The original game was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding his party of settlers from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon's Willamette Valley over the Oregon Trail via a Conestoga wagon in 1848.
David H. Ahl created The first version of ''Westward Ho!The Oregon Trail'' for was written in 1971 and it was first published in the July-August 1978 issue of ''Creative Computing''. In 1986, he also published it in David H. Ahl created ''Westward Ho!'' for his book ''BASIC Computer Adventures''.
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