Say hello to the Oregon Trail! Originally written back in the 90s, this video game was an education staple of many of the people of my own generation. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, many American school children (including yours truly) wasted their days away on the Apple II computers, trying to guide their families (most members named after friends or TV characters) to the US's west coast, shooting buffalo, fording rivers, and deciding which pizza ingredients they wanted on their tombstone.
Although the game in its original form has been out of print so long it now counts as "abandonware", the spirit of the Oregon Trail lives on and the game has been rebooted in many versions throughout the intervening years. The version that we will be playing for this challenge, however, is the version that I am most familiar with, the DOS "Classic" version from 1990.
How to Play:
As a budding American pioneer, you must lead your family (4 family members plus yourself) down the perilous Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley where you will start a new, prosperous life together. Before you can start on your journey, you must select a background (which determines your starting money and your score modifier) and purchase supplies. Once you leave, you must make sure that you and your family survive to complete the journey by crossing rivers, trading supplies, hunting for food, and overcoming illness. You use simple keyboard commands to navigate the game and its menus, and the number pad is used for the hunting minigame.
If the game doesn't start for you in the above link, try changing the "Game Executable" dropdown option to OREGON.EXE.
Goal:
At the end of your journey, you are awarded a score based on how many of your group survived the journey (and their current health), how many items you have left, and how much money you you left. In addition, there is a points "modifier" in effect based on your starting profession. Just like in real life, being rich is "easy mode" so Bankers start off with the most money (and get a 1x points modifier), Farmers get the least (but a 3x modifier), and Carpenters in the middle (with a, you guessed it, 2x modifier). The player who submits the screenshot with the most points is the winner.
Submission:
In order to submit a score as a possible winner, you must post a screencap or photo under these conditions:
- The image needs to show your high score and score breakdown, which is only shown at the end of the trip. Taking a screencap of just your high score from the scoreboard is not allowed!
- The image MUST be posted in thread. No PMed or IMed submissions will be accepted!
- To verify that the score you submit is actually taken for the Challenge, the screenshot image must include PokéBeach open in a separate tab. See here for an example. If there's info in a full screenshot like this that you don't want to show, open it in Paint first and black the sensitive stuff out.
- If you would prefer to take a picture, you should include a post-it or other piece of paper with your PokéBeach username written on it. Like this! Both your score and the username must be legible.
- You may post as many entries as you like under the deadline has been reached and the highest one will count as your final submission.
- The deadline for Round 2 is Monday, February 15th at 3:06pm Central European Time. That is the same as 2:06pm GMT, 9:06am Eastern US time, 6:06am Pacific US time, or approximately the time of this post in your own time zone.
Players:
The players for each team for this round are:
Amber Phoenixes: @Jabberwock
Palatinate Cynogryphons: @Brave Vesperia
Xanadu Taniwha: @Vom
Feel free to ask if you have any questions! Good luck everyone!
As a reminder, Round 3 will start immediately upon reaching the deadline of Round 2!
