What kind of game is Treasure Island?
It is a top down adventure on a tiled island map. A little explorer in a hat collects three map pieces to read the treasure map's riddle, digs with a shovel, unlocks doors with keys and tracks down three treasures on every island. There are three islands, the Tropic Isle, the Misty Isle and the Volcano Isle, and the voyage ends once all nine treasures are found.
There are no enemies and no traps. The crabs and the parrot are scenery, and nobody drowns in a swamp or a river. Instead, every blocked path needs a particular item, and working out where to get that item is the puzzle. Day turns to night and rain comes and goes, but neither changes the rules.
What treasure is on each island?
Every island holds gold in a chest, a gem buried underground and an ancient relic beyond an obstacle, plus a hidden pearl tucked away in a quiet corner. Treasures are worth 100 points, pearls 50, shells 10, and leaving an island adds another 100.
| Treasure | Where | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | A chest inside a ring of boulders | Pick up the island's key, open the locked door and walk into the chest |
| Gem | Underground at the X on the treasure map | Stand on the X with the shovel and tap the shovel slot |
| Ancient relic | Beyond the swamp, vines or cave | Get the boots, knife or torch that beats that obstacle, then walk over |
| Pearl | A lonely patch of sand at the edge | It sparkles into view when you come close. Walk over and pick it up |
How do the map pieces and the riddle work?
Pick up one piece and a dashed circle appears on the parchment minimap in the lower right, showing roughly where the X lies. A second piece shrinks the circle, and the third marks the exact spot. The first piece also makes the riddle appear in your log.
Each riddle is a single sentence that points at a landmark, such as "Beneath the grass ringed by three rocks, toward the setting sun". You do not need all three pieces: read the riddle, look at the map and try a guess. The shovel only works within two tiles of the X, and an empty hole tells you which direction to try next. The shovel slot glows yellow whenever you are close enough.
Which item does each obstacle need?
Swamps need boots, vines need a knife, rivers need a raft, caves need a torch and locked doors need a key. The shovel, raft and key lie somewhere on the island; the boots, knife and torch are bought from the island merchant with shells. Anything you own carries over to the next island.
| Obstacle | Item | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Swamp (Tropic Isle) | Boots | Merchant, 2 shells |
| Vines (Misty Isle) | Knife | Merchant, 2 shells. Cut vines become a path |
| River (Misty Isle) | Raft | Lying on the river bank |
| Cave (Volcano Isle) | Torch | Merchant, 3 shells. It also lights your way at night |
| Locked door | Key | One per island. It is used up when the door opens |
The merchant is a faceless doll under a striped awning, with the item for sale and its price in shells on a sign. If you are short, pink shells are scattered over the sand and grass, and every island has enough of them to buy that island's item.
How do the three islands differ?
The Tropic Isle teaches the basics with the shovel and a swamp, the Misty Isle only keeps the places you have visited on the map and hides the rest in fog, and the Volcano Isle has a dark cave below a mountain of flowing lava.
- Tropic Isle: the shovel first appears here. The gem is buried among three rocks and the ancient mask sits in the middle of the swamp.
- Misty Isle: a river splits the island in two. Only a raft gets you to the eastern half with the key and the chest, and the gem lies between two palms standing side by side.
- Volcano Isle: the ancient tablet waits inside the cave under the volcano. Without a torch you must turn back at the entrance. Three black rocks guard the gem.
How are scores and records counted?
Add up the nine treasures, the three pearls, the shells and the sailing bonuses, and if the voyage took less than 20 minutes, every second left over is an extra point. The result screen gives you a rank from rookie treasure hunter to legendary explorer, and your best score and its time stay in this browser.
The game saves itself every time you pick something up or leave an island, so if you close the tab you can press Continue on the title screen and carry on from the same spot. Finishing the voyage or starting a new one clears the save.
Tips for a fast voyage
- Grab the shells first and visit the merchant. The relic beyond the obstacle is unreachable without the item, so you save a wasted trip.
- Try the riddle before you have all three pieces. Landmarks like three rocks or two palms are easy to spot, and one piece can be enough to guess the spot.
- Trust the empty holes. Each one tells you which compass direction is closer, so two or three digs usually do it.
- Tap tiles instead of stepping. The explorer finds the path by itself, which is far quicker than pressing arrows one tile at a time.
- Pearls hide on lonely sand at the edges. Visit any corner of the minimap that looks empty.
Controls
- Phone: tap the tile you want and the explorer walks there. Swipe to move one tile in that direction. Tap the shovel slot at the bottom to dig where you stand. Doors, chests, the merchant and the boat all work by walking into them.
- Keyboard: arrows or WASD to move, Space, E or Z to dig, J for the log, Esc to close it. Enter starts the game from the title screen.
- Mouse: click a tile to walk there, or drag to step in that direction.
All graphics and sounds are drawn and synthesized in code. Your saved progress and best score stay in this browser and are never sent to a server. The speaker button in the top right mutes the sound.