Oregon Trail

Thule Trail

Somehow running out of Cheetohs doesn't have the same impact as starving to death in the snow

Submitted by costik on Thu, 03/20/2008 - 13:30.

Type:

Flash

Developer:

Periscopic

Play Now

Suggested By:

L.B. Jeffries

This is mildly entertaining -- it's a promotional Flash game from a Swedish company called Thule that's selling somethingorother I can't quite figure out from either the game or the website, but then, I don't really care, either. It's a mildly satirical remake of Oregon Trail, and its main appeal is that a sort of retro nostalgia: It looks like an early 80s game, with CGA-style graphics, sparse MIDI sound, and all controls via the keyboard. Instead of pioneering the wilderness, you're taking a road trip from Chicago to the West Coast, and your resources are mainly fast food from the mini-mart, and gas.

The Dwarfstar Games

The Dwarfstar Games

In the early 80s, hobby game publishers produced a whole series of small, relatively inexpensive tabletop science fiction and fantasy games--starting with the "Microgames" from Metagaming, and including the "Capsule" games from SPI, and games from Mayfair and many smaller manufacturers. Steve Jackson got his start in this medium (with Ogre), and much of my earlier work was in it as well (The Creature That Ate Sheboygan, DeathMaze, et al).

Heritage, mainly a miniatures publisher, produced a series of 8 titles--of varying quality, but some excellent--under the "Dwarfstar" name and the aegis of Howie Barasch and Arnold Hendrick (who later went on to a stellar career as a game designer for Microprose and IMagic). Some time ago, Reaper Miniatures, which currently owns the rights to these games, made them available as free downloads (you'll need a color printer to produce the maps and counter images).

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