Just about everyone born in the '80s was plopped in front of a blurry monochrome monitor to guide a team of wide-eyed pioneers across America's dangerous, untamed western expanse. And we happily loaded our wagons, chose our professions and shot our dinner with cheery glee, ensuring that years later an entire generation would fondly recall its time spent on the dusty trail.

But in all honesty, the only thing more torturously boring than Oregon Trail was sitting in class on a bright spring afternoon. Which, obviously, is why thousands, if not millions of gamers and non-gamers chat about the game as if it were legitimately entertaining. In the end, we only have nice thoughts about it because it kept us from doing more homework. But perhaps that was the point all along - to make us bond over a shared traumatic experience?

This sums it up pretty well. Ugly graphics (even for the time), arbitrary restrictions and a seemingly unending wave of dysentery kept everyone but the most eye-bleedingly bored kids away. But the love rages on well into the 2000s, as evidenced by many geek-chic references to a game that seems hell-bent on killing you and your entire family.

Perhaps the world's only shirt promoting dysentery from BustedTees.

Oops, spoke too soon - 80sTees wants you to crap your guts out too.

A real-life journey to Oregon as told by Flickr user dweekly. Funny, that's the face we made while playing it as kids.

According to Wikipedia, the Only Source of the Internet, Harrison Ford had dysentery while filming Raiders of the Lost Ark, and presidential hopeful John McCain suffered from it while a POW in North Vietnam. Wonder what their thoughts are on "You have died of dysentery" as a pop culture meme...