, surrounded by a pile of notes, they suggested he collaborate with them to turn his boardgame idea into a computer program.
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Prior to the completion of this prototype, his two roommates, Paul Dillenberger and Bill Heinemann, returned home. On a stack of cards he wrote some examples of difficulties that the early settlers had faced: snakebites, dysentery and broken wagon wheels. Using a map of the United States Frontier, he sat in his apartment putting together the first few pieces. This style of teaching would inspire his next project, a boardgame about the Oregon Trail. Teaching in multiple schools around Minneapolis, Don Rawitsch was no stranger to finding new ways of engaging his students, having gone so far as to even dress up as historical figures to take lessons.Īs he says, “ very much encouraged students who were planning on following a teaching career to think a lot about different ways of educating students and using creativity in creating curriculum materials.” Little did they know it would become one of most popular educational titles ever made, prompting countless parodies, live reenactments and even a touring musical. In 1971 three student teachers at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota set about creating a game that could be used in the classroom to teach children about the Oregon Trail.