The Oregon Trail

WEBVTT

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Other Castle.

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The Other Castle, I'm Andrea.

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And my name is Tom.

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Here on The Other Castle, we give you the plot, lore, and more behind all your favorite video games, even nostalgic ones like this.

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We get into the production, we get into the actual gameplay, we get into why these games exist.

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Yeah, we get into the history, all of it.

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If this is your first time listening to The Other Castle, you can check us out at theothercastlepodcast.com.

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That's theothercastlepodcast.com.

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Over there, you can sign up for things like our Patreon, our Discord, our Twitch channel, all sorts of fun things.

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We got our merch shop out there.

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And because this week is the last episode we have for season seven, we will be moving over to doing weekly Twitch streams while we are in production for season eight.

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Yes, we will.

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It's gonna be very exciting.

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Playing all sorts of different games so you can sign up for our Discord.

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We'll do voting on what games we're gonna be playing and stuff like that.

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Because we don't know what we're playing yet.

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No, we do not.

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We should, so we should put that out very soon.

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So if you're on the Discord, keep an eye out to tell us what to play on Fridays.

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But what are we doing today?

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Today, we are doing one of the biggest, actually the biggest ever edutainment game ever made.

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Minecraft?

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The Oregon Trail.

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Oh, that's different.

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It's very different, right?

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Now, I think most American kids play this in school, right?

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Yes, I would say most American kids did.

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We'll give a little bit of a history lesson for our non-American listeners.

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Okay, because like why were they going to Oregon?

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Right, exactly.

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What's so special?

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Well, what is your experience with The Oregon Trail?

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I thought you were just going to say Oregon for some reason and I don't know why.

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Okay, I talked to you about this off mic, but I don't think I had a normal experience with The Oregon Trail.

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No, you did not.

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So I went to public schools in the East Bay in California, and my fourth grade year, it was split between a fourth grade and a fifth grade classroom.

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So there were like 15 fourth graders and 15 fifth graders doing two different curriculums simultaneously, which is some crazy ass public school shit.

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But there was one unit where they were like, all right, we're going to be doing The Oregon Trail.

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And because fifth graders have to have everything a little bit more difficult, they just like turn up the difficulties.

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But we did a tabletop role playing version of The Oregon Trail, which I found out recently is not a valid licensed product.

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Yeah, because I know a lot of people think like, oh, The Oregon Trail had this origin as a board game.

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A board game, yeah, but I very distinctly remember making a character sheet.

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Yeah, and you've always told me this.

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I was like, oh, okay, so this must have existed, you know, before it became a computer game kind of a thing that your teacher had picked up on.

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As I found out in researching this, this game never existed.

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No, this would have been like, 98, 99 for context, like late 90s, this was happening, and fully nothing.

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Yeah, your teacher had like this bootleg ass version of The Oregon Trail that they were doing as a D&D campaign, which I'm actually trying to write myself as well right now.

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Oh, really?

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Just for funsies, I'm trying to like fully write out a D&D style campaign for The Oregon Trail, which I think will be really cool.

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I think I was a pelt trader or something.

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I feel like it wasn't anything physical or really helpful that I was doing.

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I think I was just kind of a flim flam man.

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Pelt trading is very important.

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Yeah, but I don't think I was very good at it.

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Also, I don't think we ever finished it.

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I feel like we did maybe two or three weeks, and then she just gave up.

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It was like, I have to figure out something else.

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And bless her fucking soul, Miss Miller.

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I think that's your name.

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But yeah, to have groups of nine and 10 year olds where it's like the biggest distinction in childhood of like, oh no, I need to stop being a horse girl and have crushes on people.

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And then to do that with two different groups, simultaneously, no teachers assisted.

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This is ridiculous that we got anything done.

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Yeah, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

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Yeah.

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Public school was a fucking journey, and it was amazing and I loved it.

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But yeah, I played a bootleg tabletop role playing version of this.

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I did not.

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I grew up at the era of when this game was like really at its height and everything.

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School computer labs, that kind of a situation.

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So I definitely played this in school in the school computer lab.

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And like the licensed version.

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Yeah, the full licensed version.

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Oh, la dee da.

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You think you're so cool.

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No, I don't.

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That's not what this is about.

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Okay, fine.

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Well, to begin this story, we're gonna go way, way back in history to the early 1800s in the United States.

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This is one of the earliest starting points we've had in one of these episodes.

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It is, you know.

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Our Donkey Kong episode over on the Patreon channel does go back to 1889, but this goes even further back.

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Jesus Christ.

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I don't know if it counts, but yeah, sure, go for it.

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And we recognize that while today's game is one of the most played by most American listeners, fans from other countries may not be as familiar with this bit of American history.

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So in 1803, explorers Lewis and Clark were tasked by then president Thomas Jefferson to explore the as yet unmapped Western United States.

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Over the years, trappers and pioneers would follow the maps created by Lewis and Clark, making small settlements and homesteads along the way.

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Over time, these unmarked trails became the most accessible route across the country.

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As more people used them, the ground became more of a designated path.

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With more people came a higher need for things like trading posts and places to live.

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Eventually, settlers found the west coast along the Oregon coastline and found it to be a lush, fertile, and beautiful land, untouched by anyone and brimming with opportunity.

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Oh.

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The over-2,000-mile trek became known as the Oregon Trail.

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Between 1835, which is when the trail first got its name, to 1869, when the first transcontinental railroad went into service.

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Goodness.

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400,000 people would brave the Oregon Trail in search of a new life and a chance at what was being called the American Dream.

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Holy shit, that's a lot of people, and that's a lot longer than I thought it was.

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I think I might have gasped a little bit, and I apologize, but...

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It's all right.

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For it to be over, was it about 34, 35 years of the Oregon Trail actually being in existence?

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Yeah, it was very active for about 35 years.

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That's a long time, I feel.

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It really is.

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Perhaps I'm just also a bit spoiled from our technology being wildly different every five to 10 years.

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Yeah, right?

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And obviously technology wasn't booming like that back in the Oregon Trail days, but 35 years of having generations of families went through that.

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Definitely.

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That's wild.

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Yeah, people brought their kids, and their kids brought their kids.

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Yeah, and also, kind of news to me, again, we did not finish that unit.

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We had a full day on creating our characters, and then we did our, like, here's how you meet your camp team and stuff, and then I think she gave up.

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So, like, bless her heart, we tried.

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You know, it's been a very educational season of The Other Castle for my episodes at the very least.

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Yeah, you're getting a lot out of it.

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Yeah.

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I'm glad.

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I'm happy for your character growth.

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Yeah, and for all of yours, too.

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Yeah.

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Well, The Oregon Trail was not for the faint of heart, either.

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It was a month-long, treacherous journey, and the trail is littered with the corpses of the thousands of people who never made it.

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Ooh, and that's 2,000 miles, like a true Trail of Tears.

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Yeah.

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Holy shit.

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To take The Oregon Trail truly was to risk everything you have and rely on your ability to survive the great and wild, open country that was the United States at the time.

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A land where some of the animals had never seen a human.

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Oof.

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Communities that were inhabited by ancient cultures, curious and scared of the strangers on their land.

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Yeah.

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They made friends, business partners, loves and enemies while facing the hardships of The Oregon Trail.

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The reward at the end of the road was a chance at something new.

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For some, that was an escape from religious persecution, as the Mormon Trail would split off from The Oregon Trail toward Utah.

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Oh, towards Salt Lake City, right?

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Yeah.

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For others, it was a hope to strike it rich with the California Trail, also branching out from The Oregon Trail toward a rumored gold rush in San Francisco.

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And the gold rush is around the 40s, right?

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The 49ers, that's about the thing.

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Yeah, that's the same year.

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But The Oregon Trail was known as the most dangerous, with the highest risk versus reward factor.

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It took the most northerly route, and that made it only accessible at certain times of the year, as the winter would be too cold for just about anyone to survive.

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You know, that's actually what got the Donner Party.

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They started their trek too late, and they were being warned the entire time.

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They were like, No, you have to wait another nine months.

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It's too far into May for you to make it through.

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And they were like, Ah, it's fine.

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Nah, we got this.

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And then they ate each other.

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So hopefully you don't have to go through that.

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You have to really fuck up your Oregon Trail run.

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Ain't no party like a Donner Party.

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Oh my gosh.

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What?

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The starting point was Independence, Missouri, chosen for its location on the Missouri River as a popular port city.

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It's located about one third of the way across the United States from the East Coast.

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The journey concluded in Oregon City, Oregon, in the Willamette Valley.

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It proved to be one of the most important trails in US history as it helped settle the West.

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Thousands of journals have been found and passed down through generations, and the tales of the trail are very well documented.

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Since the 1980s, American school children look forward to this section of history class, because it usually means they're going to get to play a video game titled The Oregon Trail.

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It's the most popular piece of edutainment ever made.

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It has taught tens of millions of children about the history of this important time in history.

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It has also made it so the memories of those lost on the trail will never be forgotten.

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The reason so many school children look forward to it all goes back to one teacher and his desire to make learning just a little more fun.

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He's one of those guys.

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Yeah.

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In 1971, three friends were student teaching at a middle school in Minnesota.

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Their names were Don Roush, Paul Dillenberger, and Bill Heineman.

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Don wanted to be considered the cool teacher, and he would often try to make learning an interactive experience, often playing games and dressing up as historical figures as he was a history teacher.

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Oh, he's one of those.

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Yeah, fully.

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Comes in in full beat makeup.

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Yeah, exactly, right?

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Oh, he's just a little extra.

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I like him.

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And he's a student teacher on top of that, so he's younger.

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He's way cool, you know?

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He's a 20-year-old theater kid who clearly was like, well, I can perform in front of 30 kids a day.

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I got an audience.

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I love it.

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When Don got to the section on the Oregon Trail, he decided to make a game to teach his students about it.

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So Don created a board game, not quite a D&D version like yours, but similar, using maps and having students pick cards to represent a different event that could occur on the trail.

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You know, when I'm thinking about mine, I feel like there were laminated, like, event cards.

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Like, up world, up at the river, you pick out a card to see how bad your water conditions are and stuff.

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I wonder if your teacher, like, heard the story of how the game got created and was like, you know what, I'll just do that, since your school, like, didn't have, like, a computer lab, right?

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That's why you couldn't do this.

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They certainly didn't for the elementary school.

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Yeah.

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So it was like, how can I do this still with a whole group of kids?

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Really smart of your teacher.

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Way to go, Miss Miller.

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Miss Miller fucking kicked the shit out of that hole.

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She slayed that shit.

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I love her.

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Hell yeah.

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I hope she's okay.

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It's been a while for Miss Miller.

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We don't know how the years have been to her.

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I hope you are not as tragically underfunded today, Miss Miller.

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No, she definitely is.

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Yeah, I know she is.

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There's no way it's better.

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Oh, that's so sad.

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Don asked his two friends, Paul and Bill, to playtest his board game before introducing it at school and asked for their advice.

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Oh, everyone loves a game night.

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Yeah, and they said it was super fun, but you know what would make it even more fun?

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If they turned it into one of those new video games everyone keeps talking about.

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And this is, did you say 71?

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1971.

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Goodness.

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Don was like, cool, I'm teaching this shit in two weeks.

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I do not have the time nor the resources, but great idea, buddy.

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Yeah, he's like, if you guys can do this, I'll give you the historical information and you guys can build the game.

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And Paul and Bill were like, cool, two weeks.

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Yeah, we got this.

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Two weeks.

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We'll have a whole company in two weeks.

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The Oregon Trail will be dead.

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Now, the type of computer available in 1971 took up almost an entire room.

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Like in the Hidden Figures computer room where it's a whole ass area.

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Yeah, definitely.

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Yeah, they were not the desktops we know and love today.

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The single system they had access to at their local college took up an old janitor's closet.

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Wow.

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They crammed two folding chairs into the closet and got to work in their free time.

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My iPhone is more super powered than the entire 70s.

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Oh, yeah.

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Combined, and that blows my mind.

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Entirely, yeah.

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But three of them just barely banged it out in two weeks with Dawn needing to learn how to code on the fly to help them get it done.

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But he did it.

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He did do it.

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And the way he used one of these big-ass room computers remotely so he wouldn't have to take a field trip to a janitor's closet was through a device called a teletypewriter.

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It's basically a standard typewriter, but it is connected to the giant room-sized mainframe via a telephone line.

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So it's very early-internet-style connection.

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Everything's plugged into something, like, physically, yeah.

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Wireless who, bitch?

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Now, the middle school had just one of these teletypewriters that every class had to share, and there wasn't even a monitor on a teletypewriter.

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It looked more like an actual typewriter than a computer.

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So the game they built was just a text adventure.

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Oh, okay, that makes sense.

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Yeah, and it would print out on a sheet of paper that could deliver a whopping 10 characters per second.

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Honestly, that is very whimsical to have it.

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But no, it's like you're talking to a ghost, and the ghost is spitting out, like, you dead.

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Dysentery.

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That's fucking sick.

00:15:02.432 --> 00:15:07.812
And to put it into perspective, it would take a full second to print the phrase, per second.

00:15:08.592 --> 00:15:09.392
Oh, honey.

00:15:10.432 --> 00:15:14.592
And the full game's code was 800 pages long.

00:15:14.832 --> 00:15:16.232
Holy shit!

00:15:16.372 --> 00:15:18.052
That's longer than the script for Uncharted.

00:15:19.152 --> 00:15:20.712
There was no script for Uncharted.

00:15:22.512 --> 00:15:27.952
But no, 800 pages, just to write 800 pages of anything in two weeks is fucking mind-blowing.

00:15:27.972 --> 00:15:28.812
Wild, right?

00:15:28.832 --> 00:15:33.972
And I'm sure you can imagine it took a very long time to print out at 10 characters per second.

