The Visual Guide to

Minecraft
Dig into Minecraft with this
(parent-approved) guide
full of tips, hints, and projects!

James H. Clark
Cori Dusmann
John Moltz

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 The Visual Guide to Minecraft
Dig into Minecraft with this (parent-approved) guide full of tips, hints, and projects!

James H. Clark, Cori Dusmann, and John Moltz

Peachpit Press
Find us on the web at: www.peachpit.com
To report errors, please send a note to [email protected]
Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education
Copyright © 2015 Peachpit Press

Editors: Clifford Colby and Robyn Thomas

Production Editor: Dennis Fitzgerald
Compositor: Maureen Forys
Indexer: Valerie Haynes Perry
Copyeditor: Scout Festa
Proofreader: Patricia Pane
Cover design: Mimi Heft
Interior design: Maureen Forys and Mimi Heft

Notice of Rights
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact permissions@
peachpit.com.

Notice of Liability
The information in this book is distributed on an “As Is” basis without warranty. While every precaution
has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the authors nor Peachpit shall have any liability
to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or
indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware prod-
ucts described in it.

Trademarks
Minecraft is a trademark of Notch Development AB. Many of the designations used by manufacturers
and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in
this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the
owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used
in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the
trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affili-
ation with this book.

ISBN 13: 978-0-134-03315-0

ISBN 10: 0-134-03315-9

987654321

Printed and bound in the United States of America

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 Dedication
To my pterodactyl and smilodon. Sometimes clichés are
suitable: The world is yours. —James H. Clark

To all the kids and teens who share their wonder with
me—I truly couldn’t do this without you. —Cori Dusmann

To my son, Hank, who got me into this amazing game. —John Moltz

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 Acknowledgments
Jennifer—my wife, my partner. To say her expertise, excitement, love, and sup-
port is nothing short of amazing would be an understatement.
Yes, their names appear on the cover, but it bears repeating: This book
wouldn’t be what it is without John and Cori. Cori’s kindness, wit, wisdom, and
encouragement in game and out have made this journey enjoyable. I’m hon-
ored to call her a friend.
Robyn, Cliff, and Scout—for their guidance throughout. And just as important
as the words are the look and presentation: Thanks to the design and produc-
tion crew.
—James H. Clark

Thanks to Xander (Lex/wrednax), who has been a silent partner but deserves
full billing, not just for redstone expertise and contributions, but for putting
up with the insanity that descends when a book is being born. A mom truly
couldn’t be luckier than I am.
John and James, with their unique voices and experiences, make this book all
the better. Thanks to Cliff, Robyn, and all the team for pulling all the strings
together.
James, with the insight and wisdom that comes from close friendship, knows
when to listen, cheer, joke, or simply set me back on my path—there were many
times I would have faltered without his support.
Rawcritics is my amazing Minecraft community, filled with fantastic friends
who have contributed in innumerable ways, from edits and project help to
being on the receiving end of my crazy more than once. You guys are amazing
and always there for me, and I can’t thank you enough.
Finally, to my mom, my family, my friends—there’s no way I could do this
without each and every one of you; thank you.
—Cori Dusmann

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 My thanks and love to my wife for encouraging me to quit working for The
Man so I could pursue a career in writing and ultimate fighting (I’ll get to the
second one someday). But mostly my work on this book is thanks to my son,
Hank, without whom I never would have played Minecraft in the first place.
Love ya, bud!
No thanks to our dog, Grant. He just eats things he shouldn’t and barfs them
up at 5 a.m. BAD DOG! No, that’s mean. Here. Have a biscuit.
Thanks to Cliff, Robyn, James, and Cori for putting up with me, the n00b.
—John Moltz

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 Contents

Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Welcome to the World of Minecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

Part 1: Introduction
Chapter 1: Getting to Know Minecraft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Getting the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installing Minecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Using the Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 2: Surviving Your First Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Preparing for Night. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Lurking in the Night. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
What Next?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Accessing Your Achievements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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 Chapter 3: Extending Minecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hosting a Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Modifying the Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Part 2: Encyclopedia
Chapter 4: Minecraft Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
It’s a Crafty Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
The Lay of the Land. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
World-Generated Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Critters and Creatures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Unlimited Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Part 3: More Than Just Building—Creating

Chapter 5: There’s No Place Like Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Safety First!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Your First Shelter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Chapter 6: Not Finished Until It’s Furnished. . . . . . . . . . 131

Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
The Entrance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Flooring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Contents  vii

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 Appliances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Wall Decorations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Organic Adornments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Chapter 7: Supporting Your Lifestyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Storage Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Farming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Mining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Chapter 8: Putting It All Together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Creating Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Varying Materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Adding Depth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Going Further. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

PART 4: Redstone
Chapter 9: Redstone Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
So What Is Redstone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Redstone Circuitry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Currents and Circuits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

viii  Contents

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 Chapter 10: Redstone Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Redstone Lamp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
TNT Cannon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Fireworks Launcher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Further Fun with Redstone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Contents  ix

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 Welcome to the
World of Minecraft

Calling all miners, builders, explorers, designers, engineers, craft-

ers, farmers, creators, and anyone with a sense of adventure—untold
wonders await!
For over five years, Minecraft has been a source of wonder and adven-
ture for players of all ages. Constantly evolving, with new creatures,
blocks, and ways to play, this game that has no rules and no goals
has captured the hearts and the imaginations of millions of players
around the world.
Whether you have been mining and crafting for years or are just
learning what a creeper is, there is always something new to discover
and learn. With regular updates that add fresh features and all sorts
of mods, Minecraft is a game that is always changing.

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 One thing that stands out about Minecraft, compared to other games, is that
there are no rules, no goals, no storyline that you need to follow. You get to
decide how you’re going play, set your own goals, and play by your rules.
Interested in designing and settling down in your own castle, village, or farm?
You can build anything your imagination can conjure. Want to go exploring
and find temples, fortresses, and caverns filled with treasure and monsters? Gear
up and head out on a quest. Interested in creating automated machines to do
some of your work for you? Explore the world of redstone, Minecraft’s equiva-
lent to electricity and circuitry. The options and opportunities are endless.

Mining, Crafting, Creating,

and Exploring
This book is an exploration of a variety of aspects of Minecraft, from the basics
and how to get started to an encyclopedia of items and mobs. In these pages,
you’ll find detailed instructions on how to survive your first night, design and
build an epic home, and the ins and outs of redstone.
You’ll find projects, information, tips, and tricks organized into four sections:
”Information,” Encyclopedia,” “Structures,” and “Redstone.” You can start at
the beginning and work your way through, jump to the beginning of any sec-
tion and start there, or pick and choose what you’d like to learn about.

Computer, Console, Tablet

When Minecraft was designed, it was a game to be played on a computer and
ran on the Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. Now players can play
on Xbox 360 consoles, as well as on tablets and smartphones.
This book focuses on the original Minecraft game as designed for computers.
Although the other versions share many components of the full game, there are
differences, and those versions are often more limited. At the same time, many
of the strategies and basic gameplay are so similar that you’ll be able to use
what you learn here whether you’re playing on Xbox, Xbox One, PlayStation 3
or 4, tablet, smartphone, or computer.

Introduction  xi

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 A Note to Parents
(…and grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, and all other Minecraftian
grown-ups)
If you have a Minecrafter in your life, you are likely already familiar with the
all-consuming passion they have for the game. You may be wondering what
makes kids so drawn to it, and how to manage their obsession and help them
have some balance in their life.
Minecraft by its very nature is an open-ended, creative game that is inviting
and liberating. The reality is that many kids now have fewer opportunities to
just play freely. Days are long and often filled with extra classes and activities,
and even free play can be more restricted than in past generations. Kids don’t
have the same freedom to go out into the world, explore, take chances, make
mistakes—so games like Minecraft are more valuable than ever. This is not at all
to say that games should replace outside time, extracurricular activities, family
time, sports, crafts, or any of the other awesome ways kids pass time, play, and
learn. It does, however, help to explain the allure of Minecraft.
Somewhere in all the rest, we have forgotten that for kids, play is work. It is the
most important work of all. Through play, kids can learn much more in terms
of larger life skills than they ever do in a classroom—about all sorts of things,
social connections, how to get along, cause and effect. And when they use
a creative, open game like Minecraft, they are suddenly back to doing what
comes naturally: learning through play.
In Minecraft, kids can take those chances and risks and face the consequences.
They create worlds that come completely from their imagination, and they,
and they alone, are the master of their domain. This gives them pride in their
work and a feeling of responsibility, things we want to see and nurture in our
children.
On the flip side, because kids are so invested in their Minecraft world, and
since they create things that carry personal weight and meaning, they can
become fixated on it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; they are showing
responsibility to what is essentially their work. Parents see it as an addiction,
particularly when Minecraft is all their children want to talk about, and it can
be an issue. Balance is important, setting times to play and times to move on
to other activities is vital.

xii  Introduction

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 Letting your child share their passion with you is a great way to connect. Have
them show you their work, see what they are proud of, and prepare to be
amazed at what they’ve been up to when you think they’ve been merely play-
ing a game. There is much more to Minecraft than you would guess at first
glance, which is why it has been appearing in classrooms around the world,
why adults are as swept up in playing as kids, and why it has become a world-
wide sensation. Check out Cori Dusmann’s book The Minecraft Guide for Parents
(Peachpit Press, 2014) for more down-to-earth advice for parents of children
playing Minecraft.

