In Gold Rush!, Jerrod Wilson (the player character) receives a letter from his long-lost brother (who fled the city years before when was hastily accused and convicted of a crime he didn’t commit) asking him to join in Sacramento, California. Play Gold Rush! online!
If that’s not enough for Jerrod sell everything and give his hometown Brooklyn a fond adieu, under the stamp was one of the first nuggets of Californian gold seen in the Atlantic shores of the United States. So, Jerrod bids farewell to his peaceful life as a newspaper editor, and becomes a fore-runner in the the great Gold Rush of 1849, hoping to find his brother and “strike gold” (literally).
Players control Jerrod Wilson, a newspaper worker in Brooklyn Heights in 1848. As news of the discovery of gold in California spreads, Jerrod decides to risk it all and undertake the perilous journey west in search of fortune.
After selling his house and securing supplies in New York, the player chooses one of three paths through the game: traveling overland, crossing the Isthmus of Panama, or sailing around Cape Horn. The journey is reminiscent of The Oregon Trail, as the player must avoid death from horrible diseases, starvation, and/or killer ants.
Upon arriving in California, you can wander the wilderness around Sacramento, panning for gold in streams. Eventually, you will find notes left by your brother, leading you to a perilous cave. The final challenge is to venture inside, where — if you survive — you may find the mother lode and be rewarded with more gold than you dreamed possible.
Released late into the lifespan of Sierra’s AGI engine, Gold Rush! features some tricks not seen before the more advanced SCI engine, such as enlarged characters, but it is best known for the three routes available to reach California: by land, travel by boat to reach the Atlantic shore of Panama, cross the isthmus, and then get a second boat in the Pacific shore, or making the dangerous all-boat trip by Cape Horn. Each route has its dangers: Cholera might strike as you make your way across the Northern states or your boat might sink.
As usual with Sierra adventures, instant killing happens if the player is careless, but will also happen at random. Other important (and innovative) concept is the game being timed. If Jerrod takes too long to leave Brooklyn, passages to California increase in price, and his house devalues.
You can play Gold Rush! online here, in web browser for free!
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