Treasure Island FAQ
82 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup
- In a 2 or 3 player game, do all of a pirate's miniatures share one character's special powers and limited uses?
- Which side of the Calendar board do you use with 3 or 4 pirates?
- In which direction are the starting turn-order tokens placed on the calendar?
- Can pirates draw their movement lines in black pen instead of their own colour?
- How many players can play Treasure Island?
Long John Silver's Hints
- Does Long John Silver get compass hints back after giving them out, and does he draw them at random?
- Can Long John Silver run out of a compass hint he is able to give?
- Can Long John Silver give a compass hint when a pirate stands exactly on the treasure?
- Can Long John Silver play a chest-icon hint before he has given out a chest token, and when can he play one?
- What happens if all three of Long John Silver's hints in hand have chest icons?
- If a pirate finds one of Long John's Bluff tokens, can the pirates treat the clues until the next Bluff as true?
- In a 2 player game, how many compass hints can the pirate receive?
- When setting up compass hints, does Long John count as a pirate, and does his own miniature count as a miniature?
- In a 2 or 3 player game, which miniature does a clue from a missed search or a compass action refer to?
- Can pirates talk about their District Hints, Compass Hints or Information tokens, or lie about them?
- With a Bluff token, can a multi-part clue be partly true and partly false?
- When Long John bluffs a clue that tells him to draw on the board, is the drawing still made?
- Are compass hint directions measured from the miniature, and how far do the lines run?
- What if the compass hints left in the deck all point toward the treasure?
Preparation Phase
- In a 2 player game, how many miniatures does the pirate control, and how many District Hints do they get?
- Can the treasure be buried in a narrow gap between a starting circle and a white line?
- In a 3 player game, does Long John Silver give each pirate one District Hint during setup?
- Where do the extra miniatures start in a three-player game?
- How many Starting Hints does Long John draw in preparation, and does he draw a replacement after playing one?
- How does Long John mark where he buried the treasure?
Game Sequence
- Can a Full Gallop move pass through restricted areas?
- Does Olivier's Thoroughbred ability use up an extra action when he takes two 6-mile horse moves?
- Can Olivier change direction between the two 6-mile moves of Thoroughbred?
- In a 2 or 3 player game, must both actions in a turn use the same miniature, and can a pirate player split actions between miniatures?
- How many towers can imprison Long John Silver, and is there a ninth tower on the island board?
- Can Long John hide the treasure next to a black tower, and does being placed in that tower end the game?
- Where does Long John start the game, and when is he placed in a tower?
- Does a search that only touches the treasure's spot find it?
- How does Fortune change a large search, and can an X under the template edge count as inside the circle?
- Can a search circle extend across a mountain range, and can the searcher see a treasure beyond it?
- Can a pirate do a small move and a small search in one action?
- How many District Hints does Charlotte receive from Ancient Scrolls?
- When does Long John look at the two extra District Hints he gives Charlotte, and can he choose them?
- Is the pirate who finds the treasure first the winner, so that trading information is part of the game?
Long John Silver's Escape
- How far does Long John Silver move per turn after he escapes?
- On the day Long John Silver escapes, does he move before the pirate's turn?
- How do turns work after Long John Silver escapes in a 2 or 3 player game?
- How many actions does Long John Silver get each turn after he escapes?
- Does Long John Silver have to search to find the treasure?
Starting Hints & Black Spot Hints
- For Right Under Your Nose, which miniature counts as having passed closest to the treasure?
- How many zone types must the Deduction hint exclude?
- Is the uncoloured beige area on the zone map a zone for the Deduction hint?
- If a hint says 'if that is impossible, say so', can Long John claim it is impossible as a bluff?
- If a hint says 'if that is impossible, say so', must it be impossible for every miniature before Long John says so?
- Can Long John Silver name a miniature that has never moved for a Which Way? hint?
- On Charlotte's Parrot tile, does 'chooses only one' mean one of her own district tiles or one of her two neighbours?
- How does the Confession hint work when every pirate asks the same question?
- How many miniatures must be chosen for Don't Lose Your Bearings, and does Long John's miniature count?
- Why does Don't Lose Your Bearings have you draw a line through each chosen miniature?
- Where does the Parrot hint's Truth token go?
- Does a pirate sitting next to Long John count as a neighbour for the Parrot hint?
- Where on the board do you mark the Altitude card's statements?
- Does the Instinct card's 'not within 1 mile' mean the treasure is not near any drawn search area?
- Does the first Starting Hint have to be true?
- When does Long John start drawing Black Spot Hints into his hand?
- Does Long John Silver's miniature count when a hint or clue asks for a miniature?
- Does an '8 mile circle around a miniature' mean an 8-mile radius with the miniature at its centre?
Chest tokens
- Is there a limit on how many Chest tokens Long John Silver can give out?
- What does the Cat promo token do, and can Long John Silver give it out as a chest token?
- When must an item Chest token be revealed?
- Must Long John Silver use the chest when he gives out a chest token?
- Does a chest token's free action count as a special action, and can it give an extra verification?
- Can a pirate tell other pirates what a Chest token is?
- Can a pirate keep an item Chest token and use it on a later turn, even the turn it was received?
- Does giving a clue token use it up, and must the clue be true?
- Does a free small search Chest token also give the free foot movement?
Treasure Island: Captain Silver – Revenge IslandExpansion
- Can the Revenge Island rules, such as the perimeter and forest rules, be used on the base game map?
- What is the large blue dotted line on the Revenge Island map for?
- How many tunnels can Silver pass through in one move on Revenge Island?
- Can a large search include forest or tree areas on Revenge Island?
- What do Fog tokens and tunnels do on Revenge Island?
- What does the Clairvoyance trick card let a pirate do?
- When a ruse card is played on Revenge Island, is it shown to the pirates, and how does the traitor's extra chest token work?
- What is the extra Long John Silver miniature in Revenge Island for?
- On the Revenge Island map, do you use the Level Line card instead of Altitude?
- How do the Level Line hints ('10 m or more', '30 m or less') relate to the altitude lines on the Revenge Island map?
- Does Captain Silver – Revenge Island need the base game to play?