The Oregon Trail (card game)
The Oregon Trail is a series of card games and a board game based on the video game of the same name, produced by Pressman Toy Corporation.
The Oregon Trail series by Pressman Toy Corporation
- Card games
- The Oregon Trail Card Game
- The Oregon Trail: Hunt For Food Card Game
- Board games
- The Oregon Trail Game: Journey to Willamette Valley
The Oregon Trail Card Game
| Players | 2–6 |
|---|---|
| Setup time | 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 30 minutes |
| Age range | 12+ |
The first card game was released on 1 August 2016.[1] The game is exclusively distributed through Target,[2] although copies are also available via Amazon.com.[3] The game components are in the style of 8-bit video games to emulate the look and feel of the original releases.[4]
Gameplay
The object of The Oregon Trail card game is to follow the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri, to the Willamette Valley, Oregon, with a party of two to six players.[2] Players write their names, or "frontier name" aliases, on a roster. On the back of the roster are tombstones, which can be customized when players die, as in the original video game.[5] Players play trail cards to progress, with the players needing to play 50 cards to win. Each trail card ends on the left, right, or middle of the card, and a subsequent trail card must be placed to smoothly connect to the previous one. Of the 56 trail cards, 46 have consequences associated with them, such as rolling a die to cross a river, which can result in the player losing a supply card or dying.[5] Other trail cards require the player to draw a calamity card, which represent accidents such as snakebites, dead oxen, typhoid, or dysentery. There are sixteen unique calamity cards, with one in eight resulting in instant death.[5] Calamity cards that do not result in instant death can be remedied by supply cards, of which there are seven different types, including clean water, ammunition, and medicine. Other trail cards represent forts or towns, allowing the player to resupply. All players win if one or more players are still alive after the 50th card is played. A successful game should take around 30 minutes to play.[5]
Reception
On the tabletop-gaming forum BoardGameGeek, The Oregon Trail card game has a rating of 5.0 out of 10, with 286 ratings, as of 13 December 2016. According to BoardGameGeek's Rating wiki page, a game with a score of 5 is described as being "Average. No significant appeal, take it or leave it.".[6]
Writing for Ars Technica, Megan Geuss stated that some cards have ambiguous instructions or are hard to understand, but that the cooperative aspect is "refreshing" and that players in her group "weren't bored by the end".[7] She concluded that winning the game is "really hard" and that her group never did.
The Oregon Trail: Hunt For Food Card Game
| Players | 2–6 |
|---|---|
| Age range | 12+ |
This card game is based on the hunting trip portion of the video game, except player's goal is to collect 600 pounds of meat.
The Oregon Trail: Journey to Willamette Valley
| Players | 2–4 |
|---|---|
| Age range | 13+ |
It is a board game for 2–4 players, where player's starts the trip from Independence, Missouri in 1844 to Willamette Valley. Each player has 4 family members as in the first The Oregon Trail video game, but has the ability to upgrade wagon.
References
- Krol, Jacob (29 July 2016). "The Oregon Trail is back, but this time it's a card game". CNET. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- Robinson, Will (2 August 2016). "An Oregon Trail card game is here". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- Erickson, Christine (31 July 2016). "You can buy the Oregon Trail card game online". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
- Zumbach, Lauren (1 August 2016). "Target selling 'Oregon Trail' card game". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- Campuzano, Eder (4 August 2016). "6 things to know about 'The Oregon Trail Card Game'". The Oregonian. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- "Ratings". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- Geuss, Megan (5 September 2016). "Oregon Trail Card Game: Simple, repetitive, and you'll die of dysentery. A lot". Ars Technica. Retrieved 13 December 2016.