Introducing Your Guides

All three of the authors are parents. We’ve been drawn into the thick of the
game not just because we have kids who play (James has been playing since
his daughter was born), but because we love and play Minecraft ourselves. We
bring varied Minecraft backgrounds, from hosting a family server to being
staff on a large public server. Between the three of us, we have vast knowledge
and hands-on experience of Minecraft and of other games, gaming culture,
online communities, computers, coding, education, and child development.
Drawing on this pool of knowledge and expertise, we’ve collaborated to create
a kid-friendly collection of tips, tricks, and strategies that will also help adults
who are helping kids navigate this complex and creative game.
James H. Clark is the production coordinator at the Lakeville Journal Co., a
group of independently owned community newspapers. In addition to his role
at the Journal, he is an independent designer, working in both print and web
media. In 2010, James encountered Minecraft in its alpha phase and joined a
fledgling online community, where he quickly became an administrator. His
sense of humor and his broad knowledge and approachability have earned
him the ironic nickname “old man” within the community, and he has become
mentor, teacher, and support for many of the players, young and old. James
lives in Connecticut with his wife and daughter.
Cori Dusmann, author of The Minecraft Guide for Parents, is an educator,
writer, and homeschooling gamer parent who lives in Victoria, B.C., with her
awesome 15-year-old writer, gamer, and Tumblr addict. With a BA in Child and
Youth Care (counseling), Cori has spent over 20 years working with children in

Introduction  xiii

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 a variety of settings. Working predominantly with children with challenging
behaviors, Cori has found games to be a source of common ground, and no
game more so than Minecraft. In addition to her child-wrangling skills, Cori
is a writer and reviewer. She regularly writes reviews for Quill & Quire, the
Canadian publishing industry’s monthly magazine, and her reviews have been
printed in the Vancouver Sun, the Globe and Mail, and the National Post.
John Moltz grew up before the personal computer revolution, so he played
with computers made out of cardboard boxes to pass the time until they were
commercially available. After working in corporate technology for over 15 years
(three of which he actually enjoyed), he quit his job in 2012 to become a free-
lance writer because money can make you only so happy. Writing, on the other
hand—that‘ll make you miserable forever. John’s work has appeared in Mac-
world magazine, The Magazine, TidBITS, and other places where fine nerdery is
appreciated. He lives in Tacoma, Washington, with his wife, son, and gigantic
poodle.

How to Download the Book’s Videos

Purchasing this book gives you access to more than 3 hours of downloadable
videos created by the book’s authors.
1. Go to www.peachpit.com/register and create or log in to your account.
2. Enter the book’s ISBN (978-0-134-03315-0), and click Submit.
3. On the My Registered Products tab of your account, you should see this
book listed.
4. Click the Access Bonus Content link to access your videos.
Once you download the videos, you can view them on a computer, tablet, or
smartphone.

xiv  Introduction

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 4
Minecraft Basics

As its name suggests, Minecraft is a game in which you need to mine

for (and otherwise harvest or collect) materials, which you can then
craft into other items and materials. These materials largely consist
of blocks that can be placed and removed to create pretty much any-
thing you can imagine. Blocks can be made of stone, wood, glass,
clay, wool, or fancy ores, and many can be crafted into a variety of
forms. Other items include tools, food, books, potions, and so much
more. Add to this all the creatures in the game, both friendly and hos-
tile, and there is a lot to learn and discover.
One of the amazing things about Minecraft is that it is constantly
changing and being updated. The creators at Mojang regularly
release updates that introduce new blocks, items, and mobs. Play-
ers can get a glimpse of what is coming with something Mojang calls
snapshots. Snapshots are pre-release versions of an update that play-
ers can download and try out. Because of these updates, books like
this sometimes don’t have the most up-to-date information. Version
1.8 is being released as this book is being completed, so while we look
at some of the newest additions, they may change a bit.

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 It’s always a good idea to check the wiki for the most recent information on
things you’re interested in. Of course, there is also much that won’t change—we
take a look at some of those items, mobs, places, and more.

It’s a Crafty Business

Although the name of the game is Minecraft, many more ways exist to gather
materials than simply mining, but there’s just one basic way to craft them.
Using a crafting bench and recipes, plus the required materials, you can build
almost any item found in the game.

Crafting Basics
Crafting is the act of taking materials (also known as mats) and, using the
crafting grid in your personal inventory (accessed by pressing E) or a crafting
bench, creating something new from those mats. For instance, a player could
take eggs, sugar, wheat, and milk, and by placing them in specific places on
the grid in their crafting bench, make a cake (Figure 4.1). The items needed to
craft something and their specific placement are called a recipe. A recipe could
be for making a food item, such as cake, or a piece of armor, such as an iron
chest plate.

Figure 4.1  The recipe for a cake, in place on a crafting bench grid.

Crafting a bench is simple. It is likely the first thing you’ll make, because you’ll
need a crafting bench to create almost everything else. You need four planks,
which you get by punching a tree; the tree will drop logs. When you open

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 your inventory (by pressing E), you will see a 2x2 crafting grid on the right.
When you place your log in the grid in the left, it will show you planks with the
numeral 4 in the box on the right, indicating that one log makes four planks.
Pick up those planks by hovering your cursor over them and then clicking.
Drag them to the grid again, placing a plank in each of the four grid squares. A
crafting bench will show in the square on the right (Figure 4.2).

Figure 4.2  The crafting grid in your inventory, showing how to make a crafting
bench or table using four planks.

To use a crafting bench, you need to place it by holding it in your hand and
right-clicking. Right-click it again, and your 3x3 crafting grid will open. Place
the recipe items in the correct squares on the grid, and then pick up the item
that appears in the single box by clicking.
You can distribute items along the crafting grid by right-clicking and holding
the button down as you move over the grid—this will divide the items evenly
between the squares you move over. You can also use your right mouse button
to divide a pile of the same item in half. If you want to make more than one of
an item, simply place that many of each of the items in the recipe grid and pick
up all of them at once.
Most recipes require that you put the items needed into specific spots on the
grid, such as making a torch by placing a piece of coal or charcoal directly
above a wooden stick. These are known as shaped recipes. Some others, like
making dye from flowers, are shapeless—it doesn’t matter where on the grid
you put your items.

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 Basic Recipes
Many recipes for shaped objects are the same no matter what materials you use.
If you’re building stairs, you’ll place six blocks in the crafting table in a step
shape (Figure 4.3), although those blocks might be cobblestone, stone brick,
sandstone, red sandstone, any of the six types of wooden planks, nether brick,
or quartz. When we’re looking at recipes that can be crafted with many materi-
als, I’ll just show one material and list the others that also could be used.

Figure 4.3  Stairs recipe: six blocks will give four sets of stairs.
Stairs can be made from any of the six types of wood, cobblestone,
stone brick, sandstone, red sandstone, nether brick, or quartz.

Types of Basic Block

Minecraft has close to 400 unique items. We can’t explore them all here, but we
can take a quick look at some of the basic ones.

Wood
One of the main blocks in the game, and one that is vitally important in order
to progress, is wood. When you start, you’re able to punch trees with your bare
hands to collect wood logs. You’ll use wood to craft your first tools, a chest and
crafting bench, handles for torches, and doors for your house.
You can punch a tree to break it into logs, but once you make a crafting bench,
you can craft an axe, which will make the job of chopping trees for wood much
easier.
Wood logs can be crafted into planks, which can then be used to make stairs,
slabs, fences, and doors. Each wood has its own color and appearance (Fig-
ure4.4), which is reflected in the planks and the items you craft.

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 Saplings Leaves Logs Planks Slabs Stairs Fences Doors

Oak

Spruce

Birch

Jungle wood

Acacia

Dark oak

Figure 4.4  Types of wood, and how each appears in different forms.

When you cut down a tree, you need only cut the trunk; the leaves will slowly
despawn, likely dropping a sapling or two as they do, which you can plant for
new trees. Sprinkling bonemeal on planted saplings will help them grow faster.
Dark oak trees will grow only if you plant four saplings in a 2x2 square. Spruce
and jungle saplings can also be planted in this way for super tall trees.

