It’s almost hard to believe that with all the computers in kids’ classrooms these days, back in the 80s they were so rare. I remember waiting in line for so long to play a game on a Tandy computer in the library for just a few minutes. Still, the thrill of playing an actual computer game during school hours was unmatched. (Photo Courtesy: https://www.headcountcoffee.com/blogs/corporate-legends-lost-empires/tandy-educational-systems-and-the-classroom-that-vanished?srsltid=AfmBOoqDr8hffLKHcAH4YWgNGkwUIUo8iXNPlMcL0XoYBNXrQ98mM-A0)Of course, the one game that reigned supreme in schools as somewhat educational was The Oregon Trail, released in 1985 by the Minnesota Education Computing Consortium, a remake of a game released in 1971. The famous survival simulation of a wagon train crossing mountains and rivers during the expansion of the American West forced kids to contend with broken wagons, indian attacks, and the dreaded dysentery. I learned that no matter how many times I played, I never made it to the fabled Oregon coast, leaving a trail of corpses behind me at every decision. You’d think I was playing a speedrun to see how quickly I could kill off a family of immigrants. (Photos Courtesy: Wikipedia)But I never went to the library for historical reenactment games. I wanted to play proper games, not a choose-your-own-adventure of death (although that made for a cool book). My favorite game to take up precious library time was Jumpman. I’m not talking about the original hero of Donkey Kong; this is the Epyx platformer released in 1983, where the titular hero runs around and defuses bombs in his base on Jupiter. While the game had a similar layout to Donkey Kong (which inspired this game) with ladders and metal beams to climb and run along, Jumpman was way faster here and able to jump a lot further. The graphics were very simple, basically just a stick figure running around on girders, but it allowed for a quick game. I never knew if each level was programmed in order or if each room was random, but I loved how each level felt completely different from the one before it. (Photos Courtesy: Wikipedia)After Jumpman, we got Montezuma’s Revenge in 1984, released by Parker Brothers, and it felt like a full evolution. In it, you control Panama Joe, navigating a trap-laden, vermin-filled Aztec pyramid in search of treasure. Keys must be collected to get through many of the doors, and you can also equip weapons like swords and torches if room is available in your inventory. Rolling skulls, spiders, and snakes litter your path as you progress, and of course, one hit will spell your doom. Montezuma’s Revenge was one of the first platform games I ever played that had an actual setting you could see during the game. While the background was still black, like just about any game back then, red bricks filled the screen instead of solid lines in place of walls. The character, also called Pedro sometimes, had a distinct design as well, wearing a wide-brimmed hat. I loved immersing myself in the game, but did that mean I was any good at it? Heck no, you’d think I was playing The Oregon Trail’s Revenge with how often I died. I couldn’t tell you how many times I perished in those first few screens. Who would have thought jumping over a skull would be so hard?(Photos Courtesy: Wikipedia)I believe there’s one game that deserved an honorable mention and would have been right at home on a library computer. My dad had the game M.U.L.E. on our home computer, and it easily fit in with The Oregon Trail as a quasi-educational game. Released in 1983 by Ozark Softscape for Atari, it was one of the first five games from Electronic Arts. Now, I, for one, never played this game. I don’t think I even understood that game. But I was enthralled watching my dad play it until he tried to explain to me how it’s based on trade and resource gathering. I know for a fact if I were to play that game now, I’d be terrible at it, but I’ve always been curious about picking it up.(Photos Courtesy: Wikipedia)Luckily for me, practically all these games have had a resurgence. The Oregon Trail never really fell off the map, having had a bunch of updates and even a card game based on it over the years. Jumpman was included in THEC64 Mini, a miniature version of the Commodore 64 in the vein of Nintendo’s NES and Super NES Classic Editions. Montezuma’s Revenge got an updated Director’s Cut version as part of a 40th Anniversary Edition. M.U.L.E. even has an online version available on itch.io so you can do some trading across the world with your Multiple Use Labor Elements.Did your school have any computer games to play in the library? Did you ever make it to the fabled Oregon Territory? Let me know in the comments.If you’re interested in more 80s nostalgia with a lean towards Saturday morning cartoons of yore, check out my Old School Evil trilogy on Amazon here and check out my Substack WeeklyHero Writes here for more short stories and articles about my love of animation.