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| Proposed Design. |
Released in 1971, the original video game "The Oregon Trail" is currently rated at 4.4 out of a possible 5 on Google Play. It was originally produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium, which was founded by the Minnesota Legislature, and has continued to be a hit among Millennials who have no recollection of playing computer games in 1975.
The goal of the game was (or is, if you're still playing it 30 years later) to cross the continent using oxen-drawn carriages. One of the most challenging aspects of the game is avoiding dyssentary. The beer label makes mention of this with the tongue-in-cheek "May Cause Dysentery" which is sub-asterisked with "not actually."
Beer, in fact, was used to prevent the spread of cholera throughout much of history before antibiotics were developed. New England Brewery takes a big risk yet again with this move, since it was re-released in 2012 by Red Wagon Games (also the producers of a recent Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer game). It's possible that the folks at New England Brewery might avert legal action by offering RWG a lifetime supply of the OTPA (Oregon Trail Pale Ale) but it's uncertain at this point, because we're not sure how much beer those guys drink.