Stone, Sand, Dirt, and Gravel

You can fairly easily collect dirt, gravel, stone, and sand (Figure 4.5).
Dirt and gravel can’t be crafted into other forms, although dirt is needed for
farming and is quick to dig with a shovel, making it useful for scaffolding.
Coarse dirt, recently introduced, is a darker color and is found in the savannah,
taiga, and mesa biomes. It can also be crafted with two blocks of gravel and
two blocks of dirt, and when it is tilled with a hoe it becomes regular dirt.
Grass blocks, podzol, and mycelium are similar to dirt but with special prop-
erties. They all turn into regular dirt when they are dug up, unless you use a
shovel that has been enchanted with Silk Touch, a somewhat rare enchant that
allows you to harvest materials in their original form.

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 Row 1: dirt, coarse dirt, grass, podzol, mycelium, gravel
Row 2: cobblestone, smooth stone, stone brick, cracked stone brick, chiseled stone,
mossy cobblestone, mossy stone brick
Row 3: granite, polished granite, diorite, polished diroite, andesite, polished andesite
Row 4: sand, sandstone, chiseled sandstone, smooth sandstone, red sand, red sandstone,
chiseled red sandstone, smooth red sandstone
Figure 4.5  The dirt, gravel, stone, and sand blocks to be found and crafted.

Grass blocks are dirt with grass on the top. When placed, the grass will spread
to other dirt blocks (although it won’t spread to coarse dirt). Podzol looks more
like composted dirt; it is a specialized dirt that can grow mushrooms. You can
find mycelium only in the Mooshroom Island biome; it is also used to grow
mushrooms. Like grass, and unlike podzol, it will expand to connected dirt
blocks.
Gravel and sand (regular and red sand) share the unique property of being
affected by gravity, meaning that when they are placed, they will fall until
they reach a solid block; other blocks remain suspended where placed. You can
smelt sand and red sand in a furnace to create glass (more on glass later) and
use it to craft sandstone, smooth sandstone, and chiseled sandstone.
You can craft stone into many forms, which gives it great flexibility as a build-
ing material. When you mine stone, it will turn to cobblestone, unless you use
a pick that has a Silk Touch enchantment on it that will leave it in its original
form. You can return cobblestone to its smooth stone form by smelting it in a
furnace, and it can be crafted into slabs, fences, and stairs that have a cobble-
stone texture.

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 Smooth stone can be crafted into slabs, and it can also be crafted into stone
brick, which in turn can be crafted into stairs and slabs.
As of the version 1.8 update, stone brick can also be combined with vines to
make mossy stone brick (previously only found in dungeons). Stone brick slabs
can be crafted into chiseled stone, which had only been found in jungle for-
tresses prior to the update.
Some new types of stone have been added: granite, diorite, and andesite.
These stones are found when mining but can also be crafted with specific reci-
pes. All three can be crafted into smooth versions, much like cobblestone, but
cannot be crafted into stairs or slabs.

Glass
Glass is made by smelting sand in a furnace. Once you have glass blocks, you
can craft panes of glass from them on your crafting bench (Figure 4.6). Glass
can be dyed one of 16 colors, making stained glass. If you want to have colored
panes of glass, you need to dye the blocks first and then make the glass panes.

Figure 4.6  Glass pane recipe: six glass blocks (of any color).

Clay
Clay (Figure 4.7) is found in riverbeds and on the ocean floor. Unless your
shovel has a Silk Touch enchant, you will get balls of clay that you can craft
back into blocks.

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 Figure 4.7  From left to right: clay ball, clay block, hardened clay, clay brick,
brick block, brick slab, brick stairs, and flower pot.

You can smelt clay balls into clay bricks, which you can then craft into brick
blocks. Brick blocks can be crafted into stairs and slabs and are often used as
a main building material for houses, foundations, roofs, and fireplaces. Clay
bricks are also used to make flower pots.
If you use unsmelted clay balls to form clay blocks, the blocks can be hardened
in a furnace and then dyed. Because hardened clay has a reddish tone, when
it is dyed the result will also be more reddish. For instance, any blue dyes will
become more purple when put on hardened clay. We’ll look at dyeing clay in
the “Dye” section.

Ores
Ores are the minerals in the game, like coal, iron, redstone, and diamond (Fig-
ure 4.8). There are two types of ore: those that need to be smelted, like iron
and gold, and those that shatter into pieces when mined, like coal, redstone,
lapis lazuli, emerald, diamond, and nether quartz. When you smelt gold or
iron, the bars are called ingots, and they can be crafted into blocks by placing
nine ingots on a crafting bench.
Lapis Nether
Coal Redstone lazuli Emerald Diamond quartz Gold Iron

Raw ores

Ingots

Blocks

Nugget

Top row: Middle row: Bottom row:

raw ores mined ores crafted blocks
Figure 4.8  Ores in their raw, mined, smelted, and crafted forms.

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 When you are mining these ores, you should use the correct pick. Although you
can use a stone pick to mine coal, lapis lazuli, iron, and nether quartz, you can’t
mine redstone, gold, emeralds, and diamonds with anything weaker than an iron
pick. A diamond pick is the strongest, and you’ll need fewer hits to break the
ore. Enchanted tools are the best, as a Silk Touch enchant allows you to mine ores
and blocks without altering their original form, and Fortune will cause blocks you
mine to drop more of the ores. These can’t be applied to the same tool, but they
can be enchanted alongside an Unbreaking enchantment, which makes gear last
longer, or an Efficiency enchant, which helps you mine more blocks in less time.

Other Building Blocks

Many other types of block exist. Some are found in the Overworld, like wool,
obsidian, ice, and packed ice, while others require you to travel to other
dimensions. You can find end stone only in the End, and you can find glow-
stone, soul sand, and netherrack only in the Nether. You can even use some
food blocks, like pumpkins and melons, for building.
▚▚ Wool is harvested from sheep. You’ll get one block of wool when you kill
a sheep, whereas shearing them will cause the sheep to drop one to three
blocks, and they will regrow their wool if they have grass to eat.
You can dye blocks of wool or an entire sheep one of 16 colors. It takes one
dye per wool block or one dye per sheep, and since sheep can be shorn
repeatedly, it makes more sense to dye the sheep than the individual
pieces of wool. Sheep and wool can be re-dyed another color as well.
Dyed wool can be crafted into carpets or used to craft banners.
▚▚ Ice is found in snowy biomes and can be harvested with a pick. It is slip-
pery, so when you run on it you can move faster. You can use it to move
items more quickly in harvesters. Ice melts when there are torches close by.
▚▚ Packed ice is found only in the hard-to-find Ice Plains Spikes biomes. It
doesn’t melt, making it a better building block than ice.
▚▚ Obsidian is a deep black, hard stone that can be mined only with a dia-
mond pick. It is formed when lava and water meet. It can also be found
in pillars in the End. Obsidian is the hardest minable block in Minecraft
(bedrock can’t be mined in survival games) and is useful when making
explosive-proof defenses.
You need obsidian to make Nether portals, which you form by making a
minimum 4x5 obsidian frame and lighting the inside.

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 ▚▚ Prismarine occurs in ocean monuments, a new structure introduced with
the 1.8 version update. Prismarine, prismarine brick, and dark prismarine,
along with glowing sea lanterns, are new blocks that you can mine in the
monuments. You can also craft them from prismarine shards and crystals,
which are dropped by the guardian mob, a fish that lives in and near the
ocean monuments.
▚▚ Nether blocks occur in the Nether (Figure 4.9). Most of the Nether is
formed of netherrack, which is easy to mine (and lava, which is easy to fall
into). With care, though, you can quickly collect netherrack, which can
be smelted to form nether bricks. Nether bricks can be crafted into nether
brick blocks, and from there into slabs and stairs.

Soul sand, nether wart, nether

quartz or, nether quartz

Quartz block, chiseled quartz, pillar

quartz, quartz slab, quartz stairs

Netherrack, nether brick, nether

brick block, nether brick slab,
nether brick stair

Figure 4.9  Blocks, ores, and items found in the Nether.

You will find nether quartz mixed in with the netherrack. It can be collected like
the other ores and crafted into quartz blocks, which can be used to make chis-
eled and pillar quartz blocks as well as slabs and stairs.
Soul sand is found in patches throughout the Nether and has the unique prop-
erty of slowing you or mobs down when it is walked on. When placed in water
or on ice, the effects are magnified, making it useful for traps. It is also the only
block that you can grow nether wart on.

Dye
Dyes are crafted from various items found in the game: flowers, squid ink sacs,
mined lapis lazuli gems, and harvested cocoa beans and cactus.
Dyes come in 16 colors. You use them to color wool, glass, clay, and leather
armor. You also use dye to color firework stars, craft banners, and change the
color of a dog’s collar.

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 Crafting Dye
To craft the dye, you simply put the dye ingredient into a crafting grid and
collect the dye. These are shapeless recipes—you can place the ingredient any-
where in the grid. Most dyes are craftable with a single ingredient, and may
have more than one recipe (Figure 4.10), but a few need to be made by com-
bining two dyes (Figure 4.11).

