A strange little side quest
Even a quick game like Cow & Carabao Bread Eating Contest sits on top of decades — and sometimes centuries — of ideas. The Oregon Trail began in 1971 when three student teachers created a computer simulation to help Minnesota schoolchildren learn American history. It also connects to a different milestone: Spacewar! appeared on MIT's PDP-1 in 1962 and became one of the earliest influential computer games shared among programmers. It is a good reminder that simple game mechanics can carry a surprising amount of history.
