A strange little side quest
School Girl Knee Surgery belongs to a much longer story of play than a browser tab might suggest. The Oregon Trail began in 1971 when three student teachers created a computer simulation to help Minnesota schoolchildren learn American history. That old idea kept changing rather than disappearing. Barbie Fashion Designer became a major software hit in 1996, selling more than 500,000 copies in two months and proving there was a large audience for fashion-focused computer play. The screen is modern; the urge to test skill, pattern and timing definitely is not.
