Oregon Trail...
Like many adults my age, I have very fond memories of playing Oregon Trail. The first time I ever played Oregon Trail was a demo version on a friend's Macintosh. This was from 1994 or something, although I was playing it around 1995-96. It still had the awesome pixelated graphics. The demo let you get to the first fort before it ended.
I remember my parents gave my siblings and I Oregon Trail 3, which was super high-tech and included actual video clips of the "people" you could bring on your wagon train. It also was such a big program that it came on multiple discs. I remember our home computer frequently crashing as we tried to make our way to Oregon.
I remember my parents gave my siblings and I Oregon Trail 3, which was super high-tech and included actual video clips of the "people" you could bring on your wagon train. It also was such a big program that it came on multiple discs. I remember our home computer frequently crashing as we tried to make our way to Oregon.
I remember that this lady was an actress. I usually picked her to travel with my wagon train because she had a lot of money.
The excitement of this game was the fact that you got to make all the choices - how fast you traveled, how much food your party consumed and not to mention hunting and fishing. Gathering plants was super boring - especially when you were just starting to play the game and you had to look up everything. Dandelions - okay, eat it. Sumac - discard, DO NOT EAT. It took forever to look up all the plants and tell the game what to keep and what to discard - but it helped prevent scurvy.
I also remember that when you went hunting (in the Oregon Trail 3 version) you could get mauled by a bear from freakishly far away. The bear could be a small black jellybean on the screen, far off in the horizon and if you shot at it (at that far away, of course you would miss) and you would see the little bear animation move and paw the air. Then the game would make a noise and cut to a screen and - oops! You got mauled by a bear!
Every once in a while there would be a rattle snake on the hunting expedition. If you shot it and missed, the body would disappear and the snake head would suddenly pop up in the front of your computer screen, mouth gaping, fangs bared. The next thing you know, the screen would change and, you guessed it. You've been bitten by a snake. Better apply a tourniquet!
Every once in a while there would be a rattle snake on the hunting expedition. If you shot it and missed, the body would disappear and the snake head would suddenly pop up in the front of your computer screen, mouth gaping, fangs bared. The next thing you know, the screen would change and, you guessed it. You've been bitten by a snake. Better apply a tourniquet!
... or else...
Of course another feature of Oregon Trail was "resting." You could designate a period of "time" when your wagon train would rest. Since part of the scoring of the game is how fast you get to Oregon, resting really doesn't benefit you in the scheme of the game. The later you arrive, the smaller your claim. At one point, my younger brother discovered that there was no limit to how many days you could rest. He sat there and put in enough days to rest the wagon train well into the 20th century and then continued to Oregon. We were amazed that not only were the people in his wagon train still alive, but how there was still land left to stake a claim. But there was - and that guy was still there waiting to tell you "It took you an awfully long time to get here!"
Chip's Challenge...
Another awesome game that I remember spending time solving and advancing through the ranks was Chip's Challenge (which I discovered you can play through a simulator here.)
We had about three pages of paper, stapled together, containing all the codes of the different levels. I don't remember how far we got, but I seem to remember it was pretty far. I thought there was something like 300 levels, but according to the internet there are only 149. Playing through the simulator makes me wonder if I'm playing the exact same version as I had growing up... There are some elements that I don't remember. (It might be the Linux version in the simulator.) At least it still says "Bummer" when you accidentally die.
Chip's Challenge has a fairly straight-forward approach - don't step in fire without fire boots, you can't swim without flippers, and you need moon boots to walk on the force fields. Keys are color coded and the spy tiles will steal your items. Different monsters had different movement patterns - some even followed you - so you had to pay attention. Both my siblings and I, as well as our parents spent time solving the puzzles of this really fun game.
We had about three pages of paper, stapled together, containing all the codes of the different levels. I don't remember how far we got, but I seem to remember it was pretty far. I thought there was something like 300 levels, but according to the internet there are only 149. Playing through the simulator makes me wonder if I'm playing the exact same version as I had growing up... There are some elements that I don't remember. (It might be the Linux version in the simulator.) At least it still says "Bummer" when you accidentally die.
