The Jade Sphere was a Mayan artifact housed in a temple in Panama. It was roughly the size of a cannonball, and made out of solid jade. It is an ancient astronomical device.
In 1922, Charles Kingston and his two students, Indiana Jones and Magnus Völler were on an expedition to these ruins where Kingston acquired the sphere.
By 1939, the jade sphere had ended up in the hands of antique collector Archie Tan, a friend of Dr. Jones. Knowing that agents of Völler were after him and the Sphere, as a link to finding Kingston, Tan hid the sphere. Indy later required the sphere and returned to Panama. Using it there he was able to discover Kingston's hidden journal which contained information leading to the Staff of Kings.
Behind the scenes[]
- In the Wii and PS2 versions of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, Indy tracks Sphere to the Star of the Orient in a cavern underneath Chinatown. He first looked in chests in the Ship's hold where it was normally kept, but found it was moved. He later found the Jade Sphere was hidden among the cannonballs on the ship. After finding his way around the ship, Jones was grabbed by a Tong gunman, who demanded the sphere. Jones spied it among a stack of cannonballs on the ship's deck, and was able to retrieve it after defeating a group of Tong brawlers. Returning to the surface through Tan's office, Jones encountered Völler outside, who would exchange his prisoner, Tan, for the sphere. Jones tossed a round bundle to Völler just as a cable car passed. Taking Jones' cue, Tan escaped from Völler's custody and climbed aboard the cable car along with Jones. Völler unwrapped the package to discover that he'd been given a jade Buddha figurine instead, and ordered his men after the fleeing cable car. Still possessing the real jade sphere, Jones shot at the pursuing cars with gunmen, and managed to escape.
- In the DS version of the game, Jones found the Sphere inside of Kingston's Chest (a Cipher of Meribah) inside of the Star of the Orient's hold.
- In the PSP version of the game, Archie Tan retrieved the Jade Sphere from his hiding place "downtown" after Jones has rescued him in the cable car chase. The Star of the Orient is not involved.