Red: poppy, red tulip,

rosebush

Orange: orange tulip

Yellow: dandelion,
sunflower

Green: cactus (must be

cooked in furnace)

Blue: lapis lazuli

(doesn’t need to be
crafted before use)

Light blue: blue orchid

Magenta: lilac, allium

Pink: peony, pink tulip

White: bonemeal
(crafted from bones)

Light gray: Azure bluet,

white tulip, oxeye daisy
Black: ink sac (doesn’t
need to be crafted
before use)
Brown: cocoa beans
(doesn’t need to be
crafted before use)
Figure 4.10  Many dyes can be crafted from a single ingredient, and often there is more than
one way to craft them.

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 Lime green: combine green dye
and bonemeal

Cyan: combine green dye and

lapis lazuli

Purple: combine red dye and

lapis lazuli

Gray: combine ink sac and

bonemeal

Figure 4.11  These dyes need to be crafted by combining two dyes on a crafting bench.

Dyeing Wool, Clay, and Glass

When dyeing wool, you need one piece of dye for each block of wool, and you
can just drop the dye and wool in the crafting bench. To color carpets, you
need to dye the wool blocks before crafting them into carpets.
When you are dyeing (or staining) blocks of glass or hardened clay, how-
ever, you place one piece of dye in the center of the crafting grid, surrounded
by eight blocks of glass or clay (Figure 4.12). As with the wool, if you’d like
stained glass panes instead of blocks, you must dye the blocks before crafting
the panes.

Figure 4.12  Stained glass or clay recipe: place 8 blocks

around the dye.

Even though the dye is the same, the effects are different for wool, clay, and
glass due to the nature of the materials being dyed. The transparency of the
glass changes the vibrancy of the colors, and the red tone of hardened clay is
blended with the dyes, changing the resulting color (Figure 4.13).

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 Figure 4.13  From top to bottom: Stained glass panes, stained glass blocks, dyed wool,
stained clay.

Dyeing Leather Armor

You can dye leather armor, but unlike any of the other methods of dyeing, you
can combine dyes, both on the crafting bench or by adding colors to previ-
ously dyed armor (Figure 4.14). Thanks to the many color choices, you have
millions of tones and shades to choose from, and it can be great fun to play
with the options.

Figure 4.14  When dyeing leather, you can combine dyes to

make unique color combinations.

Banners
Crafted from wool and sticks, banners are an exciting new decoration that can
be hung on walls or placed on the floor. You can use dyes and items like vines,
mob heads, and golden apples to create virtually endless and unique designs.
You can create patterns on a banner by placing the banner and the dye or
other items in specific places on a crafting bench. You can layer up to six

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 designs, wash them off one layer at a time in a cauldron, and copy them using
a blank banner.
You can craft lots of patterns, including stripes, borders, shapes, and symbols.
Experiment with them and check the wiki for basic recipes. Figure 4.15  shows
you the basic banner pattern with three patterns layered over it.

Figure 4.15  A basic banner recipe: 6 wool blocks, stick (top left), 4 pieces of dye around the
banner for a diamond (top right), a single dye above the banner for a circle (bottom left), and vines
beside the banner for a wavy border (bottom right).

Tools and Gear

Basic tools and gear will be some of the first things you’ll craft. The main tools
are the pickaxe, shovel, hoe, and axe (Figure 4.16), but tools like flint and steel,
shears, fishing rods, and leads will come in handy as well.
Use your crafting bench to make your tools, using wooden sticks to make the
handles and using wood, stone, gold, iron, or diamond for the heads.
The materials you choose (or have available) will affect how well your tool
works and how long it will last. Some ores need an iron or diamond tool to be
mined. When you start to use a tool (and this applies to armor as well), a meter
will appear on the tool in your inventory, showing its durability.

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 Figure 4.16  Basic tools: shovel, hoe, pickaxe, and axe here are made from diamond, although
they can be crafted from wood, stone, gold, or iron as well.

Wooden tools are the least durable, diamond tools the most. Stone tools are
great for starting out or for quick jobs, but they’re not strong enough to mine
all blocks. Gold, while pretty, is soft and will wear out quickly. Iron is a strong
material that is less costly than diamonds, making it a good choice for basic
tools until you’ve mined enough diamond (which you can only do with iron or
diamond tools). If you use a tool on a block that it isn’t suited for, such as cut-
ting trees with a pick, it will take you longer and the tool will wear out faster.
Tools can be enchanted on an enchanting table by using experience points or
by using an enchanted book with an anvil. They add specific bonus properties
to your gear. If you put an Unbreaking enchantment on a tool, for example, it
will last longer. You can repair and name tools on an anvil, but this takes both
experience points and more of the material you use to craft your tool. When
you name items, the name shows in your inventory. Named weapons show in
death messages if you use them to kill an opponent. Because of the cost in
experience points, you might want to use your enchantments for iron or dia-
mond tools, which have the best endurance.
Tools have varying levels of efficacy, such as how many hits it takes to break a
block. Diamond and iron are more efficient than wood, stone, or gold, meaning
it takes fewer hits to break the block. You can get an Efficiency enchantment
that means it will take fewer hits to break blocks, letting you work faster.

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 You will likely want to make other tools and items such as buckets, shears, and
leads.
▚▚ Buckets can be used to carry water, lava, and milk and are incredibly
useful tools (Figure 4.17). You’ll need a bucket to carry water for a farm,
though a bucket of water in your hotbar (your main inventory, which
shows at the bottom of your screen) can be a lifesaver when you are min-
ing or exploring lava-filled caves. A bucket of milk can save your life if you
are attacked by poisonous cave spiders or encounter a potion-throwing
witch, because drinking milk is an antidote for their poison.

Figure 4.17  Bucket recipe: 3 iron ingots.

▚▚ Shears are needed to shear sheep, giving you more wool than if you kill the
sheep (Figure 4.18). You can also use shears on trees, which will give you
leaf blocks, as opposed to cutting down the trees, which will result in the leaf
blocks disintegrating. Shears are also helpful with cobwebs, turning them to
string, and if you put a Silk Touch enchantment on shears with an enchanted
book, you can use shears to collect cobwebs without breaking them.

Figure 4.18  Shears recipe: 2 iron ingots.

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 ▚▚ Leads are great tools for moving and containing mobs (Figure 4.19). By
right-clicking the animal with the lead in your hand, you’ll attach it and
be able to pull it along. Right-click again on a fence and the lead will be
tied to it. You can lead more than one animal at a time, each on a separate
lead. While you’re riding a horse or donkey, you can use a lead to bring a
second horse or donkey along.

Figure 4.19  Lead recipe: 1 green slime ball and 4 pieces of string.

▚▚ Flint and steel are used to start fires (Figure 4.20), but be careful, because
trees and wooden houses are flammable, and it would be sad to see every-
thing go up in flames. This is a handy tool for lighting Nether portals. Flint
and steel can also occasionally be found in dungeon and fortress chests.

Figure 4.20  Flint and steel: flint and iron ingot.

▚▚ Fishing rods are useful tools (Figure 4.21). Not only can you use them to
catch fish (a good food source and needed to tame ocelots into cats), but
you can also “catch” other items when you are fishing. The list of items
you can catch is lengthy and divided into treasure and junk by Mojang.
Some of the treasures include rare, uncraftable saddles and nametags,
enchanted books, and fishing rods. Some of the junk includes useful items
like leather, bottles, and ink sacs, though you might just catch boots (old,

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 used, and without enchantments) or rotten flesh. You can enchant fishing
rods with Lure or Luck of the Sea enchantments, which will speed up your
fishing and increase your odds of getting a good catch.
If you craft a fishing rod with a carrot, you’ll get a carrot on a stick, which
is needed if you want to saddle up a pig and go for a ride.

Figure 4.21  Fishing rod recipe: three wood sticks and two
pieces of string.

Weapons and Armor

Weapons and armor are necessary tools if you’re playing a survival game, and
fun to play with even in Creative mode.

Weapons
Swords (Figure 4.22), needed for defense from hostile mobs and to hunt animals
for food, are crafted with a wooden stick for a handle, and wood, stone, gold,
iron, or diamond for the blade (Figure 4.22). The properties are the same as for
tools—iron and diamond last longer and are better than wood, stone, or gold.

Figure 4.22  Sword recipe: one wood stick and two diamonds
(also craftable from wood, stone, gold, and iron).

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 Bows and arrows can be crafted or collected from skeletons (Figure 4.23).

 
Figure 4.23  Bow recipe: three sticks and three pieces of string (left); arrow recipe: flint, stick,
feather (right).

