Lost Treasure (board game) facts for kids

Lost Treasure is an exciting board game from 1982 by Parker Brothers. It's an electronic deep-sea diving game where players search for hidden treasure chests filled with gold and silver. Get ready to explore the ocean and find amazing riches!

Game Board: Your Ocean Map

The Lost Treasure game board looks like a real map of islands and oceans. It shows two main areas: Temptation Bay and the Sea of Opportunity. In these areas, you'll find islands with special ports. These are places where you can sell the treasure you find for cash!

Here are the islands and their ports:

The board also has a grid of 24x24 squares. This grid helps you figure out exactly where the treasure might be hiding. It's divided into 64 larger sections, each 9x9 squares big.

Game Equipment: What You'll Use

To play Lost Treasure, you'll use several cool pieces:

• Boats – Each player gets a colorful boat (red, yellow, white, or green). This boat moves across the ocean map.
• Dice – You roll the dice to see how many spaces your boat can move. You can move your boat one square at a time in any direction on the water.
• Buoys – There are 4 gold and 4 silver buoys. These act like markers to help you narrow down your search for treasure.
• Treasure Chests – The game includes 16 treasure chests. Some are filled with gold, and others with silver.
• Money – You'll earn money in three different amounts: $50,000 (green), $100,000 (gold), and $500,000 (blue).
• Electronic Dive Control Center – This is the coolest part of the game! It's an electronic device powered by a 9-volt battery. It automatically hides the treasure at random spots when you start a new game. It also makes fun chip music sounds to tell you what's happening during the game.

The Dive Control Center has different lights and buttons:

• On the left, there are 6 red LEDs (small lights). These lights show important things like how much air your diver has, how deep the treasure is, and how much money a treasure chest is worth (from $100,000 to $350,000).
• A compass rose has 5 LEDs that light up to give you directions.
• Four buttons in a row help you guess treasure locations. Two are for gold (North-South and East-West), and two are for silver (North-South and East-West).
• A 9-button grid lets you type in your exact guesses for treasure coordinates.
• Four buttons on the right have different jobs:
  • The “Air” button fills your scuba tanks for a dive.
  • The “Up” button brings your diver back to the surface.
  • The “$ Value” button tells you how much money a treasure chest is worth.
  • The “Clear” button helps you fix any mistakes you make when typing.

How to Play: Finding the Lost Treasure

The goal of Lost Treasure is to be the first player to earn $1,000,000! You earn money by finding treasure and selling it at one of the 8 ports on the game board. The Dive Control Center hides the treasure randomly when you turn it on. Treasure can't be on land, but it can be hidden right in a port!

Here's how a turn works: 1. Move Your Boat: First, you roll the dice. The number you roll tells you how many squares you can move your boat. Remember, you can only move on the water, not over land. 2. Guess a Location: Once your boat is in a section where you think a treasure chest might be, you can try to find it. 3. Dive for Treasure: To dive, you fill your scuba tanks with air using the Dive Control Center. The deeper the treasure is, the more air you'll need to bring it to the surface. 4. Surface with Treasure: If you successfully bring the treasure to the surface before running out of air, the Dive Control Center will tell you how much it's worth. 5. Sell Your Treasure: You must return to a port to sell your treasure and get your money.

Watch Out for Raids! When you are carrying treasure back to port, other players can try to raid your ship! If another player wants to raid you, both of you roll the dice. The player with the higher roll wins the treasure. This means if you try to raid someone, you could end up losing your own treasure if your roll is lower!