How many Dragon Ball hunts are there?

[Anime Kitten]

This includes the Dragon Balls, the Namekian Dragon Balls, the Super Dragon Balls, and the Black Star Dragon Balls. How many in total?

[Black Hawk]

Just for the sake of accuracy, does this include off-screen/off-page Dragon Ball hunts such as the one that brought the Dragon Balls together as the #1 prize for the bingo tournament at Blooma's birthday party or only on-screen/on-page Dragon Ball hunts that were detailed and significant to the story?

[Anime Kitten]

Just for the sake of accuracy, does this include off-screen/off-page Dragon Ball hunts such as the one that brought the Dragon Balls together as the #1 prize for the bingo tournament at Blooma's birthday party or only on-screen/on-page Dragon Ball hunts that were detailed and significant to the story?

I guess there can be two totals: one that excludes off-screen hunts and one that includes them.

[Daisetsu]

Let's see here (in order of events):

1. There's the dual hunt by Bulma and Goku and the Pilaf Gang.
2. The dual hunt by Goku and the Red Ribbon Army.
3. * The hunt by Piccolo and the Pilaf Gang.
4. Goku's hunt for the 4-star ball. (would this actually count, though?)
5. ** The hunt by the Roshi gang after Goku's death.
6. The hunt for the fake Dragon Balls on fake Namek.
7. The hunt for the Namekian balls by... everyone, pretty much. (hilariously almost left out 'the' here)
8. ** The hunt for Earth's Dragon Balls by Popo during the Namek.
9. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls while on Earth.
10. ** The hunt by the Pilaf Gang, which gets them turned into children. (supposedly it goes here)
11. * The hunt by Goku during the week before the Cell Games.
12. * The hunt by Bulma and the gang during the Buu arc.
13. ** The "hunt" by the Namekians for the Namekian balls.
14. ** And again for the Earth's balls after Pure Buu dies.
    
    GT
15. The hunt for the Black Star balls.
16. The hunt for the Earth's Dragon Balls.
17. The hunt for the 4-star ball in the special. (would this also count?)
    
    SUPER
18. ** The hunt for the Earth's balls before Bulma's party.
19. * The hunt for the balls for Freeza's resurrection.
20. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls to bring Piccolo back to life.
21. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls to defuse Kibito and Kaioshin.
22. ** The absolutely useless and plothole inducing hunt for the Earth's balls to locate the Super Dragon Balls.
23. * Champa's hunt for the Super Dragon Balls.
    
    MOVIES and SPECIALS (Z only as I haven't seen DB's 2 and 3 and haven't seen 1 and 4 in years)
24. Garlic JR.
25. ** World's Strongest
26. Tree of Might
27. King Piccolo Lord Slugg
28. Brolly #2
29. ** Fusion Reborn (I think it's done off-screen)
30. * Wrath of the Dragon
31. ** Battle of Gods
32. * Resurrection 'F'
33. Dragon Ball Evolution
    
    NON-CANON?
34. ** North Kaio uses the Namekian balls to restore his planet sometime after Buu's defeat and before Beerus shows up.

Legend:
* Mostly off-screen
** Completely off-screen

I think that's it.

[Lord Beerus]

Let's see here (in order of events):

1. There's the dual hunt by Bulma and Goku and the Pilaf Gang.
2. The dual hunt by Goku and the Red Ribbon Army.
3. * The hunt by Piccolo and the Pilaf Gang.
4. Goku's hunt for the 4-star ball. (would this actually count, though?)
5. ** The hunt by the Roshi gang after Goku's death.
6. The hunt for the fake Dragon Balls on fake Namek.
7. The hunt for the Namekian balls by... everyone, pretty much. (hilariously almost left out 'the' here)
8. ** The hunt for Earth's Dragon Balls by Popo during the Namek.
9. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls while on Earth.
10. ** The hunt by the Pilaf Gang, which gets them turned into children. (supposedly it goes here)
11. * The hunt by Goku during the week before the Cell Games.
12. * The hunt by Bulma and the gang during the Buu arc.
13. ** The "hunt" by the Namekians for the Namekian balls.
14. ** And again for the Earth's balls after Pure Buu dies.
    
    GT
15. The hunt for the Black Star balls.
16. The hunt for the Earth's Dragon Balls.
17. The hunt for the 4-star ball in the special. (would this also count?)
    
    SUPER
18. ** The hunt for the Earth's balls before Bulma's party.
19. * The hunt for the balls for Freeza's resurrection.
20. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls to bring Piccolo back to life.
21. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls to defuse Kibito and Kaioshin.
22. ** The absolutely useless and plothole inducing hunt for the Earth's balls to locate the Super Dragon Balls.
23. * Champa's hunt for the Super Dragon Balls.
    
