Fridge / The Oregon Trail

• Fridge Logic: In the second and fifth versions, it's possible that you can die of an accidental gunshot wound CAUSED BY YOU. Huh?
  • You shot yourself in the foot. And died.
    • Dying of infection was quite common in pre-antibiotic times.
  • Or here's a better one: If you give someone food poisoning in the 3rd and 5th editions by picking poisonous plants, you make them better by increasing rations. Huh?
    • It was probably meant to be a "keep them from dying of malnutrition while they flush their system" mechanism. It would have been more clear had they cut available rations by the amount that was the poisonous plants, and had several (overlapping region-specific for good measure) types of poisonous plants that would each never be picked up again once you had identified them, but hey, this was a game where a single person could depopulate the entire large-game population of the west within twenty miles of crossing the Missouri River and dysentery always resulted in huge pockmarks appeared on the affected's face. Either give them a break on the food poisoning thing, or start riffing.
• Fridge Horror: In the Gamesoft mobile phone port, you get to save children from rivers. You don't end up with new party members... but you do end up with a boost to your food supply. And the encounter appears on your map with the same star as hunting and fishing opportunities...
  • You were originally also supposed to gain a bit of food if your wagon party is starving and one of them died. This feature was cut before release, though.
  • According to this article on cracked.com, you, the player, is someone heading out west because you hate black people who used to be slaves.
    • You could be part of the 11% of Oregonians who voted against excluding black people in 1857. Hey, the odds are a little better than one in ten!
    • To clarify, "voted against excluding" refers to a series of laws passed in Oregon in the 1840s and 1850s forcing free black settlers to leave the territory or face punishments including whipping. And there are several black members of your party, perhaps including yourself.