Treasure Hunt

your crew immediately headed to the island to search for the hidden treasure.

Some pirates were spotted leaving the island; they had just looted several ships and their treasure is likely buried somewhere on the island. Upon receiving the information, your crew immediately headed to the island to search for the hidden treasure. You are part of the recovery team. You wonder if the treasure is guarded or even if there is anything valuable, enough to risk your life to recover, but you are ready to find out. As you all move out you hear a prayer that there are no booby traps.

Description:

Team A (pirates) hide their treasures on the field and decide how they will guard them. Team B (recovery squad) will then search the area to recover the treasure and maintain possession of it. Any size group can play this game. For larger groups, multiple treasures can be hidden to keep everyone busy searching for and guarding the treasure. After reading this description, would you rather play a different game? Here are more games to try.

Setup:

Recovery squad

Find a position that prevents observation of the treasures being hidden.
Prepare an attack plan.

Pirates

Hide treasures on field.
Prepare a plan to guard the treasures.
Place booby traps around treasures (if allowed).

Rules:

Follow all field rules.

After treasure recovery, the pirates cannot get it back.
Anyone on the recovery squad caught trying to see where the treasure location will be eliminated from the game.
Odd number of treasures if more than one.

Requirements:

Water and some high protein energy snacks.

On the Field

Hiding places and structures for “treasure”
Referees
Treasure representation

With the Team

Enough players for each team
Guns and ammo

Objectives:

Recovery squad objectives

Recover the hidden pirate treasures
Eliminate as many pirates as possible

Pirate objectives

Hide treasure
Guard treasure and prevent it from being recovered
Eliminate as many recovery squad members as possible

Winning:

The team in possession of the most treasures will win. If there is only one treasure then Team A wins by recovering the treasure and Team B wins by not allowing treasure recovery.

Variations:

Each team hides treasures for the other team to recover. The team who recovers the treasure first wins
A referee hides one treasure and the team to find it first wins
After treasure recovery, whoever is in possession of it can lose it to whoever shoots him or her

Origins/History:

Before there were safes and banks to keep valuables protected, people would hide their treasures in the woods, buildings, or even under a mattress. A chest or other container was used to bury large amounts of booty acquired during a raid. This was usually done during the night to decrease the risk of anyone finding the trunk filled with treasure. Sometimes when the owner of the treasures died, their treasure was buried with him. Some treasured remained hidden when the owner was the only one who knew the location. It stayed hidden until someone happened to come across it.