Armor
There are four different pieces of armor: helmet, chest or chest plate, leggings,
and boots (Figure 4.24). You can make armor from leather, gold, iron, and
diamond, and they will have the same relative durability as tools made from
each material. You can also enchant armor with various enchantments. Like
tools, armor wears out and will need to be repaired or replaced. New with the
1.8 update, you also can craft an armor stand to hold your armor, mob heads,
and pumpkins.

Figure 4.24  Helmet recipe: five diamonds; chest plate recipe: eight diamonds; leggings recipe:
seven diamonds; boots recipe: four diamonds. Armor can also be crafted with the same recipes using
leather, gold, or iron ingots.

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 Enchanting
Enchanting is a complex part of the game, and one that has changed with the
1.8 update. You can enchant tools, weapons, and books on a specially crafted
enchanting table, and different items have different enhancements (Fig-
ure 4.25). Enchanting will cost you experience points (XP), and as of the 1.8
update, they will also cost you up to three lapis lazuli.
You can enchant books yourself, find them in chests in dungeons, or catch
them when fishing. You can also use an anvil to combine enchants, or to add
them to an item from an enchanted book. Village priests sometimes exchange
enchanted items in trade for emeralds or other goods.

Figure 4.25  An enchanting table allows you to place a variety of enchantments on your items.

Enchanting is done on an enchanting table, which you can craft with diamonds,
obsidian, and a book (Figure 4.26). You can increase the level of enchants
that are available by surrounding your enchanting table with bookcases. For
instance, at a table without shelves, you may enchant items costing only a
couple of experience points, but as you add bookcases (up to 15 within a 5x5
square and not directly touching the enchanting table), your table will become

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 more powerful, allowing you to use up to 30 experience points on one enchant.
You have a higher chance of getting a good enchant when the XP cost is higher.

Figure 4.26  Enchanting table recipe: one book, two diamonds,

and four obsidian blocks.

The new enchanting system also will cost you lapis lazuli, though it requires
fewer XP. You have a choice of three enchants, depending on how many pieces
of lapis you use, and you’ll get a sneak peek at one of the enchants you’ll
receive, something that wasn’t possible in earlier versions of the game
(Figure 4.27).

Figure 4.27  The enchanting table menu. Here, I’m using two lapis lazuli, so only the top two
enchants are available. Hovering over the second shows me I’ll get an Unbreaking II enchant at a cost
of 12 XP (when I did enchant the sword, the second enchant was a Smite II).

Enchants are specific to the item. For instance, you may get an Infinity enchant
on a bow, which allows you to carry only one arrow but never run out, but
you wouldn’t get it on a pair of boots, on which you might get a Protection or
Feather Falling enchant.
Enchanted books often have a combination of enchants that are unique to
certain tools or items. You use an anvil to put the enchants on the item of your
choice, but only the enchants that fit that item will be applied to it.

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 Experience Points
You collect experience points by mining ores, smelting items in a furnace, kill-
ing mobs (including friendly mobs like cows and pigs), and breeding animals.
If you die, you lose your experience points.
You can gain experience points much faster by building a mob grinder, which
makes use of one or more mob spawners to collect mobs. Usually a mechanism is
created within the grinder that will weaken them so that they are easily killed.
They may spawn above water, which will move them toward a chute and cause
them to fall and take damage. You can then finish them off easily and collect
the experience points. You can easily find designs for spawners online.

Anvil
An anvil is used to repair and name gear, to combine enchants from various
tools, and to apply enchants from books to gear. Like the enchanting table,
all these actions cost experience points. You craft an anvil with iron bars and
blocks (Figure 4.28).

Figure 4.28  Anvil recipe: three iron blocks and four

iron ingots.

To use an anvil, right-click it, and then place the item to be repaired in the first
box. In the second box, place a second one of the same item, an enchanted
book (Figure 4.29), or raw materials. You will be told how many experience
points the repair will cost, and you see from the bar on the item whether it will
be fully or partially repaired. The repair is finished when you pick up the item.
When you combine two enchanted items, the enchantments are combined on
the repaired item. Anvils take damage when used and will eventually break.

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 Figure 4.29  Using an anvil to add an enchant to an item, such as this Luck of the Sea
enchant on a fishing rod, costs experience points and will cause the enchanted item to glow. Here,
I’ve renamed the fishing rod while enchanting it.

Transportation
When you start a new map, chances are you’ll do a lot of walking, but soon
enough you might find that you’ve run out of land, or just that you’d like to
hit the water in your own little boat. Once you’ve gathered enough materials or
stumbled upon an abandoned mineshaft, you may want to set up rail lines too.
And let’s not forget that you can now travel by horse. There are many more
ways to traverse the map than simply on foot. You can find information on
horses in the “Mobs” section, but let’s take a quick look at boats and rail.

Boats
Traveling by boat is how I prefer to start exploring a map, particularly if I am
on a server with others and might want to get away from my spawn point
before I settle but don’t have many resources yet. I often find friendly mobs
along the shore, and sometimes bump into a village. When you’re traveling by
boat, your hunger bar disappears and you won’t need to eat. This is helpful
when you’re starting out—you can head to the sea at night, avoid mobs, not
need food, and explore the coast line.
All you need to make a boat is five planks, which is easy even when you’re just
starting out (Figure 4.30). Boats break exceptionally easily, dropping planks

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 and sticks—and you. It is wise to make and carry a few boats, or at least carry
some extra planks or logs to make more.

Figure 4.30  Boat recipe: five planks.

You place a boat by right-clicking it, then right-clicking again to get in. To
move, use W to move forward while steering with your mouse. Move backward
with the S key. Be careful to avoid land and obstacles when you’re in your boat
or it might break. To get out (presuming it didn’t break when you arrived
ashore), Shift-click.

Minecarts
Minecarts, like boats, can be ridden, and you use the same mechanics for get-
ting in and out of the cart. Although you are restricted to traveling only where
rails have been laid, carts are much faster than walking, and they can be used
to transport mobs and items (Figure 4.31). To get moving in a cart, you need
to start your minecart on a slope or get a push, unless you use powered rails
and a button to launch you. Once in motion, you will slow down pretty quickly
unless you use a powered minecart or powered rails to propel you.

Figure 4.31  Minecart recipe: five iron ingots.

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 Once you make a minecart, you can combine it on a crafting bench with a fur-
nace, a chest, a hopper, TNT, a mob spawner, or a command block to create
specialized carts (Figure 4.32).

Figure 4.32  You can add items to a minecart.

You can make a powered minecart that carries a furnace filled with coal, and
this can be placed alongside other minecarts to make a train. Powered min-
ecarts can only push the other cars, not pull them, so you need to place it at
the back of the train, or place one at either end. To start your minecart, right-
click it with your fuel (coal or charcoal) while facing the direction you’d like it
to move.
Adding a chest to a minecart allows you to use it for storage or to transport
items. If you put a hopper on a minecart, it will collect items on or just above
the track. The amount of material that a chest or hopper is holding will change
how far the cart will go using powered tracks; a full cart will need more pow-
ered tracks to keep it running.
A TNT minecart will activate and explode just as TNT does. It will explode if
it drops more than three blocks at the end of a track, if it crosses an activa-
tor rail (there is a delay before it explodes), if it hits lava or water, or if it is
hit by something while it is moving. Be careful when you’re playing with TNT,
because the explosion will cause damage to you and the surrounding area.

Rails
Tracks, or rails, are easily crafted with iron and a stick (Figure 4.33). You can
also find them in abandoned mineshafts, where they are easy to collect with a
pick. Tracks are needed for minecarts, but basic unpowered tracks won’t help

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 the cart move unless you use a powered minecart or add powered rails along
the route.

Figure 4.33  Minecart tracks or rails recipe: six iron ingots

and a stick.

Powered rails (Figure 4.34) use redstone power to either propel trains (when
they are on) or to stop them (acting as brakes when they are off). They need to
be powered, usually with a lever or a redstone torch or block placed beside or
under the powered rails, although they can be powered by detector rails
as well.

Figure 4.34  Powered rails recipe: six gold ingots, a stick,

and redstone dust.

You can lay rails on your route in many ways, and there have been all sorts of
experiments to see how hills, weight of the cars, number of cars, and other fac-
tors affect the speed and length of time the minecart will travel before it loses
speed. A fairly agreed upon spacing is to have one powered rail for every 38
regular rails, although often people will place one after 25 or 30 rails. Feel free
to experiment and look online to see what others have done. The Minecraft wiki
is a great source for more information on rails, including activator rails, which

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 activate TNT, hoppers, and command block carts, and detector rails, which
provide power when weight crosses them.
You can use minecarts and tracks for transportation across distances, to trans-
port many items at once, and for fun. Making elaborate rollercoasters can be a
great challenge, and they are fun to ride.