00:15:34.192 --> 00:15:36.572
So it's not really captivating for the kids to watch.

00:15:36.732 --> 00:15:38.452
Well, no, this is just them printing out the code.

00:15:38.612 --> 00:15:39.012
Okay.

00:15:39.032 --> 00:15:43.712
Because they wanted to keep it just in case they wanted to use it on another computer mainframe in the future.

00:15:43.772 --> 00:15:44.372
Gotcha.

00:15:44.972 --> 00:15:49.472
Now, the trio wanted the game to reflect the real Oregon Trail as much as possible.

00:15:49.572 --> 00:15:52.812
We want the gritty, down-to-earth version of this.

00:15:52.892 --> 00:15:53.492
Yeah.

00:15:53.992 --> 00:16:02.592
And they felt that since every single person's experience on The Oregon Trail was different, then every playthrough of the game needed to be different from the last.

00:16:03.232 --> 00:16:05.532
They were like, David Cage, I feel you.

00:16:05.552 --> 00:16:07.232
I want to have multiple endings.

00:16:07.252 --> 00:16:08.232
Yeah, fully.

00:16:08.692 --> 00:16:15.972
In their programming, Paul and Bill used their math teacher and coding skills to develop a system called Probability Charts.

00:16:16.872 --> 00:16:17.172
Ooh.

00:16:18.032 --> 00:16:34.272
This system would allow for every playthrough to play out differently based on random number generators, player choices, location on the trail, weather, sickness, wagon conditions, supply levels, and all sorts of other different factors that would go into the gameplay.

00:16:34.672 --> 00:16:36.432
This does still feel innovative.

00:16:36.652 --> 00:16:37.692
Right, entirely.

00:16:37.712 --> 00:16:39.852
And this is on something that's just going to be a text adventure.

00:16:40.772 --> 00:16:47.732
These could produce an unlimited variety of outcomes for the player, and they would have to react to those situations that were generated.

00:16:47.852 --> 00:16:55.192
This resulted in random encounters, random terrain, random events, and unique gameplay every playthrough.

00:16:55.572 --> 00:17:03.032
This game was so realistic, it could result in a total party kill if the player wasn't able to overcome the obstacles they encountered.

00:17:04.412 --> 00:17:10.612
Once they died, the game would be over, and the player would have to start all the way back at the beginning with a fresh new group.

00:17:11.692 --> 00:17:18.352
Which means, The Oregon Trail fits all of the criteria to be labeled a rogue-like.

00:17:18.552 --> 00:17:19.232
Oh, shit.

00:17:24.472 --> 00:17:25.952
I was shocked by this.

00:17:26.512 --> 00:17:27.312
But here's the thing.

00:17:27.332 --> 00:17:31.132
The Oregon Trail came out nine years before rogue.

00:17:31.292 --> 00:17:31.812
Oh, shit.

00:17:31.832 --> 00:17:32.152
Right.

00:17:32.192 --> 00:17:32.752
70s.

00:17:33.032 --> 00:17:36.872
Which means, the term rogue-like is technically a misnomer.

00:17:37.732 --> 00:17:41.892
We should be calling games like Hades a trails-like game instead.

00:17:42.072 --> 00:17:43.532
Thank you for coming, Tom.

00:17:44.972 --> 00:17:46.532
Holy shit.

00:17:47.032 --> 00:17:48.912
No, I am far from the first person to say that.

00:17:49.132 --> 00:17:52.412
Okay, but you're giving investigative fucking journalism.

00:17:52.452 --> 00:17:53.372
I love this shit.

00:17:53.392 --> 00:17:56.052
Yeah, I did come to that realization without anyone's influence.

00:17:56.852 --> 00:18:00.112
Because I was just researching the game and seeing kind of the similarities.

00:18:00.212 --> 00:18:04.012
Honestly, if I hadn't done Hades this season, I probably would have never made that connection.

00:18:04.192 --> 00:18:05.232
That's so funny.

00:18:05.432 --> 00:18:15.552
So the game was finished, and Don wheeled the teletype writer into class, and the students had a blast with it as they played this early hybrid board slash computer game.

00:18:15.672 --> 00:18:20.572
I imagine just 18 small children huddled around a printer being like, yes, yes, yes.

00:18:20.712 --> 00:18:22.092
What does the computer tell me?

00:18:22.392 --> 00:18:23.392
Am I dead or not?

00:18:25.272 --> 00:18:29.592
Yeah, since the computer had no monitor, the board game pieces were used for the visuals.

00:18:30.312 --> 00:18:35.692
And it was a hit in the school, but they couldn't leave it on the college's mainframe for longer than a semester.

00:18:36.072 --> 00:18:40.172
And so he deleted it after the semester ended, figuring that was the end of his game.

00:18:40.252 --> 00:18:40.692
Let go.

00:18:40.712 --> 00:18:41.512
That was a good one.

00:18:41.852 --> 00:18:42.452
Good shit.

00:18:42.512 --> 00:18:44.172
I deserve a whole summer off.

00:18:44.192 --> 00:18:45.552
I got an A for my assignment.

00:18:45.552 --> 00:18:46.812
Yeah, I am the teacher.

00:18:46.932 --> 00:18:50.592
Well, yeah, but he was also a student teacher, so this was kind of an assignment for him as well.

00:18:51.432 --> 00:18:52.072
He killed it.

00:18:52.972 --> 00:19:01.752
Well, two years later in 1973, Don Roush left middle school academia to pursue his newfound passion for programming.

00:19:02.152 --> 00:19:04.532
Oh, so that was actually a really fun sprint for him.

00:19:04.532 --> 00:19:05.512
It was, yeah.

00:19:06.012 --> 00:19:10.532
But the Vietnam War was raging, and he was scheduled to be drafted.

00:19:10.672 --> 00:19:11.332
Oh shit.

00:19:11.732 --> 00:19:19.892
In order to legally dodge the draft, he needed to get a job that would be a service to the betterment of his fellow citizens.

00:19:20.832 --> 00:19:25.892
He therefore joined a company called the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium.

00:19:26.432 --> 00:19:31.972
80s and 90s kids know this company as M-E-C-C or MEC.

00:19:32.352 --> 00:19:43.372
This company came into existence to make educational video games for school children, and many of us grew up learning everything from spelling and math to history and phonics using their programs.

00:19:43.832 --> 00:19:49.732
Oh, see, yeah, we didn't have computer labs up until you got to the sixth grade middle school era.

00:19:49.992 --> 00:19:50.332
Yeah.

00:19:50.412 --> 00:19:52.952
And I do remember a couple typing class.

00:19:52.972 --> 00:19:56.972
I think they literally just called it keyboard class, which is very cringy to think about now.

00:19:56.992 --> 00:19:57.272
Right.

00:19:57.292 --> 00:19:59.612
They were just calling it typing, which is what it is.

00:19:59.632 --> 00:20:00.972
They were like, welcome to keyboard.

00:20:01.372 --> 00:20:02.632
Your job is keyboard.

00:20:03.052 --> 00:20:04.192
Your class is keyboard.

00:20:04.512 --> 00:20:08.792
And they like spray painted keyboards to be all black, so you'd have to do it by touch and shit.

00:20:08.812 --> 00:20:09.492
Ooh, smart.

00:20:09.552 --> 00:20:15.252
Yeah, but we had video games that would like spell the word as it's coming out or like follow along with this shit.

00:20:15.312 --> 00:20:19.032
So I think I had that touch point, but I did not have the Oregon Trail touch point.

00:20:19.132 --> 00:20:22.432
Yeah, number munchers, word munchers, these were all games from Mech.

00:20:22.492 --> 00:20:23.652
Number munchers.

00:20:25.332 --> 00:20:29.452
Well, Mech had much higher end computers than the middle school Don had just come from.

00:20:30.212 --> 00:20:33.792
And Don asked permission to put the Oregon Trail onto its system.

00:20:34.232 --> 00:20:42.632
With permission granted, he spent the whole of Thanksgiving 1973's weekend typing the 800 pages of code into Mech's mainframe.

00:20:43.232 --> 00:20:47.172
So he's just going page by page, uploading it manually?

00:20:47.192 --> 00:20:47.552
Yeah.

00:20:48.032 --> 00:20:49.512
Oh, fuck my life.

00:20:50.512 --> 00:20:55.852
The way Mech worked was they rented out their mainframe's network of educational games to schools.

00:20:56.792 --> 00:21:03.432
Those schools would have their own teletype writers that Mech supplied, and they could connect to Mech's system via telephone line.

00:21:04.312 --> 00:21:08.232
Then the schools had access to a library of games to use to teach their students.

00:21:08.872 --> 00:21:17.192
Quickly, The Oregon Trail became Mech's most popular game and second most popular product, even without any graphics to go with it.

00:21:17.372 --> 00:21:18.052
Wow.

00:21:18.392 --> 00:21:21.532
An early version of email being the most popular product.

00:21:21.672 --> 00:21:26.032
Holy shit, so literally baseline communications, and then this.

00:21:26.112 --> 00:21:27.252
And then The Oregon Trail.

00:21:27.272 --> 00:21:27.852
Wow.

00:21:28.672 --> 00:21:33.152
Kids loved it because it was like embarking on a grand adventure that they controlled.

00:21:34.032 --> 00:21:37.632
Teachers loved it because it taught the students about more than just history.

00:21:38.092 --> 00:21:45.292
It was teaching them inventory management, decision making, Typing, math, weather, and other cognitive skills.

00:21:45.692 --> 00:21:56.652
During his time at Mech, Don got access to lots of historical data and archives and updated a lot of the information in the game to more accurately reflect the actual trail.

00:21:57.132 --> 00:22:02.732
For example, they initially portrayed Native Americans the way movies of the era portrayed them.

00:22:03.872 --> 00:22:08.192
Yeah, they weren't very kind in their portrayals of Native Americans at the time in film especially.

00:22:08.192 --> 00:22:09.392
Just disrespectful.

00:22:09.432 --> 00:22:10.752
Yeah, very disrespectful.

00:22:10.772 --> 00:22:11.612
Great word for it.

00:22:12.112 --> 00:22:19.932
In doing research, Don found out that the Native Americans were 99.9% of the time helpful and peaceful along the trail.

00:22:20.852 --> 00:22:25.392
If white people fucked around, they found out, but otherwise, they were very friendly.

00:22:25.532 --> 00:22:26.012
Yeah.

00:22:26.472 --> 00:22:31.112
By 1979, the Apple II was becoming a popular home computer.

00:22:31.552 --> 00:22:33.832
Oh my God, that's that little gray shoe box, right?

00:22:33.832 --> 00:22:34.572
Yeah, right?

00:22:35.732 --> 00:22:50.992
Apple had also made deals with schools all around the United States that put Apple II computer labs into many schools as educational devices, knowing that if you hook kids on your products while their brains are all squishy and moldable, you'll have them hooked forever.

00:22:51.192 --> 00:22:52.872
It's like the old cigarette commercials.

00:22:54.112 --> 00:22:58.992
Honestly, having had friendships end because of my green text bubbles, you can see this tactic clearly worked.

00:23:00.732 --> 00:23:02.932
Mech knew what all computer companies knew.

00:23:03.732 --> 00:23:06.352
The money is in software, not hardware.

00:23:07.172 --> 00:23:14.252
So The Oregon Trail got ported to the Apple II, complete with the now iconic green and black graphics of the era.

00:23:14.372 --> 00:23:15.772
Is this our first Apple II game?

00:23:15.892 --> 00:23:16.832
I think it is, yeah.

00:23:17.112 --> 00:23:17.312
Ooh.

00:23:18.072 --> 00:23:25.492
Finally, the game had visuals to go with the randomly generated adventure, and it could be played on computers across the country, not just Minnesota.

00:23:26.392 --> 00:23:32.612
Mech went on to partner with Apple, and the two funded putting computer labs into schools across the country together.

00:23:32.712 --> 00:23:33.432
Hell yeah!

00:23:33.932 --> 00:23:37.252
Apple supplying the hardware, with Mech supplying the software.

00:23:37.392 --> 00:23:38.172
That's what's up.

00:23:38.312 --> 00:23:42.152
Which included dozens of other edutainment games along with The Oregon Trail.

00:23:42.592 --> 00:23:47.652
They ultimately installed computer labs in one-third of the schools across the country.

00:23:47.712 --> 00:23:48.592
Hell yeah!

00:23:49.472 --> 00:24:01.012
In 1985, Macintosh released the new version of the Apple II, which had a full color monitor, and soon The Oregon Trail was given a graphical update to go along with it.

00:24:01.292 --> 00:24:02.912
I love that they're patching this.

00:24:03.192 --> 00:24:03.792
Yeah, right?

00:24:03.812 --> 00:24:04.612
Just along the way.

00:24:05.712 --> 00:24:10.032
It had done well in black and green, but it soared when it went to color.

00:24:10.532 --> 00:24:12.832
It's like the trajectory of GTA V.

00:24:14.332 --> 00:24:14.752
Right?

00:24:14.772 --> 00:24:18.652
With every console we get another update, it looks a little smoother, you know?

00:24:18.672 --> 00:24:19.452
Looks a little better.

00:24:19.512 --> 00:24:21.692
I'm just saying The Oregon Trail is basically GTA V.

00:24:23.612 --> 00:24:33.932
Well, it was soon ported to computers other than the Apple II, like the Commodore 64, and the TRS-80, made by the now-defunct RadioShack.

00:24:34.232 --> 00:24:34.592
Who?

00:24:34.972 --> 00:24:35.752
Yeah, exactly.

00:24:35.772 --> 00:24:39.232
It's probably why the nickname for the TRS-80 was the Trash-80.

00:24:40.552 --> 00:24:44.012
It finally hit Microsoft DOS-based computers in 1990.

