I got the gaming thrill of my life today!

I stopped off at an area Goodwill to look for cowboy clothes (more on that in a future blog) and instead found a long-lost piece of my childhood--tucked away amongst many other interesting titles on the several shelves of board games they had at the back of the very clean and nicely laid out store (this was the Goodwill on the St. Petersburg side of the Gandy Bridge, right next to Derby Lane, for any locals that want to check it out).

To my great surprise and giddy delight, there was Lost Treasure, a Parker Brothers game from 1982, as it turns out, and from a special place in my childhood. This is a game that I have vivid memories of playing with my parents as a child of maybe 9 or 10, and one that I had even mentioned to my own children (7 and 11) as one I would love to find again. 

To my even greater delight, I found that the electronic console that is central to the game still worked, so I headed home with my old game and a new 9-volt battery and put it to the test.

Imagine my joy to discover that the game was every bit as fun as I remembered!

In the game, you use the simple-to-operate, battery-powered console to search the board's grid of ocean and islands for sunken treasure. As you and your opponents strategically narrow down the search area, you move your ships across the water to be the first to dive for either sunken gold or silver.

Once you've located the appropriate 9-square area in which to find the treasure, you use the console as a dive gauge as you send your diver down into the depths to retrieve the booty. You have to keep an eye on your LED air-supply meter as you do so--take too long under water and you run out of air and drop whatever treasure you may have found back down to the ocean floor.

In the meantime, opponents can come searching and diving for the same treasure you are after, or another on the board. Once you get your treasure onboard, it's off to the nearest port to cash your treasure chests in for money before your opponents have a chance to pirate your vessel and steal your hard-earned gains.

The first person to a million dollars of treasure wins the game.

This is a great family game. It's recommended for ages 8 and up, but would easily be accessible to many younger kids. It takes planning, strategy and anticipation of your opponents' intentions, motives and moves. And listening to the simple tones of your imaginary diver descending after treasure, finding it (or not) and rushing to the surface before running out of air is thrilling far out of scale of the 1982 technology.

If you can find this game online, and particularly if you have kids in the recommended age range, I strongly recommend checking it out—as I write, there are several available on eBay at prices ranging from $0.99 to $84.