History Main / TreasureMap

->''We got us a map\\

And then we'll say "Hurray"!''

* Some examples turn up in the ''VideoGame/NancyDrew video games, although they're more likely to lead to an intermediate clue to the treasure than the actual loot.

* Used as a plot point in the New Nethervegas arc of Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars. The treasure found was a set of notes relevant to the election and a Panic Button.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''TheRoadToElDorado'' uses this for the first half-hour or so, with the rest set in the 'treasure' of El Dorado.

* ''Disney/TreasurePlanet.'' - A holographic treasure map guides the way ... which is not surprising, since it is ''TreasureIsland'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'', a map to the eponymous Titan is hidden inside the ring the main character, Cale, has as a memento of his father. Like a treasure map, you have to decode and visit every stop along the way.

** In [[Film/TheMummyReturns the sequel]], the map is in the form of a hologram projected by the Bracelet of Anubis, showing the way to Ahm Shere.

* The revived ''WKRPInCincinnati'' did an episode where the gang goes on a treasure hunt inside the (multistory) building that houses the station. In a subversion, the treasure exists, and they find it, but do so much damage to the building in the process they end up merely breaking even.
* An episode of ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' included the search for a large, hidden treasure with a treasure map that had been ripped into several pieces. The different people looking for the map were forced to work together as they had memorized their portions of the map and then destroyed them. Most of the treasure was the usual gold trinkets, but it included a place of Ambrosia, which would supposedly would turn whoever ate it into a god.

* In ''{{Crusoe}}'', the guy who knew the whereabouts of the treasure hidden on Crusoe's island (a golden cannon!) tattooed it onto the back of the guy he was stuck in prison with -- while the mapmaker was sinking deeper into dementia. Remarkably, the map worked, though it was coded so only Crusoe could figure it out. The map resurfaces much later as a guide to the island -- salvaged from the poor guy's back after he died.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Bart and Grandpa ''do'' find the treasure, and it's ''not'' worthless, but it's immediately seized by the US State Department for return to its original owners.

* ''TheHairBearBunch'' episode "Gobs Of Gobaloons" has the bears finding the map to a hidden treasure. The problem: it's buried under zookeeper Peevly's office.

* Inversion: The whole premise of Hanna-Barbera's ''Space Kidettes'' is Captain Skyhook and his crony Static trying to get hold of a treasure map the Kidettes presumably have. The map is never seen not its potential treasure disclosed.

If it turns out that the map isn't real, it's a FoolsMap.

* CarlBarks' and DonRosa's [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Uncle Scrooge]] stories often used this plot.

* Geocaching is a 21st-century recreational variant of this trope, using [=GPS=] coordinates and riddles as the "map" and bragging rights for having found caches as the "treasure".

* In ''Though Not Dead'', Literature/KateSugak gets sent on a treasure hunt by Old Sam's will. It ultimately leads her to an actual treasure map that guides her to the lost icon.

* ''CutthroatIsland''.

* ''ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'' - Grogan's FinalSpeech functions as a treasure map.
* ''ThePacifier'' also had a bit of this, with the route for how to get through the obstacle course coded into "The Peter Panda Dance", a child's bedtime rhyme.

* ''ThreeKings'' was a strange example of this, with bored infantry finding the map in an enemy soldier's butt. It's better than it sounds.

** In the sequel, the map is in the form of a hologram projected by the Bracelet of Anubis, showing the way to Ahm Shere.

* {{Waterworld}} featured a map tattooed on a child's back. As the entire world was flooded, the island it led to ''was'' the treasure.

-->--''LazyTown'', "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEBbu-wkKrs You Are A Pirate]]"

* There was a treasure map minigame in ''VideoGame/SlyCooper 3''.

* In ''Webcomic/LilGotham'', the pirate Greenbeard plants treasure maps to lead unsuspecting tourists into his ambush.

Next, they'll need to find the starting point, the right tropical isle or hidden cave. Getting there may be an adventure in itself. Once there, the heroes have to find the actual location of the treasure. This can be as simple as "X marks the spot", or "fifteen paces south of the dead pine" (though might find that fifteen paces for one of their group isn't the same for another) upto having to navigate a BambooTechnology DeathCourse, with only cryptic comments scrawled on the map to help them find the safe route through. If StatusQuoIsGod either the treasure will [[AllThatGlitters turn out to be worthless]] or the heroes will have to [[FriendOrIdolDecision abandon it for the greater good]].

Next, they'll need to find the starting point, the right tropical isle or hidden cave. Getting there may be an adventure in itself.

Once there, the heroes have to find the actual location of the treasure. This can be as simple as "X marks the spot", or "fifteen paces south of the dead pine". At the other extreme, they may have to navigate a BambooTechnology DeathCourse, with only cryptic comments scrawled on the map to help them find the safe route through.

If StatusQuoIsGod either the treasure will [[AllThatGlitters turn out to be worthless]] or the heroes will have to [[FriendOrIdolDecision abandon it for the greater good]].

A TreasureMap does not always have to be a literal map, as in topographical chart. Encrypted messages often form an essential part of a TreasureMap, and sometimes an encrypted message ''is'' the map.

* [[ShroudedInMyth Legend and Wikipedia has it]] that the notorious pirate Olivier Levasseur, nicknamed ''La Buse'', threw a parchment with an encrypted message into the assembled crowd immediately before he was hanged in Saint-Denis on Réunion in 1730, [[WeaselWords allegedly]] accompanied by the words ''"Find my treasure, ye who may understand it!"'' [[hottip:*:Or rather their French equivalent.]]. It is furthermore rumored that, since then, many a father's inheritance has been blown on projects of [[GetRichQuickScheme decoding the message and finding the treasure.]] [[SchmuckBait You can try your luck]], since [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Levasseur the cryptogram is obviously in the public domain.]] However, considering [[spoiler:that the cryptogram's history is only tracable back to 1923, there is no hard evidence that the message is original, or that such a message existed in the first place, or that Levasseur ever buried treasure. Spoiler indeed.]]

* The BigFinishDoctorWho audio adventure ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho043DoctorWhoAndThePirates Doctor Who and the Pirates]]'' features just about every pirate trope. Including a treasure map.