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RaijinHauler

A typical modern Treasure Hunt, the Raijin Express from 2023.

RTH

The logo used since 2013 to identify Treasure Hunts.

"Treasure Hunt" (often abbreviated as TH) is a term used by Mattel to refer to a number of intentionally-production limited Hot Wheels placed within the mainline.

Hot Wheels introduced the Treasure Hunts series in 1995, featuring a series of twelve vehicles; each vehicle was only produced in 10,000 examples. These series could be identified by a green bar with the series name and icon within them. This quantity was increased to 25,000 in 1996 before the production quantity was removed from 1997 onwards. Treasure Hunts from 1997 to 2006 featured special wheels (usually Real Riders or something of that sort); later Treasure Hunts featured a logo (usually some variation on the letters "TH") to identify them.

From 2007, a two-tiered system was introduced; while the Treasure Hunt series was retained, new highly-collectible versions of the standard Treasure Hunts were introduced; these were stylized as "TREA$URE HUNT$" on the package and are most commonly referred to as "Super Treasure Hunts". The Treasure Hunts series continued until 2012, while the Super Treasure Hunts were spun off into a "hidden" series in 2012 within the mainline, with random vehicles within the standard mainline segment given the Super Treasure Hunt treatment.

Since 2013, Treasure Hunts have also been made a "hidden" series, with random vehicles within the standard mainline segments being made Treasure Hunts. These are identified by a symbol as shown above, commonly referred to as "the circle flame logo". The same logo is also printed on the card backs of these models; US cards feature a congratulatory message. Similar logos have also been used in the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks series since 2021 and the Hot Wheels Skate series since 2022. The term "Regular Treasure Hunt" (often abbreviated RTH) has since sprung into recent use to differentiate these from the more collectible Super Treasure Hunts.

Trivia[]

  • A full Hot Wheels case of 72 cars will typically feature exactly one Treasure Hunt; cases without a Treasure Hunt are rare but they do exist.
  • The presence of the "circle flame" logo on a casting after 2013 does not mean that the casting is a Treasure Hunt; this logo only has meaning if it is within the mainline and the logo's presence in other series means nothing as these series tend to reuse older tampos on occasion, and prior to 2013, that logo meant nothing.
  • Combining both the standard and Super Treasure Hunts, the '57 Chevy has been used the most often, appearing six times.
  • The 2015 release of the Fiat 500 has the Treasure Hunt symbol (and associated congratulatory message) printed on the card back in error.
Treasure Hunts
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