As part of a research project on computer games produced prior to 1973 (the date of 101 BASIC Computer Games), I have been conducting research on The Oregon Trail, which originated at Carleton College in Minnesota in 1971 by Don Rawitsch, Paul Dillenberger, and Bill Heineman. The game was played in one of Rawitsch’s history classes and in programming and simulation classes taught by Dillenberger and Heineman, then put in storage until Rawitsch copied it onto the MECC computer system in 1974, with a revision in 1975 based on new research. The 1978 version is thus fairly close to the 1971 original, only with more accurate data. The original version also contained more jokes to make the learning process more interesting, but the data was still fairly accurate. Rawitsch testifies to the value of a simulation for teaching:
Although students can find out about the Oregon Trail by reading books, visiting museums, watching movies, and similar activities, the simulation allows them to learn from actively participating in the simulated experiences of people from another era.
Data on the Oregon Trail was collected from books and diaries and provided accurate information regarding the cost of goods, types of supplies to buy, and the frequency of disasters (i.e. bad weather occurs 20% of the time and injuries 5% of the time in the diaries, so they occur at the same rate in the game). The code also detects where the player is on the trail and adjust random events accordingly (i.e. it snows in the mountains and river disasters occur on the plains).