Yeties, Nick and Jack here from the studio.

Since it's President's Day and markets are closed,

we decided to serve up a sample of our weekly show,

The Best Idea Yet.

It's our second show, which just got nominated for an Ambie Award, by the way,

for Best Business Podcasts, not too shabby.

Not too shabby.

And this episode, it's actually our most viral one yet.

It's about the Oregon Trail game, the first video game that you ever played. But few know how the Oregon Trail actually began. Each week, week's four, the most viral products of all time. And here is an entire episode for you to check out. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this sample of the best idea yet.

It was my best birthday party, and I planned it myself.

This was a whole new concept, and the concept is called the reverse surprise party.

So you invite all your friends to your party.

But you don't tell them where it is, you don't tell them what it is, you just tell them to wear a tuxedo and look fantastic.

So we showed up at the front of Nick's apartment, not knowing where we were going, and we all piled into a limousine. And Nick told the driver what the destination was. Jack, this was the first

ever reverse surprise party. One of many more to come. It might have been the best birthday party.

Yeah, it created this entire concept of the reverse surprise party purely out of the one goal

of optimizing and maximizing enjoyment. You won't hear it often on a business podcast,

but sometimes the best motivation to create a product has nothing to do with making money at all.

Sometimes products start with that same goal to optimize and maximize enjoyment. Exactly.

And if you want the perfect example of this, look no further

than the subject of today's show. An iconic game created by three idealistic young teachers

in the great state of Minnesota. This story features trappers and bankers, preachers and con artists,

...