The goal of the game is to make it across the Oregon Trail with limited resources, fighting the elements without losing your family. Hunt for food, trade with other travelers, fight disease and discover new places. All while learning about the history of the Oregon Trail.HuntingAn important aspect of the game was the ability to hunt. Using guns and bullets bought over the course of play, players select the hunt option and hunt wild animals to add to their food reserves. Bison are the slowest moving targets and yielded the most food, while rabbits and squirrels were fast and offered very small amounts of food.
Oregon Trail is an old 2,170-mile trading route that stretched from the eastern United States to the west coast. The Oregon Trail crossed through several present-day states including Kansas, Wyoming, Oregon, Idaho, and Nebraska.
Deer (eastern section) and elk (western section) are in the middle in terms of speed, size, and food yield; bears are between bison and deer in all three properties. While the amount of wild game shot during a hunting excursion is limited only by the player's supply of bullets, the maximum amount that can be carried back to the wagon is 200 pounds in early versions of the game.DeathThroughout the course of the game, members of the player's party can fall ill and die from various causes, such as measles, snakebite, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and exhaustion. People can also die from drowning or a broken leg. The player's oxen are also subject to illness and death. People from your party can die, so be sure to monitor the health of your party. Keep them well fed, choose a proper pace, and rest when needed.ScoringAt the conclusion of the journey, a player's score is determined in two stages. In the first stage, the program awards a 'raw' or unscaled number of points for each remaining family member (weighted by party health), each remaining possession (weighted by type), and remaining cash on hand (one point per dollar).