00:24:45.332 --> 00:24:53.292
The rapid rise in success of mech didn't go unnoticed, and it was soon bought out by some faceless rich people so they could just bank on the success.

00:24:53.292 --> 00:24:53.872
Totally.

00:24:54.752 --> 00:25:01.192
Five years later, they sold mech to a company called Softkey for around $30 million.

00:25:01.192 --> 00:25:02.832
That's a lot of 90s money.

00:25:02.892 --> 00:25:04.832
Oh, so much 90s money, right?

00:25:05.772 --> 00:25:10.252
And this company was owned and operated by Shark Tank's very own Mr.

00:25:10.272 --> 00:25:12.992
Wonderful, Kevin O'Leary.

00:25:13.012 --> 00:25:14.492
You love Shark Tank.

00:25:14.532 --> 00:25:15.632
Oh, yeah, Shark Tank's great.

00:25:15.772 --> 00:25:18.152
I had never seen Shark Tank until we started dating.

00:25:18.152 --> 00:25:19.932
I had never seen it until we started dating.

00:25:19.952 --> 00:25:20.672
I thought you liked it.

00:25:20.832 --> 00:25:21.252
No.

00:25:21.512 --> 00:25:23.572
Oh, who got us into Shark Tank?

00:25:23.592 --> 00:25:24.272
You did.

00:25:24.292 --> 00:25:25.292
No, it wasn't me.

00:25:25.372 --> 00:25:27.632
Okay, the sharks did it.

00:25:27.652 --> 00:25:28.292
Fine.

00:25:28.572 --> 00:25:31.892
But yes, Kevin O'Leary owned this company called Softkey.

00:25:32.632 --> 00:25:37.412
And with the purchase, Softkey was then rebranded to The Learning Company.

00:25:38.152 --> 00:25:38.412
Oh.

00:25:38.992 --> 00:25:46.532
Prior to the purchase, Softkey was similar to Mac in that they had been installing computer labs in another third of the United States.

00:25:46.592 --> 00:25:47.552
We're getting them all.

00:25:47.972 --> 00:25:53.012
So now The Oregon Trail was available in two thirds of all the schools.

00:25:53.492 --> 00:25:57.632
So most American millennials and Gen Z kids have played this.

00:25:57.652 --> 00:25:58.352
Exactly.

00:25:58.372 --> 00:26:05.752
Just as a sweeping statement, if you grew up in America within those two fucking generations, this is for you.

00:26:05.912 --> 00:26:07.692
Very likely to have played The Oregon Trail.

00:26:07.712 --> 00:26:09.692
And if you're old enough, this also applied to you.

00:26:10.452 --> 00:26:14.332
Probably not, you're probably dead because of The Oregon Trail.

00:26:15.272 --> 00:26:24.832
It was also around this time when they released mech games for purchase in stores, as personal computers were becoming more common, and kids were wanting to play The Oregon Trail at home.

00:26:25.332 --> 00:26:28.632
We tricked these fucking kids into learning about their country.

00:26:29.372 --> 00:26:30.452
We fucking got them.

00:26:31.372 --> 00:26:44.232
In 1999, just three years after acquiring mech, my teacher released an unlicensed version of The Oregon Trail with hand-laminated cards saying, cross a river.

00:26:44.872 --> 00:26:47.952
Well, be happy that nobody found out about Miss Miller because...

00:26:47.972 --> 00:26:50.672
I'm blowing her shit up right now.

00:26:51.132 --> 00:26:52.892
In 1999, Mr.

00:26:52.912 --> 00:27:03.592
Wonderful would sell the learning company to Mattel, the company behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, for $3.8 billion.

00:27:04.712 --> 00:27:06.592
And that's still 1999 money?

00:27:06.612 --> 00:27:07.992
That's 99 money.

00:27:08.032 --> 00:27:10.652
That's probably, what, $8 billion today.

00:27:10.772 --> 00:27:12.512
This is why they call him Mr.

00:27:12.572 --> 00:27:13.272
Wonderful.

00:27:13.332 --> 00:27:19.212
Taylor Swift became a billionaire this last weekend after a 20-year career or some shit, you know?

00:27:19.472 --> 00:27:20.592
Three-year turnaround.

00:27:20.612 --> 00:27:21.052
Whoo!

00:27:21.672 --> 00:27:22.832
Goddamn!

00:27:23.232 --> 00:27:24.172
That's why he's a shark.

00:27:24.552 --> 00:27:29.272
Now, typically, you'd think being bought by the largest toy company in the world would be a good thing.

00:27:30.932 --> 00:27:35.972
Well, most everyone at the learning company quit upon being acquired.

00:27:36.332 --> 00:27:37.032
Oh, shit.

00:27:37.052 --> 00:27:43.052
Because one of the first requests Mattel made was, how can we get Barbie into the Oregon Trail?

00:27:43.212 --> 00:27:46.352
And they said, absolutely not, and they left the building.

00:27:46.372 --> 00:27:47.932
They just fucking quit.

00:27:47.952 --> 00:27:49.832
They said, here's my badge and gun.

00:27:49.852 --> 00:27:51.952
I'm no longer a creative director here.

00:27:51.972 --> 00:27:52.752
Not fucking doing it.

00:27:52.772 --> 00:27:55.632
You shouldn't have given me a badge and gun, by the way.

00:27:57.772 --> 00:27:58.672
That's on you, pal.

00:27:58.912 --> 00:28:01.432
Every single person has a badge and a gun.

00:28:01.452 --> 00:28:03.112
But here's the thing, they're all water guns.

00:28:05.152 --> 00:28:06.352
Holy shit.

00:28:06.372 --> 00:28:13.072
So to have kind of a revolt and walk out, that's, ooh, holy shit.

00:28:13.092 --> 00:28:15.172
And it's still over The Oregon Trail.

00:28:16.412 --> 00:28:18.132
And to be real, this is 1999.

00:28:18.152 --> 00:28:25.832
There was Y2K mania where people were like, what if everything shuts down on fucking New Year's Day?

00:28:25.852 --> 00:28:34.192
You know, so it's like you're leaving that security into an unknown world where lunatics are saying that like the microwaves are gonna all explode at midnight or whatever.

00:28:35.312 --> 00:28:37.412
Holy shit, that's ballsy.

00:28:38.312 --> 00:28:45.912
Well, by 2000, Mattel was so bitter about everyone quitting after the acquisition of the learning company, they let the brand die.

00:28:46.452 --> 00:28:51.152
They spent $3 billion for something that they gave up on.

00:28:51.192 --> 00:28:53.492
Almost $4, $3.8 billion.

00:28:53.712 --> 00:28:57.552
Holy shit, I know there's other assets within the learning company.

00:28:57.872 --> 00:29:01.412
I know the learning company is not simply The Oregon Trail, but holy shit.

00:29:01.632 --> 00:29:04.152
No, it was a full, like, whole ass company, but still.

00:29:04.212 --> 00:29:05.652
That's wild.

00:29:05.792 --> 00:29:13.912
Well, they sold it for next to nothing in the mid-thousands to a mid-sized edutainment company called Hotten Mifflin under their Gameloft brand.

00:29:16.152 --> 00:29:26.492
Gameloft would go on to continue releasing new versions of The Oregon Trail over the years, including the beautiful 2023 release of the Switch and Xbox series of consoles.

00:29:27.032 --> 00:29:28.652
And you're playing the Switch run, right?

00:29:28.692 --> 00:29:35.372
Yeah, and that's actually the version I'm covering in this episode, as it's the most complete and yet still the same as it was over 40 years ago.

00:29:35.392 --> 00:29:35.892
Oh.

00:29:36.092 --> 00:29:39.752
Well, you can't do a lot of rewriting to the core lore there.

00:29:39.752 --> 00:29:40.892
Yeah, exactly, right?

00:29:40.992 --> 00:29:42.072
That's so funny.

00:29:42.812 --> 00:29:51.292
The game has sold over 70 million copies to date and is officially the longest running video game series in history.

00:29:53.932 --> 00:29:54.812
I can see Mr.

00:29:54.832 --> 00:29:58.692
Pac-Man shaking his fist like, God damn you, Oregon Trail.

00:30:00.892 --> 00:30:01.612
So close.

00:30:02.352 --> 00:30:04.292
I played it in school as a child.

00:30:04.892 --> 00:30:06.372
I played it today as an adult.

00:30:07.372 --> 00:30:14.052
The level of enjoyment is the same, and it genuinely hasn't changed all that much since it went to color, which was the first time I played it.

00:30:15.552 --> 00:30:16.852
But that's enough lollygagging.

00:30:17.292 --> 00:30:23.132
It's time to hitch up the covered wagon, grab some supplies, and try not to catch dysentery goombas.

00:30:23.352 --> 00:30:24.672
I am a passenger princess.

00:30:24.692 --> 00:30:26.132
You're gonna have to walk me through all this.

00:30:26.292 --> 00:30:29.252
Because this is The Oregon Trail.

00:30:30.572 --> 00:30:36.212
The trail begins May 1st, 1849, in the town of Independence, Missouri.

00:30:37.112 --> 00:30:38.552
Here, you'll pick your character.

00:30:39.572 --> 00:30:44.212
Originally, you had one of three characters to choose from, a banker, a carpenter, or a farmer.

00:30:44.872 --> 00:30:46.952
This was essentially how you chose your difficulty level.

00:30:47.052 --> 00:30:48.012
Oh, it's like cyberpunk.

00:30:48.112 --> 00:30:48.472
Yeah.

00:30:49.332 --> 00:30:55.152
Over the years, they had added a ton of different character classes you can have in your party, from prospectors to missionaries.

00:30:55.772 --> 00:30:59.652
They even let you change the names of your characters, so you can make it your own name or your friend's names.

00:30:59.792 --> 00:31:02.792
That was the fun part of the TTRPG that I did.

00:31:02.852 --> 00:31:03.812
Yeah, exactly.

00:31:04.792 --> 00:31:08.972
You'll also have three others on your journey with you, and you can choose their names and classes as well.

00:31:09.452 --> 00:31:12.852
But your character is the trail boss, regardless of the class you choose.

00:31:13.532 --> 00:31:16.992
And you will be making the decisions along the trail, and your team will have to follow.

00:31:17.832 --> 00:31:22.052
In town, you need to first purchase your wagon, oxen, and supplies.

00:31:23.232 --> 00:31:28.892
The classes you choose for your team will determine how much money you have, as some classes are wealthier than others.

00:31:29.572 --> 00:31:33.292
But the ones with less money will usually have skills that come in handy along the trail.

00:31:34.712 --> 00:31:38.152
Once you purchase your shit, you can go around town and meet some people.

00:31:39.372 --> 00:31:42.232
Some will be other travelers you will encounter along the trail.

00:31:43.092 --> 00:31:44.832
Others will be locals giving tips.

00:31:45.492 --> 00:31:52.192
Some of the things people will say to you are quotes pulled directly from travel diaries people kept while traveling the trail.

00:31:52.292 --> 00:31:54.052
Holy shit, that's cool.

00:31:54.072 --> 00:31:56.812
Yeah, it really lends the authenticity of the game.

00:31:57.312 --> 00:31:58.472
That's really incredible.

00:31:58.492 --> 00:32:08.692
You know, we've done the Titanic official exhibit, and there's something kind of similar where when you check in, you get someone's name and you get to follow their path to see if they passed or survived.

00:32:08.712 --> 00:32:10.172
Yeah, that was really cool.

00:32:10.192 --> 00:32:11.952
Yeah, I wonder if that...

00:32:11.972 --> 00:32:18.292
I mean, that immediately makes me feel more emotionally invested knowing that this was true to exactly the words that came out of their mouth.

00:32:18.472 --> 00:32:19.592
Yeah, it's really cool.

00:32:19.612 --> 00:32:25.812
And like every stop when you start talking to people, a lot of the things that they say just fully pulled from real people's diaries.

00:32:25.832 --> 00:32:26.972
Oh, that's so fucking cool.

00:32:28.152 --> 00:32:30.752
You can even pick up some side quests to complete along the way.

00:32:30.912 --> 00:32:32.192
Of course, there's a side quest.

00:32:32.212 --> 00:32:33.112
Is there a generator?

00:32:33.132 --> 00:32:34.192
There's no generators.

00:32:34.212 --> 00:32:35.472
There's no goddamn generators.

00:32:35.492 --> 00:32:35.732
No.

00:32:35.852 --> 00:32:37.012
Is that why you picked this?

00:32:37.732 --> 00:32:43.132
Just out of pure bitterness for pressing goddamn triangle for months?

00:32:43.452 --> 00:32:45.972
Because I wouldn't have to start any goddamn generators.

00:32:45.972 --> 00:32:46.232
No.

00:32:48.472 --> 00:32:54.712
In talking with people, you find out that Oregon is a little over 2,000 miles away, and that the terrain can be treacherous.

00:32:55.752 --> 00:32:58.592
Which, as I said before, is true of the real Oregon Trail.

00:32:59.512 --> 00:33:02.812
1 in 17 people died while on the trail.

00:33:02.832 --> 00:33:04.512
I don't like those odds at all.

00:33:04.552 --> 00:33:05.472
Very low odds.

00:33:06.812 --> 00:33:14.252
They died of anything from disease, injury, loss of hope, or for simply being unprepared for the hardships they were about to face.

00:33:15.852 --> 00:33:18.812
Along the trail, you'll encounter settlements and checkpoints.

00:33:19.792 --> 00:33:23.052
In a settlement, you'll be able to shop and rest and repair your wagon.

00:33:24.032 --> 00:33:30.132
At checkpoints, you'll have an opportunity to trade with natives and other travelers as well as get some rest if needed.

00:33:30.292 --> 00:33:32.592
It's always nice to get a long rest in for your party.

