Oregon Trail gets an historic update

06/02/21 • 18 min

You can still play The Oregon Trail on Apple Arcade, but the modern version of this iconic educational game has gotten an upgrade as part of an effort to more accurately depict the times, and the people along the trail – Native Americans in particular.
This story comes to us from reporter Anna King who first reported this story for Northwest News Network. You can read and hear her story here.
Music in this episode was by Kevin MacLeod. NW NERD's theme music is by The Hoot Hoots.

Previous Episode

507: Despite all the dysentery, we still love The Oregon Trail (encore)

An encore presentation of NW NERD's feature story on the Oregon Trail video game that was the highlight of many young students' school day in the 1980s and 1990s. NW NERD talks with Don Rawitsch, the creator of the educational video game,. It was a rocky road over many years before The Oregon Trail was a pop culture icon.
Ensign Brandon Haddix and Pop Culture Journalist Dyer Oxley go over their own experiences with the game, and Dyer even pops a quiz on Brandon.

Next Episode

The tastes, the scents, and the cocktails of pop culture

This episode is for all the geek senses – tastes and smells, etc.
Michel Paves used her creativity during the pandemic to develop scent profiles for her favorite fandoms and characters, from Wolverine to Falkor the luck dragon. That evolved into Nerdwax Candles which can be found online and perhaps at a farmer's market near you. She talks with NW NERD about some candle projects in the works.
Also, NW NERD recently won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a version of a story he did on Friday Elliott with Friday Afternoon Tea. That story was first published on NW NERD. We're playing a segment from that story. Friday showed how she uses her unique form of synesthesia to develop flavor profiles by listening to NW NERD episodes and designing a tea flavor for the podcast.
Joining this episode to talk through it all is Egypt from the Comic Dads along with Nessa (Comic Mom). Both have bartending experience, so we're throwing some characters at these comic parents to see what drink they would serve them.
All that and a few special announcements.