In Treasure Hunter you play the nephew of Tuck Pinkleton, an old sailor and
explorer who lives in the North American seaside village of Golden Greek. Your
uncle has built a maritime museum with 5000 square meters of exhibit floor
space, but there is no money left to fund the exhibits. He knows a solution
though, as there are thousands of shipwrecks around the world filled with
dazzling treasures. As he is too old, he asks you to search for these
treasures, and he supplies you with his yacht, a computer with vidphone, and
$30,000 to start. You first task is to find a crew and the necessary info for
your first mission.

To complete the game, you have to go on five missions. For each mission you
have to research the history of the wreck, acquire funding, and hire a crew.
The actual search is shown through a series of slide show presentations that
can be viewed in your computer. In two cases it is sufficient to explore the
village and to contact experts using your vidphone. For the other missions you
have to fly to Seville to explore a museum, to Malta to explore an abbey, and
to Emerald Island near Madagascar where you have to find your way in a maze-
like cave.

As an edutainment game, Treasure Hunter includes many “cut-scenes” (slide
shows) with historical information. Exploring the locations from a first-
person perspective, you move around using a directional cursor that allows you
to turn around at certain stopping points, with transitional movies between
these points. At the top of the action window the number of days and total of
your funds are shown. When the cursor is moved to the bottom of the screen
action icons are shown (e.g. to move or take things), a travel bag for
inventory items, a plane to travel, and your computer. The game has only six
saving slots (all the saves start at the first location of a mission). The
game has a hint system that is activated when you are stuck for some time
(your computer icon will flash). The main menu includes a bonus option (to
view historical sequences, books, museum, and reconstitutions of wrecks &
treasures).