Potions
Once you’ve been playing for a while and collected many items (and let’s face
it, Minecraft is a game for hoarders and collectors), you’ll be ready to start
looking at crafting potions.
Potions come in two forms: a drinkable version, and a splash potion that you
can throw at others. Some provide personal benefits, like being able to move
faster or become invisible, while others can be used defensively, such as a
splash potion that will weaken or slow your enemies.
There are several steps to brewing potions, but before you begin any of them,
you need to craft a brewing stand (Figure 4.35). A brewing stand is easy to
craft, but its recipe needs a blaze rod, which you can only get from hunting
a blaze in a Nether fortress—it might take you a while before you can get the
blaze rod to craft the brewing station. You can place the brewing station on
most block surfaces. Many players have brewing rooms where they gather all
the materials they need to brew potions, as well as a cauldron or an endless
water supply for filling bottles of water.

Figure 4.35  Brewing stand recipe: one blaze rod and three cobbleston.

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 Brewing potions requires several steps. We’re going to make a Potion of Invis-
ibility to illustrate the steps.
All potions except the Potion of Weakness start with an Awkward Potion for
the base. For this we need glass bottles of water and nether wart, a plant that
grows only on soul sand and is found in nether fortresses. You can craft the
bottles from glass blocks (Figure 4.36).

Figure 4.36  Glass bottle recipe: three glass blocks.

The brewing stand can brew three bottles of potion at a time, using a single
ingredient that is divided between the three bottles, so it makes sense to
always make three potions.
To make your Awkward Potion, fill your glass bottles with water by clicking
them into an endless water source or a cauldron. Click the brewing stand to
open it, and place your bottles of water in it. Add a piece of nether wart to the
space at the top, and wait for your potion to brew (Figure 4.37).

Figure 4.37  Adding nether wart to bottles of

water in a brewing stand to make an awkward potion.

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 Once you have your base potion, you will add the next potion ingredient to the
brewing stand. For some potions, this might be the final step, but in order to
make a Potion of Invisibility, we need to first make a Potion of Night Vision. To do
this, leave the bottles of Awkward Potion where they are and add a golden carrot
(made by surrounding a carrot with golden nuggets on the crafting bench).
When the brewing is complete, you’ll have a Potion of Night Vision that will last
for three minutes.
Since we’re making the Potion of Invisibility, we need to leave the bottles where
they are and add a third ingredient. We need a fermented spider eye, which we
craft by combining a brown mushroom, sugar, and a spider’s eye on a crafting
bench. Add the fermented spider’s eye to the brewing stand, and wait for it to
process. The wait times are short—you can have several stands brewing at once
and by the time you’re putting the ingredients in the last one, the first will be
ready for the next step.
Once the brewing is complete, you will have three bottles of potion of invisibil-
ity, but they will only last for three minutes. For the very low cost of a piece of
redstone dust, you can extend that to eight minutes. Leave the potions where
they are and add the redstone.
Once you have your potions, remove them from the stand. To drink them, hold
one in your inventory and right-click. If you want to turn these potions into
splash potions, leave them in the brewing stand and add one final ingredient:
gunpowder will turn any potion into a splash potion and can be added at
any step.
As you can see, brewing can be a complex and complicated process, both
in the ingredients needed and in the steps to take. Once you break the steps
down, however, and remember that some things are the same no matter what
potion you’re brewing, it becomes much easier.
There are more potions than we have room to list here, but you can find the
recipes for all of them online. Remember that almost all potions start with an
Awkward Potion base. Most can be extended from three to eight minutes with
redstone dust, or in some cases made more potent with glowstone dust, though
redstone dust will cancel the effects of glowstone dust and vice versa. To make
a splash potion, add gunpowder. The rest of the ingredients are unique to the
potion, but are easily found online. Have fun brewing!

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 Fireworks
You can make over 900 different varieties of fireworks. With all those options
and a bit of time and energy, you can put on an amazing fireworks show.
Because quite a few of the parts are hard to come by, it is good to experiment
with fireworks on a creative map, where you can use all the materials you want.
Fireworks are made from a firework rocket and a firework star. If you craft the
rocket without adding the star, it will shoot but there won’t be any explosives.
Firework stars are crafted to contain dye (16 colors to choose from) and special
effects items. You then craft your firework rocket, including the firework star
(or stars, you can add more than one to a single firework rocket) and one, two,
or three pieces of gunpowder, which will determine how high your firework will
shoot (Figure 4.38).

Figure 4.38  Lime green small firework star with a trail recipe:
lime green dye, gunpowder, and a diamond.

To make a firework star, you need one piece of gunpowder and up to 8 colors
of dye.
To design the shape of your firework, you can add one (and only one) of the
following: a fire charge to make a large ball, a gold nugget for a star shape, a
feather for a burst, or a creeper head for a creeper-head-shaped explosion. In
addition, if you add a diamond, your firework will leave a trail, and if you add
glowstone dust, it will sparkle.
Once you have made your firework star or stars, it is time to add them to your
rockets. To make your firework rocket, you will need a piece of paper, up to
three pieces of gunpowder (these determine height, remember), and one or
more firework stars (Figure 4.39).

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 Figure 4.39  Recipe to craft a firework rocket: 1 piece of
paper; 1, 2, or 3 pieces of gunpowder (to set the height); and up
to 7 fireworks stars.

Go Crafting
This should give you a good taste of some of the ways that you craft items in
Minecraft. There are many more, from foods to all sorts of blocks for building,
and from books you can write in, to furniture for your house. Experiment with
the various items, see what recipes you can discover, and devise new designs.
Most of all, be creative and have fun!

The Lay of the Land

Just like the real world, Minecraft has many types of land. The different areas
are called biomes, and each has unique features, such as certain plants, ores, or
landscapes. Minecraft biomes are mostly divided by climate (snowy, cold, lush,
dry, and so on), and each category has a variety of more specific biomes, for a
total of 61 different types.
When you start a new map, the biomes are randomly generated, though in such
a way that you won’t find a hot desert next to a snowy mountain. They aren’t
very large, so you can travel from one to the other pretty quickly (Figure 4.40).
When you’re looking for cocoa beans and jungle wood and are in the middle of
a desert, you are going to have to go exploring until you find a jungle biome.
With relatively small biomes, chances are it won’t take you very long.
Sometimes it is hard to tell which biome you are in. Press F3 to display a lot of
information, including your coordinates, the direction you are facing, and your
current biome.

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 Plains River Beach Forest Ocean Tiaga

Figure 4.40  Here we see how small biomes intersect.

We’ll look at the main features of each biome (Figures 4.41 and 4.42), but if
you’d like more information, see the biomes page on the Minecraft wiki.

Figure 4.41  Three neighboring biomes. From left to right: plains, taiga, extreme hills.

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 Figure 4.42  Three more biomes: roofed forest, swamp, extreme hills.

Plains and Sunflower Plains

Plains are grassy flatlands, with small hills, scattered flowers, and the occa-
sional tree. Many animals spawn on plains, including cows, sheep, and pigs.
You’ll also find horses and donkeys here. Sunflower plains are simply plains
that also contain sunflowers.
You can find villages here that contain NPC (non-playable characters) that you
can trade with.

Savannah
The savannah is rather like a dry, rain-free version of plains, although there is
also the very mountainous Savannah M biome. The same animals, including
horses and donkeys, spawn here, but the grass is more brown and dry. You can
also find acacia trees in these biomes.

Forest
Many types of forest biomes exist. Although they share similar traits, the most
obvious being that they are filled with trees, they have a lot of variety. In some,

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 like regular and birch forests, you will find slight hills, a lot of grass, and many
trees. Others are more hilly, have larger or taller trees, or in the case of roofed
forests with dark oak, are much darker and more difficult to navigate. Hostile
mobs can be common in forests, even during the day, because they may not be
exposed to the sunlight that will cause them to despawn.
Flower forests have a higher number of flowers, including some that can’t be
found elsewhere.

Swamp
Swamps are wetlands that are found along the shore. They are often made
of many small islands in shallow water and are a good place to collect sand,
clay, and reeds. Slime spawns here, and you’ll find witches’ huts as well, so be
careful!

Jungle
Jungle biomes are divided into two types: flat and more mountainous. Jungle
edges are considered to be their own biome as well, with fewer trees. All jungle
biomes feature thick forests with tall jungle wood trees (which produce cocoa
beans) and vines. You can find jungle temples here. Jungles are the only place
you’ll be able to find ocelots, which you can tame to become pet cats by using
fish.

Desert
Deserts are relatively large sand and sandstone biomes, filled with cactus, vil-
lages, and the occasional desert temple. You won’t find friendly mobs like cows
or pigs here, and most hostile mobs don’t last once the sun rises, because there
is no shade.

Mesa
Mesa and the Bryce mesa are less common biomes. They are hot and dry, made
of layers of clay, and have red sand instead of regular sand. You’ll find tall for-
mations and columns in the Bryce mesa (Figure 4.43).

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 Figure 4.43  Desert biome in the foreground with mesa behind.

