Observations about my students after using the old Apple II Oregon Trail game for the first time to help teach about the Oregon Trail (and just have some fun):

• They have a pretty good understanding of why different months are bad to leave in. They compromised on leaving in May.
• One student was really upset we spent all our money at the beginning. When we later weren’t able to buy a ferry crossing and lost a lot of stuff while fording, he smugly proclaimed, “I TOLD YOU SO”
• They love fording the river after it went wrong the first time and every river afterwards was forded. They were so happy when it went horribly wrong.
• They are savage as fuck. As soon as someone got sick, they all wanted to sacrifice the person for various reasons.
• A snakebite caused someone to ask incredulously, “Who is playing with snakes?!”
• When the first person died and they went wild.
• I had absolutely 0 trouble getting readers to read the text for once. Most put on quite a show with various “settler” accents.
• The more things went wrong, the better they found the game.
• “Why would anyone ever do this trip?” was one question that got asked that I was more than happy to debate with them about the merits of the trail. People were definitely forming their own opinions, which was great.
• I am terrible at hunting in the game and they will happily let me know that.
• 8-bit music is incredibly divisive, with some loving it and others hating it.
• I feel bad for the English teachers after the game, cuz they were hyped as fuck after.
• Some were saying they were going to play with the siblings or parents later, which was great to hear.