    MOVIES and SPECIALS (Z only as I haven't seen DB's 2 and 3 and haven't seen 1 and 4 in years)
24. Garlic JR.
25. ** World's Strongest
26. Tree of Might
27. King Piccolo Lord Slugg
28. Brolly #2
29. ** Fusion Reborn (I think it's done off-screen)
30. * Wrath of the Dragon
31. ** Battle of Gods
32. * Resurrection 'F'
33. Dragon Ball Evolution
    
    NON-CANON?
34. ** North Kaio uses the Namekian balls to restore his planet sometime after Buu's defeat and before Beerus shows up.

Legend:
* Mostly off-screen
** Completely off-screen

I think that's it.

Holy shit, were there that many Dragon Ball hunts? Damn. Just goes to show you how easy it is find the Dragon Balls.

[Anime Kitten]

34?! Wow. Thank you, Daisetsu! (Although I'm not sure how you found the time for that, assuming it took a while.!

[Daisetsu]

(Although I'm not sure how you found the time for that, assuming it took a while.!

It only took around 45 minutes to think about and type that all out. I've seen the entire show numerous times over the years so my memory's pretty good with it.

Oh yeah, one more for GT but I'm not sure if this counts:

35. The Pilaf Gang going to Kami's Temple to use the Black Star balls.

EDIT: Silly me! I completely forgot about:

36. The hunt for the Shadow Dragons!

[ShadowBardock89]

Dragon Ball movie 1 aka "Curse of the Blood Rubies" definitely has a DB hunt.
Movie 3: Dragon Balls are used to bring Bora back to life (like in the show).
Movie 4 aka Path to Power has it since it is how the bring Android 8 back to life.

[Netter75]

Let's see here (in order of events):

1. There's the dual hunt by Bulma and Goku and the Pilaf Gang.
2. The dual hunt by Goku and the Red Ribbon Army.
3. * The hunt by Piccolo and the Pilaf Gang.
4. Goku's hunt for the 4-star ball. (would this actually count, though?)
5. ** The hunt by the Roshi gang after Goku's death.
6. The hunt for the fake Dragon Balls on fake Namek.
7. The hunt for the Namekian balls by... everyone, pretty much. (hilariously almost left out 'the' here)
8. ** The hunt for Earth's Dragon Balls by Popo during the Namek.
9. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls while on Earth.
10. ** The hunt by the Pilaf Gang, which gets them turned into children. (supposedly it goes here)
11. * The hunt by Goku during the week before the Cell Games.
12. * The hunt by Bulma and the gang during the Buu arc.
13. ** The "hunt" by the Namekians for the Namekian balls.
14. ** And again for the Earth's balls after Pure Buu dies.
    
    GT
15. The hunt for the Black Star balls.
16. The hunt for the Earth's Dragon Balls.
17. The hunt for the 4-star ball in the special. (would this also count?)
    
    SUPER
18. ** The hunt for the Earth's balls before Bulma's party.
19. * The hunt for the balls for Freeza's resurrection.
20. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls to bring Piccolo back to life.
21. ** The hunt for the Namekian balls to defuse Kibito and Kaioshin.
22. ** The absolutely useless and plothole inducing hunt for the Earth's balls to locate the Super Dragon Balls.
23. * Champa's hunt for the Super Dragon Balls.
    
    MOVIES and SPECIALS (Z only as I haven't seen DB's 2 and 3 and haven't seen 1 and 4 in years)
24. Garlic JR.
25. ** World's Strongest
26. Tree of Might
27. King Piccolo Lord Slugg
28. Brolly #2
29. ** Fusion Reborn (I think it's done off-screen)
30. * Wrath of the Dragon
31. ** Battle of Gods
32. * Resurrection 'F'
33. Dragon Ball Evolution
    
    NON-CANON?
34. ** North Kaio uses the Namekian balls to restore his planet sometime after Buu's defeat and before Beerus shows up.

Legend:
* Mostly off-screen
** Completely off-screen

I think that's it.

Jesus I didn't believe there were that many until I read through the list. Like you pointed out, a lot of them were either off-screen or shown in only and episode or two, and at least the Tree of Might hunt and maybe more were montage-d, but that is still a hell of a lot.

[Hitiro]

NON-CANON?

[*]** North Kaio uses the Namekian balls to restore his planet sometime after Buu's defeat and before Beerus shows up.

I thought Kaio restored his planet using his Kaio powers. Where is it said that he used the Namekian dragon balls?

[Daisetsu]

I don't remember what it came from (it might be under the Heroes name) but there was a very short manga drawn by Toyotaro, I believe, that had Kaio wishing his planet back? It came out around the time Super started.

[dbgtFO]

I don't remember what it came from (it might be under the Heroes name) but there was a very short manga drawn by Toyotaro, I believe, that had Kaio wishing his planet back? It came out around the time Super started.

It was a special drawn for the annual Jump festival around this time of year. If you have followed the official announcement thread or the manga thread, you might have seen that he drew another one for this year's festival, which is about how the Pilaf Gang got turned into kids in the alternate timeline.

[Daisetsu]

Ah, thanks! I had wondered where the Pilaf one came from as well, so now I know!