Until just a few years ago — when The Internet Archive brought the game to most current browsers — the only way to relive your virtually Typhoid-filled childhood traversing The Oregon Trail was to hook up that ancient computer still stored in your parent’s basement. Now, you don’t even need a computer, or any electronic device, as there’s a tabletop game.
According to the Oregonian, the tabletop card will hit select retailers’ shelves this Sunday, July 31, giving people everywhere the opportunity to gather around the kitchen table to hunt game and avoid dysentery as they make their way west.
The new tabletop version of the classic game — which was recently inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame — was first spotted by a redditor and confirmed to be in stock at several Portland-area Target stores.
A spokesperson for the retailer tells The Oregonian that the game will officially debut on July 31, although some store chose to sell the product earlier.
Despite advancements in technology since the game first debuted in 1971, a post on the game by the Reddit user shows the new card version has kept many of the aspects The Oregon Trail is known for: cards feature 8-bit imagery of oxen, bullets, food, and other things you would have previously seen on the computer.
Additionally, it appears the cards include tombstones in which players can write their names and cause of death on the Trail.
The game is reportedly one of several Target exclusives that were released without promotions or fanfare, The Oregonian reports.
‘The Oregon Trail’ released as a Target-exclusive tabletop card game, on sale July 31 [The Oregonian]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist