The Oregon Trail Handheld Game

Anyone who sat in a school computer lab in the 80s or 90s probably still remembers naming their wagon party and watching half of them go down with dysentery. Basic Fun’s handheld version of The Oregon Trail puts that game in your hand, with graphics and sounds styled after the 80s original and gameplay based on the classic computer game.

It’s a simplified retro take, not a full port of the computer version, so go in expecting the look and feel of those old screens rather than a deep, modern remake. That’s the appeal for a nostalgia gift. The blocky visuals and chirpy sounds are part of the joke, and a Gen X or millennial recipient will likely start recounting their worst river crossing before the batteries have warmed up. Three AA batteries come in the box, so there’s nothing to hunt down before the first game.

It’s also a decent way to hand the trail to a kid. The age rating is 8 and up, and the small handheld format makes it easy to pass around a back seat, which is where a child’s first dysentery death might happen with a parent laughing a little too hard about it.