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Pete Wentz Explains the Birth of Online Video Game “Fall Out Boy Trail”

3/9/09, 4:56 pm EST

Photo: Johnston/Getty

For a certain generation who grew up with Commodore 64s and Apple IIcs, downtime in computer class was spent obsessing over one primitive yet lovable educational video game: Oregon Trail. Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz was one of the floppy disc’s biggest devotees as a kid, so he was willing to dedicate a “retarded” amount of time to helping build the band’s own version of the game: Fall Out Boy Trail.

The online game, which has clocked more than 250,000 plays since its launch on March 3rd, is a survival exercise like the original. But instead of helping your caravan of pioneers make their way across the colonial States, users are asked to “Help the band survive a grueling tour across the country. Travel to shows, play your songs, and don’t party too hard and get in trouble!” Players are first asked to selected how hardcore they are (sell-outs presumably lose points later on), then have to load up on provisions for the journey — McNuggets and Vitamin Water. Fully equipped, your oxen-tugged wagon trucks along from city to city, encountering a variety of emo issues (someone started a rumor on Absolute Punk!) and real-life ones (your Stump is starving). “What better than to have a game where you can let Pete Wentz die of sadness,” Wentz tells Rolling Stone. “I think that’s awesome and hilarious, because there’s plenty of people who would love to let that happen anyways — here’s your chance!”

There were several elements from the original game that Wentz was hellbent on preserving. “Definitely dysentery,” he says of one of the most common ways a player can perish. “Going across the river and deciding whether to caulk it or not. We wanted the basic elements there, and I have an obsession with the way those things looked. Video games look so real now, but that was the escape of them, how bad they looked. And the music was bad, so we were like, we have to find MIDI-style versions of all our songs. We couldn’t find them, so we just made them.”

There are prizes for those intrepid fans who make it to the end of the adventure: “We’re giving people who finish it tickets, and there will be a few more surprises,” Wentz says. Wily gamers will uncover the game’s multiple cheats that can rocket you towards the finale. Without giving away too much, Wentz suggests players try typing in FOB-related words whenever the game provides an opportunity to do so.

“The best thing about it is there’s no real reason for it,” he says of the game, which is part of the band’s dedication to finding “ways for people to engage” with the band beyond albums. “We don’t make any money from it. We have Vitamin Water in it but we don’t even have a Vitamin Water sponsorship.” But the game has provided him with one personal perk: “I’ve spent my entire life where people are like, you shouldn’t eat chicken McNuggets, that kind of food will kill you. Here’s my chance for chicken McNuggets to not kill me — they’ll keep me alive.”

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Comments

Dude Man | 3/9/2009, 6:56 pm EST

I’m not a fan of this whole emo scene. I think it is just going to be a short lived fad and soon we will all forget about FOB, My Chemical Romance, and all the others cashing in on this movement.

Dude Man | 3/9/2009, 9:16 pm EST

Everybody is starting ignore FOB and MYchem now ,i think everyone is into Rise Against and Paramore and also death cab for cutee

Dude Man | 3/9/2009, 9:24 pm EST

Who posted a comment under my blog name at 9:16?

Cloudman | 3/9/2009, 11:03 pm EST

Not a huge fan of the band’s music but this game certainly sounds amusing. I’ve played my share of Oregon Trail over the years and I have to say, the option to have Wentz die of sadness is genius.

Shiloh | 3/10/2009, 1:13 pm EST

I still have not been able to beat it yet, the bands dies of sadness!

Arboles | 3/10/2009, 2:13 pm EST

Oregon trail was the best becuase it could be played at school. My school’s computers block this game. It’s really difficult to find time-wasting things to do on the computers.

...WELL... | 3/10/2009, 5:29 pm EST

I love My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. I also listen to Rise Against, and Death Cab For Cutie is okay.
I don’t understand why people have such a grudge on Pete Wentz, what has he done so wrong? Honestly…

iowa | 3/10/2009, 5:42 pm EST

Jesus fucking Christ

party hore | 3/12/2009, 11:02 am EST

nice

JJ | 5/2/2009, 2:23 pm EST

I BEAT FALL OUT BOY TRAIL IT’S AWESOME AND EASY ONCE I GOT THE HANG OF IT I JUST BEAT IT TO DAY MAY 2!!!!

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