Taiga
Much like a forest but filled with spruce trees, ponds, and rivers, taiga biomes
can be warm or frozen, and flat or mountainous. Common features are spruce
trees and ferns. These are the only biomes that contain wolves, which can be
tamed to become pet dogs.

Extreme Hills
Much like the name suggests, extreme hills biomes feature high and steep hills,
mountains, and cliffs. Extreme hills biomes have snow at high elevations and
are the only place to find emeralds.

Mushroom Island
Extremely rare, mushroom island biomes are covered in giant mushrooms.
You’ll find mycelium blocks in this biome. Mooshrooms (mushroom-covered
red cows) spawn here, but no other mobs spawn naturally.

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 Ice Plains and Ice Plains Spikes
Another uncommon biome is the ice plains—large plains covered with snow
and packed ice and little else. Ice Plains Spikes is a related biome that is very
similar and has spikes of packed ice rising from the ground (Figure 4.44)

Figure 4.44  Ice Plains Spikes biome.

Rivers, Hills, Plateaus, Beaches, and Oceans

Many biomes don’t have any distinctive features, but form a border between
other biomes; they are a variation of major biomes.
Beaches and stone beaches occur along oceans and deep oceans. River biomes
are simply rivers, often cutting between other biomes. Like swamps, they are a
good place to collect clay and sand.

Biome Variations
Many biomes have several similar variations. Some are in hill or plateau form,
which are exactly as they sound. You can find hilly savannah or mesa plateau,
for instance.

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 One other variation in biomes is the climate—many biomes occur in warm,
snowy, or icy versions. For example, you’ll find regular plains and snow plains.
Combining all these variations along with the biomes results in 61 different
biomes.

Nether
The Nether is more than simply another biome—it’s more of a world-sized
dimension. You can access it only through a Nether portal. The Nether has its
own map and is completely underground, with no sky, no night and day, and
no weather. Water evaporates here, but there are many seas formed of lava
(Figure 4.45).

Figure 4.45  The lava-full Nether.

Many blocks and mobs are unique to the Nether. The blocks include netherrack,
quartz, glowstone, and soul sand. Mobs that are unique to the Nether include
magma cubes, ghasts, blazes, wither skeletons, and zombie pigmen. Nether
fortresses, which are large dungeons, are located here.
To access the Nether, you will need to build a Nether portal by making a frame
out of obsidian (though the corners can be any material). Your frame needs to
be at least four blocks wide and five blocks high, but it can be as large as 23

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 blocks on each side. To activate the portal, light the inside of the frame with
lava, flint and steel, or by using a fire charge. The center will fill with swirling
purple light. Step into the opening and you’ll be transported to the Nether
(Figure 4.46).

Figure 4.46  A nether portal.

Nether portals, also known as gates, can be complicated, as moving one block
in the Nether is the same as moving eight blocks in the Overworld. This means
that portals can sometimes overlap—while you take one portal to get to the
Nether, you may end up somewhere different on the trip home, but it also
means that you can make and use Nether portals to help you travel great dis-
tances in less time.

Sky/End
The Sky, or End, is a dark, bare dimension that you can access only through an
end portal, which occurs only in a rare, difficult-to-find stronghold. The End is
the only place to find and fight the Ender Dragon, the main (and pretty much
only) boss fight in Minecraft. You’ll also find End stone here, as well as many,
many endermen (Figure 4.47).

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 Figure 4.47  The End, complete with Ender Dragon.

World-Generated Structures
Landscapes on Minecraft maps are formed with world-generated structures,
from lakes and ravines to villages and dungeons (Figure 4.48). These struc-
tures shape and add detail to the world.
Many don’t require any discussion, but it is interesting to think that even
something as simple as trees, glowstone, a spring of water, a lava pool, or the
ores you mine are programmed to generate at certain locations and with spe-
cific frequency. Ravines and caverns are great for caving, a mining technique
that takes advantage of the open walls that expose ores. Features such as ice
spikes, mossy stone boulders, and giant mushrooms offer a decorative touch.
Other world-generated structures, however, are much larger and add to the
gameplay. Villages, fortresses, and abandoned mineshafts fall into this cat-
egory and deserve a closer look.

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 Figure 4.48  World-generated structures, clockwise from upper left: abandoned mineshaft in a
ravine, blaze spawner in a Nether fortress, jungle temple, End portal in a stronghold, village and desert
temple, ocean monument.

Villages
Villages are collections of houses and gardens populated by villagers. They
occur in plains, savannah, and desert biomes. They can make a great home
base or provide materials in the form of food from the gardens, treasure from a
chest (usually found in the blacksmith’s house), and items in the houses them-
selves, such as bookshelves and furnaces. Villagers are non-player characters
(NPCs) that will trade with players, using emeralds and other items for currency.

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 Dungeons
Encased in mossy cobblestone, dungeons often occur in abandoned mine-
shafts and are scattered underground across the map. They contain a monster
spawner (skeleton, zombie, or spider) and chests with treasure. You can stop
the monsters from spawning by placing a torch on the spawner (or, if you’re as
paranoid as me, many torches).

Desert and Jungle Temples

Temples in deserts and jungles offer treasures—and traps. Desert temples have
a hidden pit in the middle, filled with chests… and also with a pressure plate
that will set off TNT if touched. Jungle temples have a puzzle of levers as well as
a tripwire passageway to navigate.
Temples are worth exploring—not only do they provide a fun challenge, but
they are among the few places you can find treasures that can’t be crafted,
such as iron, gold, and diamond horse armor.

Ocean Monument
One of the newest additions to Minecraft is the ocean monument. While it’s not
a source of treasure chests, you can find special new blocks like prismarine and
sea lanterns in these deep ocean structures, as well as new mobs like guardians
and elder guardians.

Abandoned Mineshafts
Deep underground you’ll occasionally discover abandoned mineshafts, usually
cutting through ravines and caverns. These multi-story maze-like constructions
are made from wood, with rail tracks running through them. Here, you’ll find
chests and minecart chests with treasures, and also venomous, deadly cave
spider spawners.
Abandoned mineshafts are great for gathering wood, fence posts, treasure,
ore from the walls, and rails, but they are also easy to get lost in and can be
deadly. It is important to mark your path or use a map marker, and to explore
them only when you are well prepared.

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 Strongholds
Strongholds are special fortresses that hold the End portal. No more than three
spawn on a world, and they are underground and hard to find. You can craft
an Eye of Ender from ender pearls and use it to locate strongholds by throw-
ing it and following its path. Strongholds are much more designed than other
structures, with prison cells, storage rooms, libraries, scattered chests of trea-
sure, and of course the End portal.

Nether Fortresses
Deep in the Nether are fortresses made of netherbrick. You can find chests with
semi-rare treasure tucked throughout the fortress. Only in Nether fortresses
will you find blaze spawners and the nether wart plants. Nether fortresses are
populated by wither skeletons and zombie pigmen.

Critters and Creatures

One of the most important parts of Minecraft is the mobs. From taking down
exploding creepers to riding horses across the plains, mobs are a huge part of
the game.

Types of Mobs
Mob is short for ”mobile entity,” meaning creatures that can move around the
game. Each mob in Minecraft has specific characteristics. Some spawn in spe-
cific biomes or areas, or only at night or in a dark place, for instance.
Friendly mobs like cows, sheep, and horses are sometimes called critters. We
use them for our farms and even keep some as pets. Other mobs, like endermen
and creepers, we call monsters or hostile mobs. A few mobs are considered
neutral. They won’t hurt you unless you attack them, or even hit them acci-
dentally. Then they become hostile mobs and will attack. Wolves are a great
example of a mob that can go from neutral to friendly (if you tame them) or to
hostile (if you hit them).

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 Villagers spawn only in villages, and you can trade items or emeralds with
them for other items. They are susceptible to zombies, and they can become
hostile zombie villagers when attacked.

Mob Spawning
Spawning is the word used to describe what happens when mobs pop into exis-
tence in the game. Friendly mobs can spawn at any time of day or night, but
most hostile mobs spawn only at night or in places with low light. Some mobs
have special spawning rules; when you kill a zombie, more will spawn immedi-
ately in the area, for example.
Light an area to stop mobs from spawning. Torches or lamps prevent the mon-
sters from showing up. When daylight comes, most hostile mobs will catch fire
and burn up, though they are still hostile and will attack even while they’re on
fire. Spiders stick around even during the day, but they attack only at night or
in the dark.
Not only do mobs spawn randomly, but there are mob spawners in the game,
often in dungeons and abandoned mineshafts; they cause a specific type of
mob to spawn. These can be deactivated by placing torches on or beside the
spawner, or they can be broken. Spawners can be used to make grinders, a
place where mob spawns are controlled so that players can kill many in a safe
manner in order to get experience points in a relatively short time (known as
grinding).

