I love the opening story on the instructions of the 1948 board game of Sunken Treasure! It is as follows:

“In the warm deep waters off Key West, an old Spanish ship with its Sunken Treasure has been located. The players of this game are the crew of divers all competing for the honor of being the first to return to the Salvage Ship with treasure.”

It’s interesting to think this board game was published by Parker Brothers before the famously found treasure of the Atocha by Mel Fisher in 1982.  That successful treasure story brought such excitement to the world.  It would seem, however, stories of finding sunken treasure are a timeless dream, and this game captures the wonderful adventure of diving into the depths of the ocean to recover the lost gold of the many known Spanish Ships which tragically met their ends there.

The game offers a fun twist of play. To begin, ‘Divers’ board the ship placed at the top right space.  The Captain of the Ship (chosen at the beginning of the game (doesn’t say how the Captain is chosen- could cause some mutiny right off the start)), then asks each player ‘Do you wish to leave the Ship?’.

Each ‘Diver’ decides whether to leave the Ship at this point or stay aboard and wait to dive off further along the Ship’s path along the top.  If a player decides to ‘Dive’, he spins the spinner and swims down accordingly.  He is after one of the Gold Bars which have been placed on the Treasure Chest Space at the bottom of the ocean.

The first player to retrieve a Gold Bar and return to the Ship, as it moves along the top, wins the game.

The movement of the Ship is added fun. If you dive and are able to grab a Gold Bar, when you swim to the top, will you miss the Ship?!

What path should you take?!

Will you choose correctly?!  Oh, the adventure!

The Ship moves a space, forward, then back, again and again, until game ends (until first Diver returns with a Gold Bar).  The Ship moves after each round of Players’ Turns or if a player spins ‘Move Ship One Space’ on the spinner during a player’s turn.  A round is considered over when all the players have spun or have decided to stay aboard.  Once a player Dives, he MUST spin and move.

A Diver can move up and down a ‘Bubble Path’, but not overlapping on the same turn.

What fun!

Dive into the adventure of Games!  You will always find a treasure!