Oregon Trail: The Exhaustive History

While I typically shy away from being overly nostalgic, I must admit that this exhaustive history of Oregon Trail is pretty fascinating. The piece is written by Philip Bouchard, the man responsible for porting the original 1971 text-based version of the game into the more visual immersive 1985 Apple II version most people are familiar with.

While I say it is exhaustive (even Medium says it will take you 40 minutes to read), there is also a 500-page book on the subject as well, if you're looking to dive even deeper. Bouchard writes in a compelling manner, particularly for a subject about likely dying (virtually) on your way out West.