Oregon Trail: Journey to Williamette Valley Board Game

I played the Oregon Trail computer game as a kid for hours and hours. I still remember many things about what it was like to travel the Oregon Trail from the computer game. I was excited to see this and got it for Christmas. We have played it once so far and I am really disappointed. It is loosely based on the computer game. It is by "Pressman" and feels more like a way to get more money from the Oregon Trail franchise than a real game about the Oregon Trail. It is way too simple and the instructions are lacking.

1) You only start with $300 and have no way of earning more money unless you buy winter clothes for $200 and then sell them back for $400. Look you just made $200 and it would have never happened like that on the Oregon Trail.
2) You can hunt, but unless you purchase a shotgun you have little chance of getting something good. You can use a compass to aim but that costs you $50.
3) You can travel a long way on a road and still only need to use one cube of food for the whole trip.
4) You can pick up hitchhikers and get $400 if you finish with the hitchhiker but who ever heard of families picking up hitchhikers on the Oregon trail?
5) If you don't have winter clothes you can't make it on the trip because there are a lot of winter tiles.
6) There are too many forts and towns for 1848. And the instructions don't say if you restock the stuff in the fort when purchased or if it is no longer available.
7) The age range says 14+ this is a joke. my 7 year old can play it just fine, it is way easier than many other games.

I think my biggest beef with the game is that it is too simplistic and doesn't really give you a feel for the trials of the Oregon Trail like the computer game. I am working on my own rules for the game using their stuff to modify it to make it more like the Oregon Trail Computer game.

We love this game

My sons ages (4-13) love this game! They laugh so hard over it! They like how it can easily incorporate the littlest children, if a bigger one is playing. I’m so glad we got it! It’s not a game that sits neglected on a shelf.

We have been listening to the little house on prairie series and so this seemed like a great game. We tried it and it took a trial run to get down the flow of the game but we are super happy tonown this classic!

Instructions are vague.

Haven’t opened the game yet because it is a Christmas gift. The box looks amazing and the weight of it makes me think it will all be of good quality.