00:33:32.632 --> 00:33:33.532
Yeah, exactly.

00:33:34.392 --> 00:33:43.092
Once you feel confident that you are ready to embark on your journey, you hitch up your wagon and head out of Independence, Missouri onto the Oregon Trail itself.

00:33:44.712 --> 00:33:51.312
The first settlement on your trip is Fort Kearney, but before you get there, you'll have three checkpoints to hit.

00:33:51.592 --> 00:33:54.572
Is this a dumb question, but is Fort Kearney real?

00:33:54.912 --> 00:33:55.252
Yes.

00:33:55.372 --> 00:33:55.752
Okay.

00:33:56.092 --> 00:33:58.732
Everywhere we're going to hit is a very real place.

00:33:58.852 --> 00:33:59.552
Oh, okay, cool.

00:33:59.672 --> 00:34:01.172
There is nothing made up.

00:34:01.252 --> 00:34:04.832
This is the most historically accurate game probably ever made.

00:34:05.152 --> 00:34:10.052
So it's like a little better than those Assassin's Creed games where you do like Benjamin Franklin signations.

00:34:10.052 --> 00:34:11.352
Yeah, way more so.

00:34:11.372 --> 00:34:12.212
This is pretty legit.

00:34:12.272 --> 00:34:13.712
This is way more legit.

00:34:15.012 --> 00:34:19.392
Remember, this was taught to teach history, so everything had to be as real as humanly possible.

00:34:19.552 --> 00:34:21.312
That's why I bring up Assassin's Creed.

00:34:21.452 --> 00:34:25.852
It's like the most historical game ever.

00:34:25.892 --> 00:34:27.072
Aside from this, go on.

00:34:28.812 --> 00:34:31.772
The first checkpoint is the Kansas River Crossing.

00:34:32.832 --> 00:34:36.852
When heading to a checkpoint or settlement, you'll have options of paths you can take.

00:34:37.892 --> 00:34:40.992
Each of these paths will take you to a mystery encounter.

00:34:41.812 --> 00:34:46.072
They can range from camping with other travelers to hunting in the woods for food.

00:34:47.332 --> 00:34:53.652
During this decision of which path to take, you'll also decide the pace at which you'll travel and the amount of food you'll ration.

00:34:53.852 --> 00:34:56.592
If you're like, hauling ass, or if you're like, okay, we can take breaks.

00:34:56.752 --> 00:34:57.692
Yeah, exactly.

00:34:58.172 --> 00:35:03.352
And like, your stamina will decrease if you're going too fast, and if you're not eating enough, your group will get upset about it.

00:35:04.092 --> 00:35:14.112
The game then takes all of these decisions you're making, adds them to the parts you can't control, such as location and weather, and then inputs that into the probability charts I mentioned before.

00:35:15.052 --> 00:35:22.912
These stats are kind of like skill points, and using a random number generator, the game can reward you or punish you for your decisions.

00:35:24.252 --> 00:35:38.472
Punishments can range from injury, your wagon breaking down, disease, robberies, oxen health issues, food supplies going bad, storms, or just plain loss of morale due to so many maladies affecting your party.

00:35:39.872 --> 00:35:45.312
If you're able to overcome these issues, you'll make it to Willamette Valley, Oregon at the end of the trail.

00:35:46.592 --> 00:35:52.332
The start of the journey is always the easiest, as you're on the Midwestern Plains in the middle of spring.

00:35:53.312 --> 00:35:58.552
Oh yeah, you're also in a race against the clock as you have to make it before winter or your party will be frozen to death.

00:35:58.612 --> 00:36:00.412
Or you'll have to donner party yourselves.

00:36:00.432 --> 00:36:00.652
Yeah.

00:36:03.032 --> 00:36:06.492
Otherwise, your party is happy, healthy, and supplied to make the trip.

00:36:07.612 --> 00:36:10.712
Make it to your first checkpoint, likely without any major issues.

00:36:11.452 --> 00:36:15.312
And it's the Kansas River Crossing, your first real test on the trail.

00:36:16.392 --> 00:36:17.912
Here you have an important decision to make.

00:36:18.752 --> 00:36:23.112
Will you ford the river, cock your wagon, or take a ferry?

00:36:23.392 --> 00:36:25.152
What do those mean?

00:36:25.552 --> 00:36:29.972
So fording the river means you will just walk through it and hope for the best.

00:36:30.372 --> 00:36:33.712
You're just gonna be like, it's probably not that deep, let's figure it out.

00:36:33.852 --> 00:36:38.692
Yeah, this is only to be done in the event of a very shallow river, like two feet or less.

00:36:39.332 --> 00:36:41.092
And the Kansas River usually is.

00:36:41.352 --> 00:36:43.052
Okay, okay, that's good.

00:36:43.852 --> 00:36:48.892
Cocking the wagon removes the wheels, and you seal up any holes in your wagon.

00:36:49.492 --> 00:36:53.672
Then you basically use it as a boat to float across the river.

00:36:53.852 --> 00:36:55.652
Yeah, and then your ox just kind of swim.

00:36:57.172 --> 00:37:02.792
Taking a ferry costs money, and sometimes there's a waitlist to use it costing you a couple days sometimes.

00:37:02.972 --> 00:37:05.092
That's very lucrative to run a ferry.

00:37:05.372 --> 00:37:08.092
Yeah, but it's going to get you across safely.

00:37:08.272 --> 00:37:11.312
I feel like I would just quit and be like, what if I started a ferry business?

00:37:11.612 --> 00:37:13.292
That's the thing is that it only works once.

00:37:13.992 --> 00:37:15.452
So you have to be the first one to quit.

00:37:18.892 --> 00:37:20.832
Fine, let's go to Oregon.

00:37:21.512 --> 00:37:25.972
Well, you have to consider a few other things like the strength of the current and the weather as well.

00:37:26.912 --> 00:37:33.792
If you make the wrong choice, you run the risk of your wagon tipping over and you losing your supplies, or even worse, your life.

00:37:34.312 --> 00:37:35.752
Right, you can drown, right?

00:37:35.772 --> 00:37:36.672
You can fully drown.

00:37:37.392 --> 00:37:41.472
After crossing the Kansas River, you'll next encounter the Blue River.

00:37:41.492 --> 00:37:48.452
And it's the same thing here, just the Blue River tends to be a bit deeper and stronger, so you have to really choose carefully with this one.

00:37:49.492 --> 00:37:54.712
Along the trail between checkpoints and settlements, you'll occasionally encounter people who need help.

00:37:55.852 --> 00:37:59.052
And the game was always designed to be a positive experience.

00:37:59.752 --> 00:38:06.172
It encourages the player to help the people they meet along the way, often resulting in a great reward like supplies and money.

00:38:07.212 --> 00:38:10.432
But sometimes those tasks can be annoying or waste your time.

00:38:11.232 --> 00:38:14.052
For example, you can run into someone who's lost one of their horses.

00:38:14.972 --> 00:38:17.552
They ask you to watch after their stuff while they go looking for it.

00:38:18.792 --> 00:38:22.732
This can take days sometimes before the person returns.

00:38:22.852 --> 00:38:26.552
And the game gives you several chances to just give up and abandon the task.

00:38:27.552 --> 00:38:34.112
But offering to help someone very rarely results in harm to you, unless you run into a flimflam man trying to trick you.

00:38:34.932 --> 00:38:41.572
But their tricks are usually really obvious because they'll try to sell you something like a magic item, and magic's not real.

00:38:41.652 --> 00:38:43.152
Yeah, not even in this universe.

00:38:43.152 --> 00:38:43.492
No.

00:38:44.472 --> 00:38:46.192
I love that this is Red Dead 2.

00:38:46.312 --> 00:38:49.072
It's so Red Dead at the same time, right?

00:38:49.092 --> 00:38:51.572
It's just random encounters with strangers.

00:38:51.792 --> 00:38:57.092
They're a bit more pessimistic, certainly, than The Learning Company's version of Oregon Trail.

00:38:57.492 --> 00:38:57.872
Right.

00:38:58.352 --> 00:39:02.312
No, we're gonna hit one actually coming up here that is feels straight out of Red Dead.

00:39:02.332 --> 00:39:02.912
Oh, good.

00:39:03.432 --> 00:39:06.032
So the next checkpoint is Alcove Springs.

00:39:06.652 --> 00:39:12.692
And a pretty waterfall into a small pond where lots of travelers tend to take a break and relax for a while.

00:39:13.392 --> 00:39:16.112
Here you can also carve your name on a rock wall.

00:39:16.852 --> 00:39:22.792
And if you visit Alcove Springs today, you can still see many names carved by these early settlers.

00:39:23.052 --> 00:39:24.252
Oh, that's kind of cool.

00:39:24.772 --> 00:39:25.212
Yeah.

00:39:25.872 --> 00:39:30.552
And while traveling, a man suddenly falls from the sky and crashes in front of you.

00:39:30.832 --> 00:39:31.752
Oh, no.

00:39:32.152 --> 00:39:35.732
His name is Thomas Pepper, and he's an eccentric inventor.

00:39:36.392 --> 00:39:38.512
I love him so much already.

00:39:39.772 --> 00:39:42.912
I'm Thomas Pepper, and I'm here because I'm looking for the big city.

00:39:42.932 --> 00:39:45.172
He tried to build a flying machine.

00:39:45.392 --> 00:39:45.952
Oh, no.

00:39:46.012 --> 00:39:49.012
But clearly it failed, as he just crashed in front of you.

00:39:49.072 --> 00:39:52.412
Tommy Pepper's taken to the sky, but the ground's coming up real fast, you see.

00:39:52.612 --> 00:39:55.432
Yeah, and this guy really gave the Red Dead vibes to me.

00:39:55.472 --> 00:39:58.212
Yeah, I was just like, this is a crazy person.

00:39:58.892 --> 00:40:04.092
He says that while he was falling, he realized that he's been going about this invention all wrong.

00:40:04.492 --> 00:40:06.532
He had a moment of introspection.

00:40:08.672 --> 00:40:12.372
He should be using the wind to push a sail on a wagon.

00:40:12.672 --> 00:40:15.112
Then you wouldn't need oxen to pull your wagon.

00:40:16.132 --> 00:40:23.652
He says he heard some bankers were looking to invest in new ideas out of a place called Julesburg and asks you to put a good word in for him.

00:40:24.292 --> 00:40:28.512
Tell him that Tommy Pepper's taken to the sky.

00:40:30.252 --> 00:40:31.612
Tell him Tommy Pepper sent you.

00:40:31.812 --> 00:40:32.992
Is he a real person?

00:40:33.292 --> 00:40:35.152
I don't think he is, no.

00:40:36.512 --> 00:40:38.972
But bless the Pepper legacy for that one.

00:40:38.992 --> 00:40:39.412
Right.

00:40:40.352 --> 00:40:46.452
Around this leg of the trip, you should be running low on food, and you'll hopefully get an opportunity to hunt.

00:40:47.592 --> 00:40:52.012
Hunting is a randomly generated task, so there's a chance you won't get to hunt.

00:40:52.852 --> 00:40:58.052
Hunting is probably one of the most memorable things from this series because it's simple and yet still difficult.

00:40:59.552 --> 00:41:04.172
The bullets travel at such a weirdly slow speed, even on the Switch version today.

00:41:04.192 --> 00:41:10.412
You can skin some of their pelts off as well during the hunting that can be used to trade or sell with other travelers.

00:41:10.532 --> 00:41:11.972
What kind of animals are you hunting?

00:41:12.432 --> 00:41:20.272
You can hunt anything from foxes, rabbits, deer, bison, bear, moose, there's all sorts of different things.

00:41:20.292 --> 00:41:23.572
So you can get really small to really, really, really big game.

00:41:23.692 --> 00:41:26.492
Yeah, and actually the smaller stuff's really hard to hit.

00:41:26.552 --> 00:41:27.612
It's a smaller hitbox.

00:41:27.612 --> 00:41:28.052
Yeah.

00:41:28.152 --> 00:41:28.752
I see that.

00:41:28.832 --> 00:41:31.812
And they're really fast, and like I said, your bullets are weirdly slow.

00:41:33.692 --> 00:41:42.652
However, hunting isn't the only way to acquire more food, because this game, like most games, has fishing.

00:41:44.472 --> 00:41:49.832
Tom, I keep fucking telling you, every game has fishing.

00:41:51.292 --> 00:41:52.232
Every fucking game.

00:41:52.772 --> 00:41:54.092
Yes, and this one does too.

00:41:54.532 --> 00:41:58.672
It's not the best mini game, but it somehow gets you more food than a bison.

00:41:59.312 --> 00:41:59.812
Really?

00:41:59.972 --> 00:42:00.432
Yeah.

00:42:00.452 --> 00:42:03.532
So fishing is the one you want if you're going to succeed on the trail.

00:42:03.552 --> 00:42:05.092
Because it's lean protein?

00:42:05.192 --> 00:42:05.852
I guess.

00:42:05.912 --> 00:42:06.512
I don't know.

00:42:06.532 --> 00:42:09.652
I think just wildly misprogrammed, like, the amount of food you get on this.

00:42:09.932 --> 00:42:12.372
No one at Team Oregon Trail has ever seen a bison.

00:42:12.392 --> 00:42:14.952
They're like, no, it's like a dog, right?

00:42:14.972 --> 00:42:15.832
Like a big dog?

00:42:15.852 --> 00:42:16.412
It's fine.

00:42:16.512 --> 00:42:22.272
Yeah, a bison gets you like 30 pounds of food, and then fishing gets you like 40 pounds of food.

00:42:22.272 --> 00:42:24.412
Bison are like 300 pounds.

00:42:24.432 --> 00:42:27.512
You're telling me they're getting a 10% meat yield on that?

00:42:27.532 --> 00:42:28.932
You're just really bad at your job.

00:42:28.952 --> 00:42:29.432
Yeah.

00:42:29.712 --> 00:42:34.212
Well, finally, you make it to your first settlement on the trail, Fort Kearney, Nebraska.

00:42:35.212 --> 00:42:39.792
Unlike most forts in the US, this was not set up during or for a war.

00:42:40.752 --> 00:42:45.792
It was specifically built as a stopping point on the Oregon Trail, as a place to restock and rest up.

00:42:47.152 --> 00:42:49.952
It also became a stop point on the Pony Express.

00:42:51.192 --> 00:42:55.092
And the Pony Express was how male traveled across the country quickly at the time.

00:42:55.192 --> 00:42:55.872
Via pony?

00:42:56.132 --> 00:43:02.232
Yeah, young men would tear ass across the country on horseback, going full speed for as long as the horse could go.

00:43:02.312 --> 00:43:03.332
Were they really hot?

00:43:04.152 --> 00:43:05.192
The guys or the horses?

00:43:05.572 --> 00:43:06.022
The horse...

00:43:06.022 --> 00:43:07.052
the guys!

00:43:09.972 --> 00:43:11.572
I have no idea what they looked like.

00:43:11.592 --> 00:43:16.812
They probably didn't get all the good looking guys to be stuck on the back of a horse for ages at a time.

00:43:17.052 --> 00:43:18.832
It's giving thirst trap though, you know.

00:43:19.032 --> 00:43:19.732
It might have been.

00:43:20.772 --> 00:43:26.752
Well they would have stops like Fort Kearney where they would drop off some male, pick up some others, and then switch to a fresh horse.

00:43:27.532 --> 00:43:31.632
And on the trail, you can encounter a Pony Express rider who has injured themselves.

00:43:31.912 --> 00:43:33.372
Oh no, he's at work!

00:43:33.892 --> 00:43:37.932
Yeah, and you can take on the task of delivering their male to the next checkpoint for a reward.

00:43:37.932 --> 00:43:40.272
That is some big side quest energy.

00:43:40.372 --> 00:43:44.772
Oh right, and no, you don't get the option of reading people's male like you're Sadie Adler.

00:43:44.932 --> 00:43:46.532
That's a felony, Tom!

00:43:47.912 --> 00:43:53.332
This isn't about instilling criminal instincts in the youth, this is about history.

00:43:53.392 --> 00:43:54.072
Exactly.

00:43:54.612 --> 00:44:00.732
For a lot of travelers, Fort Kearney was a turnaround point, as people would hear horror stories of the dangers ahead.

00:44:01.072 --> 00:44:01.572
Oh shit.

00:44:02.432 --> 00:44:09.812
Or they'd find a group of like-minded others and set up settlements along the way, which is how we began to settle these middle sections of the United States.

00:44:10.092 --> 00:44:11.172
The flyover states.

00:44:11.192 --> 00:44:11.652
Yeah.

00:44:13.092 --> 00:44:17.992
From Fort Kearney, you have an optional checkpoint to head towards next in Julesburg.

00:44:18.152 --> 00:44:18.992
Julesburg?

00:44:19.572 --> 00:44:32.532
It's optional because you can head straight to a checkpoint called Courthouse Rock, and Julesburg will also send you to Courthouse Rock, but Julesburg has some good trading and shopping, as well as those bankers Thomas Pebble mentioned.

00:44:32.852 --> 00:44:35.692
So it's just another commerce point to stock up and shit.

00:44:35.812 --> 00:44:36.312
Yeah.

00:44:36.972 --> 00:44:39.032
Now, you said Courthouse Rock.

00:44:39.672 --> 00:44:40.032
Yes.

00:44:40.112 --> 00:44:48.632
Is that where the guy goes, I'm only a bill, yes, I'm only a bill, and I'm sitting here on what's that?

00:44:48.652 --> 00:44:49.472
Capitol Hill?

00:44:49.492 --> 00:44:50.552
Courthouse Rock.

00:44:50.572 --> 00:44:51.732
No, that's Schoolhouse Rock.

00:44:55.372 --> 00:44:57.912
Also, classic 1980s edutainment.

00:44:58.112 --> 00:45:03.832
Yeah, I thought there was a crossover, I fully assumed this was like one cycle.

00:45:03.872 --> 00:45:04.672
Okay, got it.

00:45:04.732 --> 00:45:06.632
Again, Courthouse Rock, real place.

00:45:07.552 --> 00:45:09.592
Name a more ambitious crossover.

00:45:12.352 --> 00:45:21.272
Well, disturbingly, a lot of the accidents you encounter, whether it be someone in your group or a stranger, involves someone shooting themselves on accident.

00:45:21.772 --> 00:45:24.892
Oh, Jesus Christ, isn't that true to form like in life though?

00:45:25.352 --> 00:45:35.432
It is, and honestly, this comes from the fact that a vast majority of the tombstones found along the actual trail said they died from an accidental gunshot wound.

00:45:35.692 --> 00:45:38.292
Wow, so this is morbidly accurate.

00:45:38.312 --> 00:45:39.612
It's morbidly accurate.

00:45:39.632 --> 00:45:42.092
It feels too fucking dark for this education game.

00:45:42.792 --> 00:45:45.892
But they do have a lot of accidents involving a gun going off.

00:45:45.912 --> 00:45:49.632
So I guess, yeah, it's just because it was so historically accurate to happening.

00:45:49.692 --> 00:45:57.312
You're gonna handle a firearm, you have to go through safety and understand everything about a fucking weapon before you put your hands on it.

00:45:57.332 --> 00:45:59.652
Fully, fully educate yourself first.

00:46:00.012 --> 00:46:01.792
Oh, Jesus, that sucks.

00:46:02.772 --> 00:46:08.712
I'm assuming it's a lot of oops, I shot my foot like I'm an eight mile, and then it gets infected as well.

00:46:09.032 --> 00:46:13.292
Yeah, there is that, but I had somebody like shoot themselves in the stomach at one point.

00:46:13.392 --> 00:46:14.592
Oh my God.

00:46:14.612 --> 00:46:15.152
Yeah.

00:46:17.152 --> 00:46:18.712
They survived it somehow, but.

00:46:18.952 --> 00:46:19.412
Really?

00:46:19.432 --> 00:46:19.732
Yeah.

00:46:21.292 --> 00:46:22.872
You rolled well on that one.

00:46:22.932 --> 00:46:23.512
Yeah, right?

00:46:24.892 --> 00:46:25.812
She took a long rest.

00:46:27.832 --> 00:46:30.112
Little bardic and spoon never hurt anyone.

00:46:31.052 --> 00:46:31.852
God damn.

00:46:32.672 --> 00:46:40.312
Well, you arrive in Julesburg, which is a hybrid Arapaho tribe and colonizer settlement with tents and some permanent buildings.

00:46:40.892 --> 00:46:43.672
So it's a lot of mixed communities.

00:46:43.672 --> 00:46:44.332
Yeah, it is.

00:46:44.372 --> 00:46:45.052
That's cool.

00:46:45.672 --> 00:46:56.732
Here you can trade and shop and repair, and there's some side quests you can both take on and complete, including telling those bankers all about Thomas Pebble and his amazing sailboat wagon.

00:46:57.952 --> 00:46:59.772
This man fell from the sky.

00:47:00.012 --> 00:47:00.432
Yeah.

00:47:00.472 --> 00:47:03.272
Well, you don't want to tell them about that because they'll think he's crazy.

00:47:03.332 --> 00:47:04.352
I would have led with that.

00:47:06.092 --> 00:47:07.272
You get the option to.

00:47:07.332 --> 00:47:07.712
Good.

00:47:07.732 --> 00:47:11.552
I think it's fair to paint a full picture of who you're investing in.

00:47:11.572 --> 00:47:14.452
That's what I learned from Oregon daddy, Mr.

00:47:14.472 --> 00:47:15.192
Wonderful the Shark.

00:47:15.212 --> 00:47:15.832
There you go.

00:47:16.112 --> 00:47:16.952
Tell them everything.

00:47:17.352 --> 00:47:18.072
Be real.

00:47:18.752 --> 00:47:24.952
Well, yeah, they don't like the whole flying thing, but the sailboat wagon, they're actually kind of intrigued by, and they say they'll look into it.

00:47:25.152 --> 00:47:27.992
I appreciate that you're kind of pitching to the sharks on this, too.

00:47:28.012 --> 00:47:28.872
Yeah, you are, right?

00:47:29.372 --> 00:47:31.192
And they're like, well, you do a royalty deal.

00:47:34.472 --> 00:47:41.292
You next head to Courthouse Rock, a naturally occurring rock formation that looks like an ancient European castle's ruins.

00:47:41.372 --> 00:47:42.892
Where bills are made into law.

00:47:43.092 --> 00:47:43.572
Yeah.

00:47:44.332 --> 00:47:51.372
It's not wildly far from Julesburg, and you have some opportunities to collect fruits and berries along the way, as well as help some travelers.

00:47:52.472 --> 00:48:00.552
Taking place about 20 years before the American Civil War, an addition that became included in later versions of the game are former slaves.

00:48:01.852 --> 00:48:07.732
You can encounter people who are on their own journey along the Underground Railroad as they escape to the Free North.

00:48:09.152 --> 00:48:13.152
You can help them out by offering them food for their journey, of which they are eternally grateful.

00:48:14.632 --> 00:48:22.352
Fortunately, the Oregon Trail is primarily Northern States, so we don't encounter any terrible people involved in that whole situation.

00:48:22.772 --> 00:48:24.512
We're just helping people gain their freedom.

00:48:25.032 --> 00:48:25.792
That's incredible.

00:48:26.352 --> 00:48:34.992
However, one dark and unfortunate truth about Oregon at this time was the fact that black people were not allowed to live in Oregon.

00:48:35.372 --> 00:48:36.512
Like by law, right?

00:48:36.532 --> 00:48:37.772
Yeah, like at all.

00:48:38.452 --> 00:48:43.332
It didn't allow slavery, but it also just didn't allow black people in general.

00:48:44.892 --> 00:48:48.292
The game does not shy away from this fact either, and it does address it at points.

00:48:49.812 --> 00:48:51.972
But I'm pretty sure they let black people live in Oregon now, though.

00:48:56.092 --> 00:48:58.412
But yes, that is a dark side of Oregon at this time.

00:48:58.952 --> 00:49:00.312
The game doesn't gloss over it, though.

00:49:00.612 --> 00:49:03.432
I appreciate that the game is accurate to history.

00:49:03.492 --> 00:49:04.452
Yeah, at the very least.

00:49:04.612 --> 00:49:07.232
Holy shit, that's a horrific piece of American history.

00:49:07.272 --> 00:49:08.732
Yeah, it's a very, very dark piece.

00:49:08.932 --> 00:49:18.232
You know, in Los Angeles County, it was like Alhambra and that kind of inland part of LA where Asians were allowed to start to own property in LA.

00:49:18.252 --> 00:49:19.052
County for the first time.

00:49:19.072 --> 00:49:26.632
That's why there's such good Asian food out there and like decades and generations of communities that have lived there, because that was like the first place where they could settle.

00:49:26.712 --> 00:49:27.512
Oh, wow, fascinating.

00:49:27.532 --> 00:49:34.752
Yeah, you know, there's some really horrific historical truths to why some communities have ended up in certain areas of cities and counties.

00:49:34.772 --> 00:49:36.172
Hmm, very good.

00:49:36.192 --> 00:49:37.632
Not to be a super bummer.

00:49:37.652 --> 00:49:38.132
Right.

00:49:39.272 --> 00:49:42.772
Well, anyway, but I'll bum you out real quick back on the trail.

00:49:43.632 --> 00:49:54.172
Courthouse Rock, Nebraska, is a beautiful area, which makes a lot of Europeans feel at home in a weird way, affectionately referring to it as McFarland's Castle because of the shape of the mountains.

00:49:54.472 --> 00:49:59.012
Oh, lots of people ended up falling in love with this area and settled Nebraska as a result.

00:49:59.192 --> 00:50:00.072
Someone had to.

00:50:00.092 --> 00:50:10.512
Well, because, again, people heading from west to east are still telling stories that not far from here, the trail really takes a turn and the hard parts are about to begin.

00:50:10.532 --> 00:50:11.432
Oh, shit.

00:50:13.012 --> 00:50:22.512
But we have another rock formation to head toward, and from here, it's off to Chimney Rock, which is so tall, it's visible from Courthouse Rock 50 miles away.

00:50:22.912 --> 00:50:23.872
That's fucking cool.

00:50:23.892 --> 00:50:25.152
Like, you're going that way.

00:50:25.392 --> 00:50:25.712
Yeah.

00:50:25.732 --> 00:50:26.872
Going that direction.

00:50:26.892 --> 00:50:27.512
You got this.

00:50:27.952 --> 00:50:39.392
Oh, it's a wild natural formation as it looks like a huge mountain used to exist there, but it got chopped away little by little until it was just like this skinny pillar reaching toward the sky.

00:50:39.652 --> 00:50:42.032
A mountain got whittled, and that's the formation?

00:50:42.072 --> 00:50:48.292
Yeah, like, if you ever, like, took a pencil and kept shaving it down so that way it's just the lead.

00:50:48.592 --> 00:50:49.392
That's really cool.

00:50:49.412 --> 00:50:51.072
You know, and you make the lead super, super long.

00:50:51.192 --> 00:50:51.572
Yeah.

00:50:51.712 --> 00:50:53.072
That's what Chimney Rock looked like.

00:50:53.152 --> 00:50:54.432
That's really fucking cool.

00:50:54.472 --> 00:50:57.452
Just jutting straight up into the sky, like a fucking skyscraper.

