Treasure, Ready, Go!

Treasure, Ready, Go! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Game Idea
Preparation of the Game
How to Play
End of the Game
- Variation for younger treasure hunters
The Problem Cards
Hints, Dodges and Comments

1 game board
4 animals (giraffe, crocodile, rhino, zebra)
6 colored building blocks (2 red, 2 blue, 2 yellow)
120 cards
8 treasures (cardboard disks)
1 die with symbols
1 sand timer
Set of game instructions

Length of the game: 15 - 20 minutes

Game Idea

In each round a different player takes on the role of the tough treasure hunter and has to solve adventurous problems within a limited amount of time. He can choose to stop the treasure hunt at any moment or can decide to carry on and take the risk of solving more problems within the given time. If he succeeds the corresponding gold is his. If not, he has to return any of the gold collected during his turn.

Whoever has collected the most gold after three turbulent rounds, wins the game.

Preparation of the Game

Place the game board in the center of the table. Each corner of the game board shows a numbered signpost. Place an animal next to each of the four posts and put the 8 treasure cards face-down in the center of the game board.

Shuffle the cards and place them in a pile face-down. Get the pile of cards, the die and the six building blocks ready, as well as the sand timer.

How to Play

Play in a clockwise direction. The toughest player starts. If you cannot agree, the oldest player starts. He or she is the first treasure hunter and puts the pile of cards, the die and the building blocks in front of him or her.

The treasure hunt starts

The players all yell together the starting signal "Treasure, ready, go!". One player turns the sand timer over. Then the hunter uncovers the top card of the pile and places it in front of him.

Important: The hunter has to uncover the card so that everybody can see it at the same time.

Solve problem

The card shows one of seven problems. The hunter has to solve this problem as quickly as possible. See "The problem cards" below.

Uncover next card or end turn

After solving a problem, the treasure hunter decides whether he wants to uncover another card or to end his turn.

The treasure hunt goes on until ...

... the treasure hunter yells "Stop!" thus finishing his turn and receiving in reward all the cards he uncovered in this round. The cards are kept face-down in front of him.

... the hour glass has slipped through! The player who notices that the last grain has run through the sand timer yells "Stop!". The treasure hunter has taken too many risks. He has to return all the cards he has collected in this turn to the bottom of the pile.

Next player

Then it's the turn of the next player to be the treasure hunter.

Note: If there are treasures uncovered in the center of the game board as a result of having solved the "Treasure Memory" problem, they are turned around again and the treasures are re-shuffled.

The new treasure hunter gets the pile of cards, the die and the building blocks and his turn begins.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as each player has been the hunter three times. The players count the value of the gold coins (one, two or three) shown on their cards. Young children who are not able to count so high are helped by one of the other players.

Whoever has the most gold, wins the game. In the event of a draw, the player who has collected the most cards wins. In case of another draw all those players win.

Variation for younger treasure hunters

In this variation the scoring is done at the end of the game according to the number of cards collected and not by the value of gold coins. Whoever has the most cards, wins the game. In case of a draw there are more winners.

The Problem Cards

There are different problems to solve. Take a look at the cards before you start playing, talk about them and practice a little bit.

1. Lucky Coin (value = 1 gold coin)

Lady Luck is on your side: Great! You have found a gold coin and don't have to solve a problem.

2. Grabbing for animals (value = 1 gold coin)

The players have to react rapidly: All players must react quickly! Try to grab the wooden animal off the game board that corresponds to the costumed animal on the card shown. Whoever is the quickest to grab the correct wooden animal, receives the card and the gold coin point on the card. The animal is then returned to the game board.

Important:

You can only use one hand to grab an animal.
If a player grabs the wrong animal he drops out.
If nobody grabs the right animal, the card is returned to the bottom of the pile.

3. Rolling the die (value = 2 gold coins)

To solve this problem, all you need is a bit of luck: The card shows one of three objects. Roll the die and see if you can make the object appear on your die as quickly as possible.

4. Treasure memory (value = 2 gold coins)

This problem requires a good memory: There are two treasures of each kind. You have to find two identical treasures as quickly as possible. Uncover any two treasures.

Are they different? Pity! Memorize them and put them face-down again. Then uncover two more treasures to find a pair.
There are two identical treasures? Great! You solved the problem. The two treasures stay face-up.

Important:

If during your turn you uncover this type of problem card again you have to find another matching pair.
If you uncover a problem card of this type and there are no treasures left face-down in the center, you were lucky as the problem is already solved.

5. Animal pantomime (value = 2 gold coins)

This problem requires good coordination: You have to imitate the animal shown on the card.

The elephant: Clutch your nose with your right or left hand and pass the other arm through the loop like an elephant's trunk and trumpet like an elephant.
The monkey: Scratch your head with the left or right hand and simultaneously scratch your chest underneath your armpit with the other hand. Screech a little like a monkey.
The cockatoo: The cockatoo is a subspecies of the parrot family and has a feather crest on the top of its head which fans out into a comb. Spread the fingers of your right or left hand to represent the crest and with your other hand clutch your nose to form the beak of the cockatoo. Squawk like a parrot: "cockatoo, cockatoo".

6. Constructing towers (value = 2 or 3 gold coins)

A sharp eye and steady hands are required: Pile up the constructing blocks as shown on the card. The other players confirm that it has been constructed correctly by saying "Well done!".

7. Moving animals (value = 3 gold coins)

This problem requires a good overview. The animals next to the signposts 1-4 shown on the card have to be placed on the game board in the same way.

Example: The card shows for corner #1 the crocodile, the rhino for corner #2, the zebra for corner #3 and the giraffe for corner #4. Move the animals on the game board to the corresponding positions.

Hints, Dodges and Comments

The problems have been chosen so that they require different skills (dexterity, memory, combination skills). This allows you to train certain skills or to omit the more difficult problems if they are too complicated.
The four wooden animals have been chosen according to the different motor skills they require. The giraffe for example is big and wobbly, the crocodile small and compact.
Experts may play with the sand timer hidden. One player keeps the sand timer hidden behind his hand. This means that the treasure hunter has to get a feeling for how time flies, so that he finishes his turn before the sand timer has run through.