The map grid is alive with drifting gold doubloons, iron anchors, navigator wheels, and treasure chests — all moving in unpredictable paths across the cove. Your goal is to sweep your cursor or finger continuously through as many collectible items as possible before the level timer runs out. Each item you sweep is instantly added to your score, and the longer your unbroken sweep streak, the higher your chain multiplier climbs — up to 4x your base points per item. Every level lasts 45 seconds. Items spawn faster and move quicker with each new level, so your sweeping decisions need to become sharper and more decisive as you progress. Watch the entire grid at once and plan sweeping arcs that pass through dense clusters rather than chasing single items one at a time. You begin with three lives. Each life is lost when your sweep path crosses a Cannon Bomb or a Cursed Skull — both of which also instantly reset your chain multiplier to zero. Protecting your chain while keeping your lives intact is the core strategic tension of each run.
Not all collectibles are worth the same. A single Gold Doubloon earns 100 points, while a Captain's Chest rewards 700 points — seven times more value for the same single sweep touch. Prioritise chest and coin stack clusters whenever they appear, but never lose your chain multiplier chasing a lone high-value item surrounded by hazards. The rarest item on the map is the Treasure Map Fragment, which glows with a vivid green border. Sweeping it triggers Gold Rush mode: for five full seconds, every collectible on the grid doubles in point value and no new hazards spawn. This is your highest-scoring window each round — use it to sweep as wide and fast as possible across dense item clusters. Map Fragments appear based on a hidden spawn chance and never telegraph their arrival. Stay alert at all times and recognise the green glow immediately when it appears so you can react within the fragment's short lifetime on screen.
Your chain multiplier increases by 0.25x for each collectible you sweep without breaking. Reaching the maximum 4x multiplier means every Gold Doubloon earns 400 points and every Captain's Chest earns 2800 points. Maintaining that multiplier across an entire level is far more valuable than recovering quickly after a hit from a hazard. As levels advance, hazard spawn rates increase and item lifetimes shorten, meaning items drift off the grid faster. Develop a sweeping rhythm that moves in broad arcs rather than tight curves — broad coverage lets you collect more items per unit of cursor distance and reduces the chance of accidentally clipping a bomb in a dense cluster. Between levels your score carries forward and the top score is saved locally in your browser. Compete against your own personal best on each session. There are six levels in a full run; completing all six with lives remaining awards a final bonus multiplier to your total score.