LEGO Treasure Chests and How to Build Them

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LEGO itself is a treasure for many of us! So ironically, the iconic 2x4 brown treasure chest is one of LEGO’s most symbolic pieces. It’s playable in many of our realms, from classic Pirates fighting over a booty of doubloons to Castle Forestmen stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Today we’ll nerd out a little bit over some fun LEGO treasure chests, AND include instructions to build the two chests pictured below at the end of the article!

2x Custom instructions (medium 6X10 and Mini 4x7)

LEGO Treasure Chests

Let’s start our journey with a glimpse at some of the treasure chest pieces LEGO has made over time. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it shows some variety from simply the classic 2x4, which itself comes in more than ten different colors! And if you look at the lid piece and base as separate parts, then your color pallet expands even more into colors like trans-neon orange and metallic grey.

But beyond just color variety, we have a few different scales. A larger version can be found in Fabuland and Bellville sets! The bottom and tops end up creating a solid 4x6 scaled “Trunk” which comes in some interesting colors. And, I suppose, let’s not forget the Duplo one, too.

But did you know there are even rarer LEGO treasure chests? These include strange items that were made as party games like The LEGO Treasure Quest (Electronic Scavenger Hunt Game) or this clear Candy Container!

The Lego Treasure Quest (Electronic Scavenger Hunt Game)

As of publishing, there are only two of these left on all of Bricklink, so I’ll leave a potential purchase to maybe one of our first readers here!

Candy Container Treasure Chest Lego Logo (Bricklink)

But, at least for me, sometimes it’s the small pieces LEGO has made that I end up finding the coolest. So when it comes to treasure chests, I think this one takes the cake. It appeared in two Mario sets and is simply adorable.

Roll for Initiative

But let us move on from prefabricated pieces into a LEGO community of MOCs and customization! And how better to start than with a random encounter?

”It’s a MIMIC!!!” Many a dungeon delver has uttered this cry both outwardly and inwardly when they find their hopeful loot is, in fact, trying to eat them. So naturally, these scarred memories have made the Mimic a go-to when creating custom MOCs based on LEGO treasure chests.

Many of the models above came from a somewhat recent wave of entries for the LEGO Ideas 50 Years of Dungeons and Dragons, and others we have highlighted before on BrickNerd, but they are clearly worth highlighting again.

Mimics don’t stop at MOCs either. Crazy Bricks has produced some awesome high-quality mimics in a variety of colors to torture your D&D players.

Scaling Up Your Treasure

But perhaps some surprise trunk teeth chests are not your cup of tea? Many builders (including myself) have made upscaled models of the traditional treasure chest. (You can see this with my look at Upscaled Minifigures, too.)

D&D Collector’s chest

One of my favorites is this model by Bricktum. He shares how this MOC is inspired by the Treasure Chest Prototype, which can be seen at the Lego House in Billund. So as these kind of larger scales treasure chests have seen a few instruction rounds, if you’re looking for one to match your giant pirate, perhaps start here!

Upscaled Treasure Chest Instructions

Lastly, this article was truly written as just an excuse to hand you all a couple fun sets of instructions! I’ve found that whatever the size, LEGO treasure chests range from adorable to awesome. So please enjoy the instructions below regardless of how much legitimate storage space they may or may not provide!

Instructions! (Medium 6x10 Treasure Chest)

Here are the step-by-step instructions to to build the upscaled LEGO treasure chest, complete with a parts list at the end. You can also download the pdf of instructions and the csv parts list to help you get building and finding treasure!

And just for fun, here is an adorable little mini version of my scaled-up LEGO treasure chest, just in case you don’t have as many pieces on hand.

Instructions! (Mini 4x7 Treasure Chest)

Here are those step-by-step instructions to build the mini upscaled LEGO treasure chest with a visual parts list at the end. You can also download the pdf instructions and the csv parts list to help you get building and finding treasure!

Hopefully you’ll go on your own treasure hunt and find some amazing LEGO chests, no matter the scale!

What will you fill your LEGO treasure chest up with? Let us know in the comments below.

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