00:50:57.772 --> 00:51:00.332
There's not a lot to do here, as it's just a checkpoint, though.

00:51:00.892 --> 00:51:05.092
And you continue on your way toward Fort Laramie, Wyoming, the next big settlement.

00:51:06.372 --> 00:51:11.092
On the road here, you can find Thomas Pepper, as he shows off his inventions to the bankers.

00:51:11.352 --> 00:51:13.992
And he got there because he took to the wind.

00:51:14.012 --> 00:51:17.432
That's right, Thomas Pepper flying with the clouds.

00:51:21.372 --> 00:51:26.172
Well, the wagon takes off nicely, but it suddenly gets sucked into a tornado.

00:51:26.532 --> 00:51:27.052
Shut up.

00:51:27.072 --> 00:51:28.612
Is this how he dies?

00:51:28.632 --> 00:51:29.772
No, he does not die.

00:51:29.792 --> 00:51:31.072
He was not on the wagon.

00:51:31.092 --> 00:51:32.332
He was running next to it.

00:51:32.352 --> 00:51:39.632
It's like that's how Superman's dad died in that one Superman where he was like, it's okay, let me go, Clark.

00:51:39.652 --> 00:51:40.692
Let me die.

00:51:41.672 --> 00:51:43.052
You can't out yourself.

00:51:43.052 --> 00:51:44.412
That's Thomas Pepper.

00:51:44.472 --> 00:51:44.992
Yeah.

00:51:45.252 --> 00:51:46.492
I love Thomas Pepper.

00:51:46.952 --> 00:51:49.852
Well, the tornado shreds the wagon to pieces.

00:51:50.492 --> 00:51:51.732
Oh, thank God he wasn't on there.

00:51:51.912 --> 00:51:53.212
But Thomas says, good.

00:51:53.872 --> 00:51:56.932
That saves him the time of having to dismantle it to work out the kinks.

00:51:57.112 --> 00:51:59.352
Well, that saves me some click clack time, you hear?

00:51:59.372 --> 00:52:02.272
I don't have to undo all these knots.

00:52:02.632 --> 00:52:03.012
Yeah.

00:52:03.072 --> 00:52:04.312
Clearly the wagon works.

00:52:04.352 --> 00:52:05.992
It just got caught in a tornado.

00:52:06.212 --> 00:52:06.572
Yeah.

00:52:06.792 --> 00:52:07.892
That's not my fault.

00:52:07.912 --> 00:52:13.632
That's Mother Nature just giving me a spanking, you see, for spitting in her face by using the wind.

00:52:15.052 --> 00:52:15.792
I love him.

00:52:16.192 --> 00:52:20.852
Well, from here on, you can actually buy the sailboat wagon if you want, and it does work.

00:52:22.592 --> 00:52:23.192
It is.

00:52:24.252 --> 00:52:25.132
It's so good.

00:52:25.552 --> 00:52:33.352
I know that this wasn't necessarily the terminology used in the room while they were structuring this, but as a modern gamer, that's very funny.

00:52:33.372 --> 00:52:37.332
Like, the logic is sound in the, do this and this is the consequence.

00:52:37.552 --> 00:52:37.952
Right.

00:52:38.012 --> 00:52:40.812
But yeah, I don't think this type of wagon ever existed in the real world.

00:52:40.832 --> 00:52:44.352
You don't think they had the flying wagon that Thomas Peppa penned?

00:52:44.952 --> 00:52:45.312
No.

00:52:47.412 --> 00:52:54.452
Well, historically, this area had a lot of bison roaming the plains, and you have a higher chance of hunting them on this leg of the trip.

00:52:54.532 --> 00:52:55.932
That's a lean protein, I think.

00:52:55.932 --> 00:52:56.732
It is, yeah.

00:52:57.632 --> 00:53:02.972
It's a good opportunity to gain some much-needed food and pelts for the coming mountain section of the trail as well.

00:53:03.892 --> 00:53:07.212
As so far, we have been on flat plains and hills so far.

00:53:07.952 --> 00:53:10.212
Now, we're heading into the Rocky Mountain Range.

00:53:11.672 --> 00:53:17.652
Even though it's mid-summer, there's going to be cold and snowy conditions, and the trip gets much more difficult.

00:53:17.692 --> 00:53:19.752
We lived in Denver for like a year and a half.

00:53:19.772 --> 00:53:22.352
Yeah, summer isn't always beautiful.

00:53:22.412 --> 00:53:23.852
Right, it can get cold.

00:53:25.752 --> 00:53:30.392
Fort Laramie is another one of those settlements that was set up just to help people on the trail.

00:53:31.212 --> 00:53:35.552
It's got some native support as well, and it's a good spot to rest before heading into the Rockies.

00:53:36.712 --> 00:53:42.272
From Fort Laramie, the journey has a few forks in the road, and you can take a northern or southern route.

00:53:43.272 --> 00:53:47.232
But first, we have to go through the checkpoint Independence Rock.

00:53:48.032 --> 00:53:49.292
I love that these are all rocks.

00:53:49.312 --> 00:53:51.452
They're just like, find a sick-ass rock.

00:53:51.892 --> 00:53:53.372
Build a town around it.

00:53:53.392 --> 00:53:54.732
Profit?

00:53:55.152 --> 00:53:56.132
Yeah, that worked.

00:53:56.212 --> 00:53:57.292
That fucking worked.

00:53:57.492 --> 00:54:01.332
It makes for really easy kind of like landmarks for people to find, you know?

00:54:01.472 --> 00:54:02.052
Oh, true.

00:54:02.072 --> 00:54:03.032
Something really tall.

00:54:03.292 --> 00:54:06.292
You see that giant chimney fucking shaped mountain?

00:54:06.592 --> 00:54:07.732
It's called Chimney Rock.

00:54:07.752 --> 00:54:08.192
Go there.

00:54:08.392 --> 00:54:09.572
We live in Las Vegas.

00:54:09.592 --> 00:54:13.312
It literally has a light that just shoots into the sky so people can find it.

00:54:13.492 --> 00:54:15.172
That's how I can tell where south is.

00:54:15.872 --> 00:54:16.632
Exactly, right?

00:54:16.652 --> 00:54:17.252
Anytime.

00:54:17.272 --> 00:54:23.892
I see where the strip is and where Luxor is in relation to it, and I know that's south, and I'm fine anywhere in town.

00:54:24.432 --> 00:54:25.252
Exactly.

00:54:26.432 --> 00:54:32.552
Independence Rock likely became a stop just because it had the same name as Independence, Missouri, where you started your journey.

00:54:32.832 --> 00:54:34.412
Oh, so it's a little like, you'll get it.

00:54:34.552 --> 00:54:35.032
Yeah.

00:54:35.292 --> 00:54:38.952
And it's also just really close to Fort Laramie, so it's like, why was this even a checkpoint?

00:54:39.072 --> 00:54:39.472
Yeah.

00:54:40.592 --> 00:54:43.472
And here you can once again carve your name into the rock side.

00:54:43.892 --> 00:54:44.152
Oh.

00:54:44.392 --> 00:54:49.372
And historians used these carved names to track certain groups as they made their way along the trail.

00:54:49.852 --> 00:54:51.512
That's really cool, too.

00:54:51.532 --> 00:54:52.612
Oh, I love that.

00:54:53.452 --> 00:55:00.192
So while at Independence Rock, a woman can approach you telling you that her daughter, Little Mary, has gone missing.

00:55:01.612 --> 00:55:06.752
And you can help the family form a search party and find Little Mary just drawing pictures into the rock face.

00:55:09.292 --> 00:55:15.892
From Independence Rock, you move on to the next checkpoint, the parting of the ways, which sounds so dramatic.

00:55:16.252 --> 00:55:18.092
Are we gonna sacrifice someone?

00:55:18.172 --> 00:55:18.952
No, not at all.

00:55:19.672 --> 00:55:21.732
It's literally just a fucking fork in the road.

00:55:23.432 --> 00:55:24.412
That's way too dramatic.

00:55:24.432 --> 00:55:26.872
I was like, okay, so half the party is gonna divert.

00:55:26.972 --> 00:55:29.692
Yeah, this is where you're gonna decide whether you're gonna take the north or south route.

00:55:29.752 --> 00:55:31.112
Dramatic as fuck.

00:55:31.872 --> 00:55:39.152
And one of my favorite little side adventures you come upon is a wagon train where one of the members had been murdered.

00:55:39.292 --> 00:55:40.472
There's been a murder.

00:55:40.492 --> 00:55:42.312
By someone else in the group.

00:55:42.772 --> 00:55:43.752
Oh, my stars.

00:55:44.232 --> 00:55:47.792
And yeah, you have to do a full Batman-style investigation.

00:55:47.812 --> 00:55:48.532
Oh, shit.

00:55:48.552 --> 00:55:52.772
And do interrogations and everything and figure out who the murderer is.

00:55:52.852 --> 00:55:55.172
Wait, so you go by and you're like, what's your alibi?

00:55:55.172 --> 00:55:57.112
Yeah, literally ask them what their alibi is.

00:55:57.132 --> 00:55:58.192
Oh, and that's so cool.

00:55:58.212 --> 00:56:01.432
They just inject a whodunit into this role-playing game?

00:56:01.452 --> 00:56:02.052
They did.

00:56:02.492 --> 00:56:03.632
Yeah, we didn't get this far.

00:56:03.672 --> 00:56:05.292
It was the self-appointed cop.

00:56:09.072 --> 00:56:18.172
Whether you choose north or south at the parting of the ways makes little difference, as either one will put you on the path to the Green River, which you will need to cross.

00:56:19.432 --> 00:56:24.892
Probably best to take a ferry across this river, as it is famously one of the strongest currents on the trail.

00:56:24.912 --> 00:56:25.992
This one really sucks.

00:56:26.012 --> 00:56:27.152
This one really sucks.

00:56:28.552 --> 00:56:32.312
If you took the southern route, you'll be heading to Fort Bridger next.

00:56:33.092 --> 00:56:44.692
It's another situation like Julesburg where you could have skipped it and gone straight to the next checkpoint if you had taken the northern route, but it's also colder and more treacherous that way, so there's a higher chance of injury or sickness.

00:56:44.952 --> 00:56:48.612
Oh, right, because the more north you are, the farther from the equator, the colder it'll be.

00:56:48.692 --> 00:56:49.332
Exactly.

00:56:50.792 --> 00:56:58.912
Fort Bridger is worth stopping through, as it is the last time the Oregon Trail, the California Trail and the Mormon Trail all intersect.

00:56:59.312 --> 00:57:01.232
Oh, and then they all start to divert from there?

00:57:01.252 --> 00:57:02.372
And they do, yeah.

00:57:02.992 --> 00:57:13.192
But for people traveling west to east, it was the first time the three trails merged, and it created an opportunity for trade of exotic goods from all three trails.

00:57:13.212 --> 00:57:15.692
So this is a really important pit stop.

00:57:15.692 --> 00:57:16.452
It is, yeah.

00:57:16.472 --> 00:57:20.672
A lot of people coming through, a lot of resources coming through, very cool.

00:57:20.692 --> 00:57:23.232
But it was also just kind of like an optional stop.

00:57:24.272 --> 00:57:36.432
Fort Bridger was founded by the real life mountain man, Jim Bridger, and the man historians call his partner, Luis Vasquez, as their own little trading post in their retirement years.

00:57:37.812 --> 00:57:40.692
And yeah, like I said, historians call it partner.

00:57:43.052 --> 00:57:54.832
Don't you hate that shit where you're like, Emily Dickinson wrote about licking the fucking envelope that you lick just so your lips could touch in some long way, and they're like, she was her best friend.

00:57:55.752 --> 00:57:58.452
Yeah, I think we used to buy pet food from these guys in West Hollywood.

00:58:00.152 --> 00:58:02.052
Just let people love who they love.

00:58:02.072 --> 00:58:06.432
It's okay, we're literally forging a new world, like, who gives a shit.

00:58:06.452 --> 00:58:14.052
Well, speaking of letting people love who they love, in Fort Bridger, you can attend the wedding of a couple you met while on the journey.

00:58:14.512 --> 00:58:17.032
Wait, that's very romantic, I love that.

00:58:17.232 --> 00:58:21.652
Yes, the woman was betrothed to a man selected for her by her father.

00:58:22.072 --> 00:58:23.632
Oh, I don't love that part.

00:58:23.892 --> 00:58:29.692
But she fell in love with another man and ran away with him on the Oregon Trail to start a new life together.

00:58:31.412 --> 00:58:36.372
Yeah, you help her avoid her family at one point on the journey, so she invites you to the wedding.

00:58:36.532 --> 00:58:38.492
That's beautiful, holy shit.

00:58:38.672 --> 00:58:43.652
The mountain man Jim Bridger himself even officiates the wedding between the woman and her love.

00:58:45.132 --> 00:58:48.412
After the wedding, you all agree to get dinner once you're all settled in Oregon.

00:58:49.092 --> 00:58:50.912
That's beautiful, I love that.

00:58:50.932 --> 00:58:52.292
Yeah, let love be love.

00:58:52.292 --> 00:58:57.572
You're just making your own community, too, of like, all right, I'll eventually see you in Portland, I guess.

00:58:57.572 --> 00:58:58.512
Yeah, exactly.

00:58:59.392 --> 00:59:05.872
The next stop before reaching the settlement, Fort Hall, is everyone's favorite checkpoint, Soda Springs.

00:59:06.072 --> 00:59:07.212
Soda Springs?

00:59:07.592 --> 00:59:10.492
It's a naturally carbonated spring.

00:59:11.152 --> 00:59:12.512
Oh, that's amazing.

00:59:12.512 --> 00:59:15.712
Yeah, and people like to swim and also take a drink from the fizzy water.

