A Super Treasure Hunt has Spectraflame paint, which is Mattel's deep metallic finish, plus rubber tyres and a small "TH" logo on the car. A regular Treasure Hunt looks like any other mainline car (the basic single Hot Wheels cars), with the same paint and plastic wheels, plus a circle flame logo printed on it. On the card, a small flame symbol behind the car is gold on a Super and silver on a regular one, but the car often hides it.
What a Treasure Hunt is
Treasure Hunts are special cars that Mattel mixes in with its mainline cars, which it sells as Basics. Collectors call cars like these chase cars, because you have to go looking for them among the normal ones.
TH is short for Treasure Hunt and STH is short for Super Treasure Hunt. Some collectors write STH as $TH, and call a regular one an RTH.
How do I know if my Hot Wheels is a Treasure Hunt?
A regular Treasure Hunt looks like a normal mainline car with one extra mark. Check for these three things:
- A circle flame logo printed on the car, worked into its graphics.
- The same kind of paint and plastic wheels as the other mainline cars.
- A small silver circle flame printed on the card behind the car. You see it through the blister, which is the clear plastic bubble the car sits in. It is small, and the car often covers part of it.
Our 2026 '87 Buick Regal GNX Treasure Hunt is another regular one. Look at the wheels through the blister and you will see the same plastic wheels a normal mainline car has.
What does a Super Treasure Hunt look like?
- Spectraflame paint. Spectraflame is Mattel's name for a see-through coloured coat over a shiny metal finish. It has a deep metallic look that normal paint does not.
- Real Riders. These are two-piece wheels with a rubber tyre. Normal mainline cars run plastic wheels.
- A "TH" logo on the car. It is small and worked into the graphics.
- A gold circle flame on the card front. It sits behind the car, like the silver one on a regular Treasure Hunt. On our Drift-Ender and McLaren Speedtail cards the car covers it completely, so do not rely on it alone.
- A gold flame logo on the card back. Supers have carried it in gold since 2016.
Treasure Hunt vs Super Treasure Hunt side by side
| What to check | Treasure Hunt | Super Treasure Hunt |
|---|---|---|
| Logo on the car | Circle flame | Small "TH" |
| Paint | Normal mainline paint | Spectraflame |
| Wheels | Plastic | Real Riders with rubber tyres |
| Card front | Small silver circle flame behind the car | Small gold circle flame behind the car |
| Card back | Circle flame logo, with a congratulations message on some US cards | Flame logo in gold since 2016 |
| Collector number | Its own number. In 2026 no other mainline car shares it | The same number as a normal mainline car from the same case |
How the markings have changed over the years
The signs above are for current cars. Older Treasure Hunts were marked differently, so it helps to know when your car came out.
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Treasure Hunts start as their own series of 12 cars, marked by a green bar on the card. |
| 2007 | Super Treasure Hunts arrive, with "TREA$URE HUNT$" on the card, Spectraflame paint and rubber tyres. The regular version of the same car has normal paint and plastic wheels. |
| 2012 | Supers are hidden among the normal mainline cars and marked with a TH logo on the car. Regular Treasure Hunts are still their own series with a green bar. |
| 2013 | Regular Treasure Hunts are hidden in the mainline too, marked with the circle flame on the car. Supers get a black flame logo on the card back. |
| 2016 | The Super card back logo changes from black to gold. |
How many are there each year?
Mainline cars come out in 15 cases a year, lettered A to Q. A case here means one of the year's assortments of cars, and Mattel skips the letters I and O. In 2025 and 2026 each case was given one regular Treasure Hunt and one Super Treasure Hunt, so there were 15 of each. That does not mean every carton of cars from that case holds one. See our full 2026 Treasure Hunt list for every car.
A flame logo on its own is not proof
The circle flame only marks a Treasure Hunt on a mainline car from 2013 onwards. Mattel sometimes reuses older graphics on cars in other series, so the logo can turn up on a car that is not a Treasure Hunt. Before 2013 the logo did not mark a Treasure Hunt at all. Check the card, the wheels and the paint together.
A Super shares its number with a normal car
Each Super Treasure Hunt is an upgraded version of a normal mainline car from the same case, and it carries the same collector number. That is the number out of 250 printed near the top of the card.
Our mainline Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 from the 2026 Then and Now series is number 208/250, with normal paint and plastic wheels. The 2026 Super Treasure Hunt from case M is the same model with the same number, in Spectraflame paint on Real Riders. A matching number tells you nothing on its own.
Hot Wheels Monster Trucks have them too
Since 2021 Mattel has used a similar Treasure Hunt logo in its Hot Wheels Monster Trucks range. Our 2026 Duck N' Roll Treasure Hunt is one. These are Mattel's own trucks and a separate range from Monster Jam, which Spin Master makes. Our Monster Jam 1:64 series guide explains how Monster Jam numbers its trucks.
Browse our Treasure Hunts
Our Treasure Hunts and Super Treasure Hunts are grouped in one collection: Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunts and Treasure Hunts. For more Supers, see our McLaren Speedtail and '20 Jeep Gladiator, both from 2025. Rubber tyres also come on premium Hot Wheels, and our premium vs mainline guide explains those. For the plain cars, start with our mainline range. We post Australia wide from Queensland.