Survive the Oregon Trail, Part One

*This week is turning out to be a stressful one, so expect fresh content no earlier than this weekend. In the meantime, I'd like to let readers try their hands at a little contest I offered my residents last year. There were cash prizes involved when I last attempted this, but I can't really subsidize blog doings, so winners will instead receive my sincerest gratitude. I'll post any results readers have submitted plus a follow-up piece I wrote last year on Thursday/Friday.*


The Oregon Trail, a popular computer game during the 1980’s and early 90’s about 19th century American pioneer life, is a relic of childhood to many of our generation who grew up here. In it, players take the role of a party of people, of a selected profession, and attempt to survive the long, dangerous trip from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City.

Herein lies the challenge: I want to see how many of you can survive the trip in the game, and with the most points (translating to how healthy your party is, and how many possessions you still have). There are 3 professions that start off with the highest to the lowest amount of cash (Banker, Carpenter, and Farmer, respectively).

Simple, yes? Download the programs using the below protocol:


TO PLAY OREGON TRAIL:
1.) First, download the emulator
2.) Then extract it and run "APPLEWIN"
3.) Finally, download the game


After this you’re ready to play the game! When (or if..) you make it to Oregon City, and the results screen is displayed with the tally of your points (this results screen is absolutely necessary), just copy the screen, make it an image file, and send it to me via email.


Happy Trails,
Chris