Exploring caves in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be vital to ensuring you have the proper resources going forward. You can find plenty of enemies, ore deposits, and other goodies in these dark areas. That being said, you might have noticed a checkmark next to a cave entrance on your world map. Here is what that cave checkmark means in Tears of the Kingdom.
What Are the Cave Checkmarks for in Tears of the Kingdom?
If you see a checkmark near a cave entrance on the Tears of the Kingdom map, you have found and defeated a Bubbulfrog in that cave. These are the light blue creatures that cling to walls and ceilings and shoot bubbles at you. When you defeat them, they drop a Bubbul Gem that you can pick up and give to Kotlin later on. If you don’t grab the item the first time, we doubt that it will disappear.
While you may not see a Bubbulfrog every time you enter a cave, they can only appear once in each cave. Listen for the distinct sounds they make and hit them with an arrow or thrown weapon to make them drop to the ground. They will disappear and leave behind the Bubbul Gem and a Blupee.
The checkmark system is just an easy way to make sure you don’t go needlessly exploring old caves looking for more Bubbul Gems when you already got one from that area. There are plenty of caves hidden around each area, so be sure to take advantage of the map so you don’t waste time.
From what we have seen, there is no other reason for a checkmark to appear on your Tears of the Kingdom map. Wells and other areas don’t have them, as Bubbulfrogs don’t appear there.