Chip's Challenge has a fairly straight-forward approach - don't step in fire without fire boots, you can't swim without flippers, and you need moon boots to walk on the force fields. Keys are color coded and the spy tiles will steal your items. Different monsters had different movement patterns - some even followed you - so you had to pay attention. Both my siblings and I, as well as our parents spent time solving the puzzles of this really fun game.
The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis
Finally, the last computer game I want to write about for this post is The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis.
I remember my grandparents had this computer game first and we played it at their house one summer. Later, we got our own copy for our home computer. Like Chip's Challenge, everyone in my family got into playing this game and we often had to set the kitchen timer to regulate everyone's "computer time." (at least for us kids) so that it was "fair."
I remember my grandparents had this computer game first and we played it at their house one summer. Later, we got our own copy for our home computer. Like Chip's Challenge, everyone in my family got into playing this game and we often had to set the kitchen timer to regulate everyone's "computer time." (at least for us kids) so that it was "fair."
The premise of the game was to help these little beings, called Zoombinis, escape their homeland after it gets taken over by these things called Bloats. The Zoombinis must emigrate across a perilous map to their newfound promised land where they can build anew and begin to grow and prosper once more.
In reality, it was a game that taught you various logic puzzles that increased in difficulty each time you went through the map. (There were 625 single combinations of Zoombinis to help escape, and you could only take 16 at a time.) The more Zoombinis you got to the new Zoombiniville, the more buildings would appear - anything from a windmill to a bowling alley or a clock tower. They would all be dated and dedicated to the Zoombinis who arrived at various points in the game, sort of like earning trophies.
One of my favorite stations in the game was the pizza troll station. I still find myself quoting this part of the game in my head.... ("Oh, c'mon! Pizza! You knooow I love youuuu!") ..... Usually because no one around me has played this game. As this level got harder, more two pizza trolls show up and you had to find the kinds of toppings they liked as well. The game also added ice cream, so in addition to the pizza toppings, you also had ice cream toppings to sort out.
The other awesome aspect of this game was the "hidden clicks." At certain spots in the game there where "resting" places where your Zoombinis could gather and you could save your progress. (Marked by the campfires on the map above.) I remember that there were just dozens of different animations around the campsite that would do funny little things if you clicked on them.
The other awesome aspect of this game was the "hidden clicks." At certain spots in the game there where "resting" places where your Zoombinis could gather and you could save your progress. (Marked by the campfires on the map above.) I remember that there were just dozens of different animations around the campsite that would do funny little things if you clicked on them.
This is the second campsite... I remember if you clicked the three steps to the tree house one would ring like a doorbell, one would cough and one would open and shut like a drawer. If you clicked the log by the fire it would sit up and then inch away. If you clicked the space again, it would come back. The tree trunk in the back of the picture would wash and scrub itself like it was taking a bath, or cough up leaves and acorns and eat them back up, or roar away a woodpecker... There were other Easter eggs, but that's all I feel like listing.
I seem to remember my mom getting all of the Zoombinis over to Zoombiniville. It took a long time and the puzzles got really difficult. Like, really, super difficult.
There are a lot of play-throughs available on YouTube, and some claim to allow you to download the game, but I haven't really explored those too closely. Also, I don't know if you would need to run a Windows 98 simulator or not.
This is really only a brief touch on of some of the computer games of my childhood. Some of my other favorites include:
There are a lot of play-throughs available on YouTube, and some claim to allow you to download the game, but I haven't really explored those too closely. Also, I don't know if you would need to run a Windows 98 simulator or not.
This is really only a brief touch on of some of the computer games of my childhood. Some of my other favorites include:
- SimTower
- Treasure Mountain
- ZooTycoon
- Age of Empires
- Tetris
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- The Rise of the Incredible Machine
- Klondike Trail
What were some of your favorite games growing up?
Happy Star Wars Day!
Happy Star Wars Day!