Oregon Trail celebrates its 40th birthday

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Oregon Trail video game. The first players were a junior high history class in North Minneapolis, before a statewide body called the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium mass produced it and introduced it to the world. MECC was bought out in 1995 and renamed The Learning Company, which was in turn purchased by Mattel in 1999. Jonesing to play? You can play the Apple II version online , download the iPhone app or come February, play the new Facebook app. Read the feature story.