00:59:16.432 --> 00:59:17.892
Everyone loves sparkling water.

00:59:18.032 --> 00:59:20.632
Yeah, including little Mary, who we met earlier.

00:59:21.752 --> 00:59:26.552
She sees your group splashing in the water and swims over to let out an enormous belch.

00:59:28.012 --> 00:59:30.432
That is the worst way to greet a group of people.

00:59:30.612 --> 00:59:31.652
That is so rude.

00:59:31.772 --> 00:59:33.052
She's four years old.

00:59:33.052 --> 00:59:33.812
Yeah, but still.

00:59:33.952 --> 00:59:39.072
And then she breaks down into a fit of giggles, begging you not to tell her mom that she just did that in public.

00:59:40.832 --> 00:59:44.192
She then says that her birthday is coming up soon, and she'll be turning five.

00:59:45.292 --> 00:59:49.972
She asks if you'll please come to her birthday party when you all get to Oregon, and of course you agree.

00:59:50.032 --> 00:59:52.592
Yeah, you're like, I might be dead, but good luck.

00:59:55.772 --> 00:59:56.932
Sorry if I'm dead.

00:59:57.012 --> 00:59:58.472
Right, I'll do my best.

00:59:59.872 --> 01:00:06.952
Finally, you make it to Fort Hall, Idaho, the largest of the forts so far, with tons of shopping and trading to be done.

01:00:08.212 --> 01:00:16.672
Travelers are often tempted to just stop here and settle down as it has beautiful mountain views, without all the problems of actually living in the mountains.

01:00:17.252 --> 01:00:21.072
It's at the base so you can appreciate the view and still grow crops.

01:00:21.272 --> 01:00:21.632
Right.

01:00:22.632 --> 01:00:27.592
With the trail getting harder and harder, many people realize they might not be cut out for this journey.

01:00:27.872 --> 01:00:29.952
They just go, you know, Idaho's kind of beautiful.

01:00:29.972 --> 01:00:31.092
What if we just stayed here?

01:00:31.112 --> 01:00:32.812
I'm kind of cool with this, yeah.

01:00:32.872 --> 01:00:34.052
I can grow potatoes.

01:00:35.272 --> 01:00:36.272
It'll be fucking great.

01:00:37.032 --> 01:00:41.532
And this is a huge fort that was sadly demolished in the 1860s.

01:00:41.792 --> 01:00:42.012
Oh.

01:00:42.292 --> 01:00:44.052
But the settlements around it have thrived.

01:00:44.112 --> 01:00:44.612
Beautiful.

01:00:45.612 --> 01:00:54.612
The stretches between settlements are getting further apart, and you have to be better at managing all of your resources and your timing now, as the summer is starting to come to a close.

01:00:54.832 --> 01:00:59.392
If you're in Idaho, is that putting you at the halfway point or the two-third point?

01:00:59.432 --> 01:01:02.572
Soda Springs is right around the 60% mark.

01:01:02.632 --> 01:01:04.192
Okay, so we're a little over halfway there.

01:01:04.212 --> 01:01:04.692
That's great.

01:01:06.232 --> 01:01:11.292
If you're in the Rockies still during the winter, your party's not going to make it, and you're going to have a full party kill.

01:01:12.832 --> 01:01:22.452
One of the fun parts of playing this game in school, especially a school that had a connected network, was that all the school's copies of The Oregon Trail were connected.

01:01:23.732 --> 01:01:33.012
So if your friend Jimmy dies while playing on another computer in the lab, their character will have a little tombstone that you can see on the trail where they died.

01:01:33.432 --> 01:01:37.672
Oh, no, so you can see how far your friends made it and be like, haha, I beat you.

01:01:37.672 --> 01:01:38.592
Yeah, you can.

01:01:38.612 --> 01:01:39.852
That's hysterical.

01:01:40.072 --> 01:01:42.612
And when you die, the game tells you what killed you.

01:01:43.352 --> 01:01:45.292
Oh, which has led to the ever famous.

01:01:46.372 --> 01:01:48.012
You have died of dysentery.

01:01:48.192 --> 01:01:49.632
And what is dysentery, Tom?

01:01:49.652 --> 01:01:51.152
That we all know and love today.

01:01:51.392 --> 01:01:56.972
Yeah, this taught children everywhere that you can die from having too much diarrhea.

01:01:56.992 --> 01:01:58.172
You pooped yourself to death.

01:01:58.192 --> 01:01:59.732
You pooped yourself to death.

01:02:00.412 --> 01:02:03.832
It's a very serious thing that still plagues communities to this day.

01:02:03.892 --> 01:02:04.512
Oh, fully.

01:02:05.172 --> 01:02:06.112
It is very bad.

01:02:06.372 --> 01:02:06.712
But.

01:02:06.852 --> 01:02:07.812
And very dangerous.

01:02:07.832 --> 01:02:12.772
But to a kid finding out that this is somebody pooped themselves to death kind of funny.

01:02:13.132 --> 01:02:16.392
It's the best thing for an 11 year old ever.

01:02:16.412 --> 01:02:17.132
Holy shit.

01:02:18.352 --> 01:02:20.892
Well, you're also able to write your own epitaph.

01:02:21.532 --> 01:02:21.752
Oh.

01:02:22.032 --> 01:02:26.372
And you could leave fun notes to your friends and sneak curse words and insults into it.

01:02:26.452 --> 01:02:26.932
Nice.

01:02:27.792 --> 01:02:31.472
The game could also just write a random one for you if you didn't want to write anything.

01:02:31.612 --> 01:02:31.992
Oh, no.

01:02:32.112 --> 01:02:33.952
Yeah, eat your heart out, ChatGPT.

01:02:35.452 --> 01:02:38.292
After Fort Hall, you have another north south split.

01:02:39.492 --> 01:02:45.592
One will take you along the Snake River, and the other through a northern route along the Three Island Crossing.

01:02:46.872 --> 01:02:54.192
I personally always took the Snake River route, because when I was a kid, my dad took me whitewater river rafting on it.

01:02:54.832 --> 01:02:56.032
Oh, Steve actually lived it.

01:02:56.052 --> 01:02:58.012
I actually lived it, and he almost died.

01:02:58.792 --> 01:02:59.552
Oh, my God.

01:02:59.572 --> 01:03:02.512
Yeah, he almost died of hypothermia because the water was so fucking cold.

01:03:02.892 --> 01:03:05.452
And you're like, this is the safe route to take?

01:03:05.532 --> 01:03:08.652
Yeah, honestly, I've been terrified of cold water ever since.

01:03:08.972 --> 01:03:13.132
But regardless of that, I always take this path because, you know, at least I've been down it before.

01:03:13.592 --> 01:03:17.992
I don't think you took the right message from this interaction.

01:03:17.992 --> 01:03:21.292
You know, it's that the devil you know is always better than the devil you don't.

01:03:21.312 --> 01:03:23.752
So I survived it.

01:03:23.772 --> 01:03:24.992
It was my dad that had the problem.

01:03:25.452 --> 01:03:27.852
Yeah, you definitely did not absorb this correctly.

01:03:27.872 --> 01:03:29.412
No, I did not, did I?

01:03:30.172 --> 01:03:32.392
I think you should do some journaling on this one.

01:03:32.492 --> 01:03:35.772
Yeah, well, like I said, I'm still terrified of cold water ever since, so.

01:03:36.272 --> 01:03:36.652
Sure.

01:03:36.992 --> 01:03:38.752
Anyway, so I went down the Snake River.

01:03:39.772 --> 01:03:45.432
After making it through the dangerous and deadly rapids of the Snake River, you've likely caught several diseases.

01:03:45.612 --> 01:03:46.152
Oh no.

01:03:46.292 --> 01:03:50.392
Maybe even lost a party member or two to something like cholera or a broken leg.

01:03:50.452 --> 01:03:51.452
Which one's cholera?

01:03:51.892 --> 01:03:54.352
It's also very similar to dysentery.

01:03:54.372 --> 01:03:55.912
It's like a stomach bug issue.

01:03:56.032 --> 01:03:56.492
Got it.

01:03:57.412 --> 01:04:05.332
But as long as you have your main party member still alive, you make it to Fort Boise, which is not where Boise, Idaho is today.

01:04:05.352 --> 01:04:07.072
I had one assumption and it was wrong.

01:04:07.232 --> 01:04:11.892
Yeah, we've had two places named Boise, Idaho in this country.

01:04:14.352 --> 01:04:14.612
What?

01:04:14.632 --> 01:04:15.792
We needed a backup of Boise?

01:04:15.812 --> 01:04:16.772
We needed a second one.

01:04:16.792 --> 01:04:19.412
There was an air and a spare for Boise?

01:04:19.912 --> 01:04:30.892
Well, Fort Boise was abandoned shortly after the railroad would make the Oregon Trail obsolete, and they established a new Boise in the 1870s, which is the state capital today.

01:04:31.152 --> 01:04:32.152
New Boise?

01:04:32.272 --> 01:04:32.672
Right.

01:04:32.732 --> 01:04:33.512
I love that.

01:04:34.072 --> 01:04:41.112
Now we head into the rocky part of the Rocky Mountains as we head towards the next checkpoint, the Blue Mountains.

01:04:41.292 --> 01:04:44.472
We're starting to get into some Last of Us 1 road trip territory.

01:04:44.492 --> 01:04:45.232
Yeah, right?

01:04:45.252 --> 01:04:46.572
This is the same kind of area.

01:04:46.592 --> 01:04:48.772
This is the University of Eastern Colorado.

01:04:48.892 --> 01:04:52.392
Yeah, the Snake River actually is very near Jackson, Wyoming.

01:04:52.392 --> 01:04:52.812
Oh, shit.

01:04:52.832 --> 01:04:54.692
Okay, so we are just Joel and Ellie now.

01:04:54.712 --> 01:04:59.492
Yeah, I was visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming when we went whitewater river rafting down the Snake River.

01:04:59.512 --> 01:05:01.972
Can we do a Last of Us Oregon Trail?

01:05:02.632 --> 01:05:03.492
Crossover?

01:05:03.512 --> 01:05:04.232
Yeah.

01:05:04.652 --> 01:05:06.992
Yeah, The Last of Us is basically the Oregon Trail.

01:05:07.532 --> 01:05:08.232
It really is.

01:05:09.652 --> 01:05:13.972
They add another thousand miles because you start in Boston, but yeah, basically.

01:05:13.992 --> 01:05:15.772
It's the Mormon Trail, though, because you go to Salt Lake City.

01:05:15.792 --> 01:05:18.332
I was going to say Joel should have probably known the trail.

01:05:18.532 --> 01:05:18.932
Yeah.

01:05:20.572 --> 01:05:21.772
He played this, guys.

01:05:23.072 --> 01:05:26.832
Well, regardless of the time of year, it is cold and snowy through these parts.

01:05:27.792 --> 01:05:32.652
Travelers in Fort Boise warn you, you are probably going to want to turn back or just stay here.

01:05:32.672 --> 01:05:34.152
It sucks from here on out.

01:05:35.312 --> 01:05:39.952
Especially when you come across the headstone for Little Mary.

01:05:40.272 --> 01:05:41.012
Shut up.

01:05:41.612 --> 01:05:43.152
That sucks.

01:05:43.372 --> 01:05:45.492
Oh, it fucking hurts.

01:05:45.512 --> 01:05:47.252
That really fucking sucks.

01:05:47.252 --> 01:05:53.732
You see this headstone and it's got a little fucking doll on it, and you're like, fucking do not tell me that's Little Mary.

01:05:53.772 --> 01:05:56.732
That's exactly what they did for Henry in The Last of Us 1.

01:05:56.752 --> 01:05:58.752
Remember, it's the headstone with the doll on it.

01:05:58.932 --> 01:06:00.492
It hurts.

01:06:00.772 --> 01:06:01.472
Damn.

01:06:01.472 --> 01:06:04.452
And Joel goes, that grave's too small.

01:06:05.052 --> 01:06:06.012
It is.

01:06:06.532 --> 01:06:07.812
Oh, my goodness.

01:06:07.832 --> 01:06:09.092
Damn, what a gut punch.

01:06:09.532 --> 01:06:10.932
Also, that bitch was feral.

01:06:10.952 --> 01:06:16.772
She ran up, open mouthed to you, and then invited you to her birthday party several states over.

01:06:16.932 --> 01:06:17.572
Yeah.

01:06:17.732 --> 01:06:19.032
Oh, she had so much life.

01:06:19.332 --> 01:06:21.032
She did, but not anymore.

01:06:21.752 --> 01:06:22.672
Not at this point.

01:06:22.792 --> 01:06:24.292
Thank you for your service, Mary.

01:06:24.412 --> 01:06:28.552
The trail was too hard on that poor little four-year-old girl, and she did not make it.

01:06:28.672 --> 01:06:29.412
That sucks.

01:06:29.572 --> 01:06:32.792
Honestly, it's likely she got sick from the water in Soda Springs.

01:06:32.912 --> 01:06:38.192
She really shouldn't have been, like, open mouth gulping and swallowing and burping it up.

01:06:38.212 --> 01:06:40.772
Yeah, and she did not make it to her fifth birthday.

01:06:41.212 --> 01:06:43.272
So you can erase that off your social calendar.

01:06:45.652 --> 01:06:59.132
As you cross the peak of the Blue Mountains and begin your set into the Willamette Valley, you head toward one of the final checkpoints before make it to Oregon City, a fort called Fort Napierce after the native tribe of the same name.

01:06:59.252 --> 01:06:59.832
Oh, great.

01:07:00.452 --> 01:07:04.512
Problem was, it was located nowhere near their homelands.

01:07:04.892 --> 01:07:06.812
Oh, they had, like, a remote station?

01:07:06.992 --> 01:07:14.012
Yeah, it was actually built on the land of the Walla Walla native tribe, and eventually it was renamed to Fort Walla Walla.

01:07:14.592 --> 01:07:16.832
Is that Walla Walla, Washington?

01:07:16.872 --> 01:07:17.372
It is, yeah.

01:07:17.492 --> 01:07:21.092
Okay, I know one thing about Walla Walla Washington, and now I know two.

01:07:23.572 --> 01:07:26.572
One was it exists, and two is where the name came from.

01:07:26.592 --> 01:07:27.492
Exactly, right?

01:07:28.312 --> 01:07:31.652
Well, it's another non-military fort, mainly just there for trade.

01:07:32.472 --> 01:07:47.512
It was the last stop before the final and most dangerous stretch of the Oregon Trail, but that also made it the first stop on the way back east, often for broken and desperate people who failed to achieve their American dream of striking it rich in Oregon.

01:07:48.512 --> 01:07:55.872
So this fort stopped letting people inside the grounds and only allowed trade through a small service window cut into the side of the fort.

01:07:55.912 --> 01:08:01.252
Wow, so this is like a check cashing place where they've got the bulletproof fucking window and shit?

01:08:01.252 --> 01:08:04.792
Yeah, it was considered kind of dangerous just because there were some desperate people there.

01:08:04.912 --> 01:08:06.152
Oh, that sucks.

01:08:07.712 --> 01:08:12.032
And you're like, the horizon is right there, and it's like the saddest fucking fort.

01:08:12.112 --> 01:08:15.472
Yeah, it's like having to go through the slums before getting into the town, you know?

01:08:15.472 --> 01:08:16.892
Yeah, holy shit.

01:08:17.592 --> 01:08:22.752
From here, you head to the final decision point at a small crossroad outpost called The Dales.

01:08:23.912 --> 01:08:36.792
The Dales is in Oregon, but it's not the final destination as you have the choice of taking the wild and dangerous Columbia River or the rocky and difficult mountain path into the Willamette Valley and Oregon City.

01:08:37.852 --> 01:08:42.632
With the river, you can hire a guy to take you down the rapids because you won't be crossing this river.

01:08:43.072 --> 01:08:44.472
You'll be traveling down it.

01:08:44.732 --> 01:08:44.932
Oh.

01:08:45.712 --> 01:08:54.672
Or you can take the road that has recently opened, but it will have a high toll since it was built by a business tycoon who wants to capitalize on people not wanting to get wet.

01:08:54.832 --> 01:08:55.772
Son of a bitch.

01:08:56.332 --> 01:08:58.852
So I didn't want to give a business tycoon money.

01:09:00.292 --> 01:09:04.772
And the river offers the only change in gameplay anyway, so that's the one worth taking.

01:09:04.832 --> 01:09:07.012
You're like, emotionally vote with my wallet.

01:09:07.032 --> 01:09:08.592
As a gamer, I want to play this.

01:09:08.632 --> 01:09:09.632
Right, exactly too.

01:09:10.712 --> 01:09:13.032
Otherwise, you're just walking to the city and the game's over.

01:09:14.132 --> 01:09:17.572
And the river is a great experience, honestly, especially on the modern version.

01:09:17.632 --> 01:09:23.292
You cock up your wagon, throw it onto a wooden raft, and you have to guide the river down the rapids.

01:09:24.432 --> 01:09:29.472
And a lot of people in real life and in the game lost everything here.

01:09:29.812 --> 01:09:31.252
Oh, just right at the end?

01:09:31.332 --> 01:09:32.192
Right at the end.

01:09:32.212 --> 01:09:34.872
It's not a safe or easy passage.

01:09:35.152 --> 01:09:36.112
Oh, that sucks.

01:09:36.292 --> 01:09:39.212
And the chances of hitting a rock and flipping are very high.

01:09:39.232 --> 01:09:42.572
Oh, shit, so it's like, you're really threading the needle.

01:09:42.612 --> 01:09:43.972
You really have to, yeah.

01:09:44.932 --> 01:09:57.092
But if you have the skill and patience, after months of turmoil, fearsome dangers and matchless wonder, your party finally makes it to the Willamette Valley.

01:09:57.852 --> 01:09:58.352
Yay!

01:09:58.792 --> 01:10:03.292
You've traveled 2,183 miles.

01:10:03.552 --> 01:10:06.072
So many more than little Mary ever could.

01:10:06.172 --> 01:10:06.752
Oh.

01:10:08.512 --> 01:10:10.672
You probably lost a party member or two of your own.

01:10:11.712 --> 01:10:17.772
You've helped countless people along your way, and likely shit your brains out from dysentery once or twice.

01:10:17.972 --> 01:10:18.612
Who doesn't?

01:10:19.532 --> 01:10:25.492
But you made it, like so many that actually braved that long and difficult passage across the United States.

01:10:26.652 --> 01:10:32.752
Something about the challenge and adventure of traveling through The Oregon Trail has resonated with pretty much everyone who has played it.

01:10:34.352 --> 01:10:40.952
Thank you so much, everyone, for taking this actual journey with us, even if it was your 50th time going down it.

01:10:42.092 --> 01:10:45.072
I think I should play this for the first time just to start off with.

01:10:45.332 --> 01:10:47.232
This sounds fucking great.

01:10:47.252 --> 01:10:50.572
Because that was The Oregon Trail.

01:10:50.632 --> 01:10:52.532
Hell yeah, we made it!

01:10:52.692 --> 01:10:53.572
We made it.

01:10:53.592 --> 01:10:56.272
Time to make our fortune for ourselves.

01:10:56.472 --> 01:10:58.452
Are you happy I never said, are we there yet?

01:10:59.452 --> 01:11:00.872
I'm very happy, thank you so much.

01:11:00.892 --> 01:11:01.612
I was tempted.

01:11:03.872 --> 01:11:07.392
Oh, I imagine anybody who said it on the actual fucking trail just got shot.

01:11:07.512 --> 01:11:08.372
Just slapped.

01:11:08.452 --> 01:11:12.772
They were one of those ones that got the tombstone that said that it was an accidental gunshot wound.

01:11:13.752 --> 01:11:22.412
You hear from across the computer lab, stand up, walk over to that desk, slap them, and then go back down to your desk and calmly keep playing The Oregon Trail.

01:11:22.432 --> 01:11:23.732
Yeah, exactly, right?

01:11:23.892 --> 01:11:28.792
Yeah, so I played maybe an hour of this cumulatively.

01:11:28.812 --> 01:11:30.692
I really kind of want to go back and play it.

01:11:30.852 --> 01:11:32.172
Yeah, you should actually play it.

01:11:32.192 --> 01:11:36.352
I can't believe that you're like one of that one third of the students that never got to play it.

01:11:36.372 --> 01:11:38.672
The timing didn't work out.

01:11:38.692 --> 01:11:40.212
My teacher had a solution.

01:11:40.232 --> 01:11:40.952
It's fine.

01:11:40.972 --> 01:11:42.552
It doesn't have to be name brand.

01:11:42.632 --> 01:11:43.512
It doesn't have to be.

01:11:43.532 --> 01:11:45.032
It was an Oregon Trail dupe.

01:11:47.832 --> 01:11:51.552
Just like the bodega earring dupes are like viral on Amazon right now.

01:11:51.612 --> 01:11:52.372
Exactly, right?

01:11:52.392 --> 01:11:53.732
It's fine, everyone.

01:11:53.752 --> 01:11:54.372
It's fine.

01:11:54.772 --> 01:11:55.972
That was fucking great.

01:11:56.392 --> 01:11:57.632
Oh, thank you so much.

01:11:57.812 --> 01:12:01.572
And Goombas, honestly, just thank you for being with us this season.

01:12:02.052 --> 01:12:05.272
That was season seven of The Other Castle.

01:12:06.372 --> 01:12:07.772
It was a huge season.

01:12:07.792 --> 01:12:10.752
That is the most hours we've put into any season so far.

01:12:11.792 --> 01:12:13.632
I am so proud of the work that we've done.

01:12:13.652 --> 01:12:15.012
I'm so proud of you, Andrea.

01:12:15.032 --> 01:12:17.392
You've done so well this season, especially.

01:12:17.792 --> 01:12:19.432
You are so horror focused.

01:12:20.732 --> 01:12:24.112
You somehow kept your mind together during all of that.

01:12:24.672 --> 01:12:26.492
That's an overstatement.

01:12:26.792 --> 01:12:29.532
The Callisto Protocol broke my brain a little bit.

01:12:29.552 --> 01:12:30.772
That one was real gory.

01:12:30.772 --> 01:12:31.292
It's all right.

01:12:31.312 --> 01:12:32.352
Okami broke me.

01:12:32.472 --> 01:12:32.872
I know.

01:12:34.672 --> 01:12:36.452
From living with you, yes, I'm aware.

01:12:36.672 --> 01:12:37.792
No, this has been really great.

01:12:37.812 --> 01:12:38.452
And thank you.

01:12:38.512 --> 01:12:39.952
This episode was more fun.

01:12:40.152 --> 01:12:42.452
You wanted to do this for the Patreon.

01:12:42.492 --> 01:12:43.192
I did, yeah.

01:12:43.212 --> 01:12:45.492
And I bullied you into doing it for...

01:12:45.732 --> 01:12:46.892
The main series, yeah.

01:12:46.912 --> 01:12:51.912
The main series, and then we somehow both bullied you into doing it as the finale, which has been great.

01:12:52.072 --> 01:12:52.472
Yeah.

01:12:52.492 --> 01:12:56.872
So this really is going to show that we can bully Tom into getting a tramp stamp.

01:12:56.892 --> 01:12:59.952
Will you stop with trying to get me to get a tramp stamp?

01:12:59.972 --> 01:13:01.232
It's not me, it's the Discord.

01:13:01.252 --> 01:13:01.872
No, it's not.

01:13:02.052 --> 01:13:04.692
It's also me on the Discord.

01:13:06.012 --> 01:13:11.792
Well, if you liked this show, if you liked everything you heard, please remember to like and subscribe us.

01:13:12.172 --> 01:13:13.652
We will be back next season.

01:13:13.672 --> 01:13:16.032
We will definitely be dropping stuff in between.

01:13:16.592 --> 01:13:21.172
If you want to keep hearing us in the off season, check out our Discord for just $2 a month.

01:13:21.272 --> 01:13:23.192
Every month we are dropping episodes still.

01:13:23.252 --> 01:13:28.932
So today I am actually in honor of Halloween, dropping a spooky game.

01:13:28.952 --> 01:13:34.592
I did an episode on Polybius, the game that never was on our Patreon.

01:13:34.672 --> 01:13:38.392
Oh yes, if you don't know the story of Polybius, it is an insane story.

01:13:38.632 --> 01:13:42.492
You can go to our Patreon and just do a free trial and check it out if you want to.

01:13:42.572 --> 01:13:43.932
Yeah, that's fine.

01:13:44.292 --> 01:13:52.472
We made this, we want people to hear it, but it's part Polybius, part recap of the last season, just because we got really excited about all the fun games we got to play.

01:13:52.492 --> 01:13:56.132
But I do cover all of Polybius all the way up until now.

01:13:56.272 --> 01:13:57.372
Mwa ha ha ha ha.

01:13:58.992 --> 01:14:02.192
And you can sign up there at our website, theothercastlepodcast.com.

01:14:02.212 --> 01:14:03.932
That's the othercastlepodcast.com.

01:14:03.972 --> 01:14:10.332
We also have our Twitch channel that we are going to be Twitch streaming every Friday evening at 8:30 PM Pacific Standard Time.

01:14:10.712 --> 01:14:12.572
That's 11:30 PM Eastern.

01:14:12.972 --> 01:14:14.032
Oh, wow, that's pretty late for that.

01:14:14.052 --> 01:14:14.492
I'm sorry, guys.

01:14:15.692 --> 01:14:18.252
But then it'll be on YouTube the next day if you want to hang out with us.

01:14:18.492 --> 01:14:28.232
When we do games that we've already done, we actually just get to go off about all the fun shit we didn't get to talk about in the episodes or elaborate on the wild behind-the-scenes stories, which I think is very fun.

01:14:28.352 --> 01:14:29.672
Yeah, it's a really fun time.

01:14:30.812 --> 01:14:34.232
We also want to give a big shout-out to the people who are on our Patreon already.

01:14:34.652 --> 01:14:40.532
We have Paul, Omar, Erin, Cyrus, Trevor, Molly, and Ellen.

01:14:40.832 --> 01:14:44.552
Krisha, Molly Muck, Jackie, and Tijen.

01:14:45.272 --> 01:14:46.252
Thank you guys so much.

01:14:46.272 --> 01:14:50.372
We will see you on the Discord, where we will continue to bully Tom into body modifications.

01:14:51.252 --> 01:14:54.512
And just talk about, like, we're talking about the new FNAF movie on there right now.

01:14:55.152 --> 01:14:58.752
Lots of Rockstar Grand Theft Auto 6 watch.

01:14:59.692 --> 01:15:01.852
It's mostly me just going, all right, all right, all right.

01:15:01.872 --> 01:15:05.452
They opened up the fucking website on Metacritic for this page, like, let's go.

01:15:06.712 --> 01:15:09.452
Ah, it's good times, but thank you all so very much.

01:15:09.612 --> 01:15:11.672
Thank you so much for being here, Goombas.

01:15:11.992 --> 01:15:15.392
And please remember to tell people about us, tell your friends to listen to us.

01:15:15.992 --> 01:15:17.932
And this is Tom and Andrea reminding you.

01:15:18.112 --> 01:15:19.592
Just take the fucking bus.

01:15:20.132 --> 01:15:21.472
And don't skip the cutscenes.

01:15:22.432 --> 01:15:23.032
Bye!