A strange little side quest
The rules may be simple on screen, but the backstory around School Surfers is anything but tiny. The Oregon Trail began in 1971 when three student teachers created a computer simulation to help Minnesota schoolchildren learn American history. There is another connection worth keeping in the same mental pocket: Early computer role-playing games helped turn rules, inventories, exploration and character progression into systems that could support long-form digital adventures. That gives School Surfers a little more company than it first appears to have.
