Others say...

"Family fun"
I purchased this product for my 8 year old granddaughter for her birthday. She was delighted. I'm 73 and was introduced to this game while visiting other grandchildren. I think it's the best game out there for children ages 9-12. They're learning about history and making choices about their virtual lives - sort of like an 19th century Sims family. People dying abruptly while on the trail is a bit of a shock the first time it happens but it is quite realistic and we know that did actually happen. It was fun setting up the game with this child and I'm sure she'll have many interesting hours on the trail. I still play this game myself - most of the time I take family along but sometimes I take celebrities. Sharing a tent with George Clooney and Robin Williams for three months makes all the hard traveling worthwhile! Last trip Robin died of dysentery near Chimney Rock but we gave him a proper funeral and went on. . . .

I do wish The Learning Company would come out with a new edition, though. I've gotten so I can avoid most of the hazards of the game over the years.

"Don't order through Learning Company"
I tried to order this through on-line download directly from Learning Company/Broderbund. Their downloads did not work, no matter how many times I tried to install their "smart download" software. Their customer service is not available outside of business hours, and are rude when you do reach them. Maybe a CD via Amazon merchants would have been a better idea....

"Oregon Trail-5th Edition"
This CD never worked. Learning Trail Company replaced it with another game but I never did get Oregon Trail. Very sad.


"Fun Gameplay, DOES NOT WORK with OS X 10.4, 10.5"
once installed on os x tiger, there was an error upon starting gameplay that the font "new york 18" is missing. this is a native mac font from os 9 and, after a couple hours of fruitless searching, cannot be found for os x. after upgrading to leopard, this error is still present.
however - i simply installed the game on the windows xp sp2 partition (via boot camp) and it runs perfectly! so, don't run in on your new mac os and you'll be okay.
the game itself is fine, if you can get it to work. would recommend only under - gasp - windows only usage.

"Oregon Trail"
Great learning game, but also fun! My five-year-old plays it with help, my 8 and 9 year olds play it together, and I must admit, I like it too! This edition has a lot more options than the last one, and the graphics are considerably better. And it's now one disk which is really nice. We did this as part of a homeschool lesson plan, and the only reason I rated it 4 stars is because the learning application was a little limited, but as a safe, family-friendly, fun, and somewhat educational experience (hey, my daughter is now quite the big game hunter!), it's five stars all around.