• by Larissa Faw , October 30, 2017

Travel Oregon and its agency Wieden+Kennedy are out with a new campaign promoting tourism that reimagines the popular computer game, "The Oregon Trail."

The "Travel Oregon: The Game" uses the aesthetic of the original game with modern twists. For instance, oxen have been replaced with a station wagon and items that can be purchased at the store include artisanal coffee, snow chains, or a phone charger.

To serve as a travel guide, the game educates players about different destinations and activities throughout the entire state, particularly those that take center stage in winter months. Players are able to start in any part of the state and then continue along a connecting path that loops through Eastern Oregon, Southern Oregon, Portland Region, Oregon Coast, Mt. Hood & Columbia River Gorge, Willamette Valley and Central Oregon.

While the original game enabled players to hunt for deer and buffalo, this 2.0 version offers mountain biking in the Columbia River Gorge, truffle hunting in the Willamette Valley, and ice skating in central Oregon.

The game’s site is accessible through TravelOregon.com through Dec. 16.   

Travel Oregon is working with several media partners selected for their relevance to the game. For example, the game features a "book your trip" option in several of the menus and clicking on this link will take players directly to a bespoke page - created to mimic the original game's look and feel - where they can then book via Expedia.

Additional media partnerships include Buzzfeed, Atlas Obscura, Undertone, and Reddit.

Travel Oregon's social agency Sparkloft is running a paid social campaign across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The tourism bureau is also leveraging online video and audio assets through its media buy.

The game was developed under license from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to ensure that it harkens back to the original experience and is optimized for the browsers Chrome, Safari and Firefox.