Mackinac Island Treasure Hunt: Card and Board Games

Explore the second U.S. National Park and Michigan's first State Park in search of historical and natural treasures with this set of 5 games.

Match Me if You Can is an Author's Cards-style card game. Choose natural treasures, historical treasures and/or locations around the Island, then collect the most cards in similar groups by asking for cards from other players or by picking up discarded cards.

The Nature Hike has you searching for the route that will allow you to spot the most natural treasures each turn. Pick a card, roll the die to determine how many habitats you can visit, or if you have encountered an obstacle and must discard cards. A variation adds more player interaction by inviting you to collect observations from other players.

The Scavenger Hunt is a cooperative game where players work together to find a pre-determined set of treasures before Winter arrives. Each turn, roll the die to move toward a revealed Scavenger Hunt destination while observing natural treasures along the way. When you get to the destination, if you can match the hiding place card of the historical treasure there, you collect the treasure. If you can't match it, another player can pick up the treasure later, or give you the card you need to collect it. You exchange natural treasure observations for more hiding place cards. You may also encounter events along the way, either obstacles, opportunities, or a change of season.

The Hide and Seek game tests your memory as each turn reveals the hiding place of historical treasures on the Island that you can collect...if you remember where they are. Each turn, you can add a card to your hand, play a new movement option (that lets you move around the Island faster or slower, depending on the season), play event cards on other players (to slow them down), move to new locations while observing natural treasures (which add points to your score), and hunt for historical treasures (by flipping over a hidden location card around the board - if you are at the location on the card, you keep the treasure and score). Whoever finds the most treasures usually wins.

The Treasure Hunt has you playing the sleuth, asking questions of the other players in order to discover the treasures they have hidden around the Island. Using the same movement and event rules as The Hide and Seek game, this game gives players many opportunities to score points: Visit locations on cards in your hand to score and gain special abilities useful in the hunt. Play historical treasures from your hand to score and help everyone know which treasures are not hidden. Ask yes or no questions of the other players to determine the location and the treasure they have hidden on the Island. Guess the treasure and location correctly to score big, or lose a little if you're wrong.

Choose the experience you want based on the available players (2 to 8 people can play), the amount of time you have, or how much you want to think. While some of the games share common rules and themes (for example, each game features some sort of nature observation), each is a separate game. Cards have information about the Island you can read as you play, though knowledge about the Island is not required to play.

—description from the publisher