Mob Drops
When mobs are killed, they leave behind items: meat, leather, or wool in the
case of friendly mobs, and spider webs, rotten flesh, or weapons in the case
of hostile monsters. These are known as mob drops, and each mob has specific
drops. Many drop two or three different items, though not at the same time.
All mobs can be killed, but some are harder to kill than others. Use a sword or a
bow and arrow for hunting or self-defense. Iron and diamond make the stron-
gest swords, and enchanted weapons are even more effective, such as using
a sword with a Looting enchantment, which will cause the mob to drop more

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 items. When killed, mobs also leave behind green orbs, which are experience
points that you can collect and are needed for enchantments.

Taming Mobs
Friendly mobs are very helpful in the game. Raising them in farms means you
can have an easy supply of chicken, beef, pork, or wool. Most mobs are pas-
sive—you can lead them with food or on a lead and you can breed them, but
that is the extent of interactions with them.
When you feed fish to ocelots or bones to wolves, you can tame them, turning
them into pet cats and dogs. Sometimes this takes patience and a few tries, but
once tamed the animals will follow you.
Horses can also be trained and ridden. You tame a horse by riding it. It might
kick you off a few times, but keep trying—eventually it will show hearts and
will be tamed. Unlike cats and dogs, horses aren’t connected to one player
after being tamed—others can ride them too.
Most of the friendly mobs can be bred to make babies by feeding two of them
a certain item, such as wheat or carrots. The two animals will touch each other,
and when they part there will be a baby between them; the player gets experi-
ence points. This is a good way to raise animals to farm.

Friendly Mobs
You will find friendly mobs in various biomes—most farm animals are found in
plains, forests, taiga, and mountainous areas. If you want to put them in a pen
or barn to farm them, they can be led with a lead or will follow food.
Cows
Drops: Leather; raw beef; milk (when touched with an empty
bucket; doesn’t kill the cow)
Breeding: Wheat
Cows spawn in plains and other grassy areas. They are very versatile and great
to have in a farm. You can cook the beef they drop (or eat it raw, but you won’t
get as many hunger bars filled), and you can use the leather for making armor,
books, and item frames.

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 Mooshrooms
Drops: Leather; raw beef; milk (when touched with an empty
bucket; doesn’t kill the mooshroom); mushroom stew (when
tapped with a wooden bowl; doesn’t harm the creature); mush-
rooms when sheared, although this turns them into a cow
Breeding: Wheat
Mooshrooms are hard to find, spawning only on the rare Mooshroom Island
biome. They are even more versatile than cows, as they also provide stew.
Sheep
Drops: Wool, 1 block when killed, 1–3 when sheared, which grows
back; mutton (version 1.8 and higher)
Breeding: Wheat
Sheep are useful as a source of wool and, as of version 1.8, as a source of food
in the form of raw mutton. They are found in grassy areas such as plains and
forests.
If you shear a sheep, it will drop up to three blocks of wool, which will grow
back when they eat grass. They spawn in white, brown, black, gray, light gray,
and occasionally pink, but they can be dyed any of the 16 colors by click-
ing them with a dye (the dye is then used up). See the section “Dye” for more
information.
Pigs
Drops: Raw pork
Breed: Carrots
Pigs, found in grassy areas, are a source of pork but otherwise
aren’t very useful. They can be ridden by placing a saddle on them and then
guiding them with a carrot on a stick, which you make by adding a carrot to a
fishing rod on a crafting bench.
Pigs can be hit by lightning, turning them into zombie pigmen, although this
is a rare occurrence.

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 Chickens
Drops: Eggs; raw chicken and feathers when killed
Breeding: Seeds. You can also hatch chicks by throwing eggs,
although it can take many eggs to hatch a single chick.
Chickens are versatile farm animals. They lay eggs and drop raw chicken and
feathers when they are killed, and you can use their eggs to make cakes and
pies and their feathers to craft arrows and quill pens.
Rabbits
Drops: Hide; meat; rabbit’s foot (rare)
Breeding: Carrots; golden carrots; dandelions
New as of version 1.8, rabbits come in six colors. They appear in
almost all the biomes, and are, for the most part, a passive mob. A rabbit’s foot
can be used in potions.
Every so often, the very rare Killer Bunny will spawn. It is not shy like its breth-
ren, and will attack players and cause a fair amount of damage. It will also
attack wolves and pet dogs, so be careful!
Horses, Donkeys, and Mules
Drops: Leather, though horses are not typically bred for drops
Breeding: Golden carrots; golden apples (craft by surrounding a
carrot or apple with gold nuggets in a crafting bench). You can
breed two horses, two donkeys, or a horse and a donkey, which will produce a
mule (mules cannot be bred).
Horses, donkeys, and mules spawn on the plains. Horses appear in many colors
and patterns, which are combined to a total of 35 different versions. They each
have specific characteristics in terms of jumping height and speed. They can be
ridden, but only if you have a saddle, which cannot be crafted. You must find
a saddle in dungeons and temple chests or by trading with villagers. You can
also find iron, gold, and diamond horse armor; diamond horse armor cannot
be crafted—you must find it.
You can ride donkeys and mules, and they will also carry a chest, something a
horse cannot do. If you use a lead, you can ride a horse and pull a donkey car-
rying a chest behind you.

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 To tame a horse, you need to ride it (right-click to mount; Shift-click to dis-
mount). This can take a few tries because you will likely be thrown and will
need to remount. When you see floating hearts around the horse and it has
calmed, it is tamed. Now you can ride and breed your horse.
Horses can eat many foods, including sugar, apples, carrots, bread, wheat,
and hay. Unlike other mobs, they have inventory slots for their armor and sad-
dle, and their own health meter.
Squid
Drops: Ink sacs
Breeding: Cannot be bred
Squid spawn in bodies of water. They provide ink sacs, which are
used as a dye source and for writing books, making them valuable. They have
no other purpose.
Ocelots/cats
Drops: None
Breeding: Raw fish
Ocelots are shy wild cats that spawn only in jungles. They don’t
like people, so it can take a bit of time and patience and a large supply of raw
fish to tame them. Once tamed they turn into tabby, Siamese, or black and
white tuxedo cats, which will follow you and teleport to be with you.
You can make your tamed cats stay safe by right-clicking them, which will seat
them until you release them; this will keep from walking into fire, lava, or cac-
tus and dying. On the other hand, since creepers avoid cats, it’s not a bad idea
to have some around when you’re working at night or in dark spaces.
Cats are mischievous and like to sit on your furniture and sometimes run
through your crops (kittens especially will do this). This can be frustrating if
they’re on your chests, preventing you from opening them, but you can lure
them away with fish.

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 Bats
Drops: None
Breeding: Cannot be bred
Bats spawn in caves, and while they are cute, they have nothing to
offer. They don’t drop anything, but they won’t attack either.
Villagers
Drops: None
Breeding: Villagers breed on their own, as long as they have enough
buildings with doors
NPC villagers (sometimes called testificates) appear in villages. You
can trade with them for goods. Villagers wear clothes that identify their job,
such as priest, farmer, and librarian. Each villager starts out with one item they
will trade, and when you make a trade, a new item is added to the options.
Some trades may not seem fair, but you won’t be able to open other trade
options without making the exchange.
Villagers are favorite targets of zombies, and can become zombie villagers if
they are attacked. They hide in their houses at night, and need doors so that
they can seek safety and protect themselves.

Neutral Mobs
There are a few mobs that are friendly until they’ve been attacked, but which
then turn fiercely hostile. Use care around these neutral mobs.
Wolves/dogs
Drops: None
Breeding: Meat (puppies from tamed dogs will be born tame)
Wolves spawn primarily in the taiga (snowy forest) and occasionally in forests,
usually in packs. They attack sheep and rabbits, but will remain neutral unless
they are hit, in which case they become hostile mobs and will fiercely attack,
eyes glowing red.

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 You can tame a wolf, creating a dog, by feeding it bones until its hearts appear
and a collar appears around its neck (collars are red, but can be dyed by right-
clicking with dye in your hand).
Dogs are similar to cats, in that they will follow you unless you make them sit
by right-clicking them. They will protect you from monsters, and are handy to
travel with, though they do get too close to lava and fire sometimes. Still, they
make good companions, at home and while adventuring.
Endermen
Drops: Ender pearls
Endermen are mobs that come from the End, but they can also spawn
in the Overworld. They are not hostile unless you look them directly in
the face, at which point they will attack. They teleport away from you
and then back, making fighting a challenge. They are powerful and
fierce and can teleport behind you when attacking, so be careful.
Unlike most hostile mobs, endermen aren’t harmed by sunlight, but water (like
rain) damages them. You can wear a pumpkin on your head and be safe to
look at them, but your vision will be restricted if you do.
Ender pearls, dropped by endermen, are needed to craft Eyes of Ender to com-
plete the End portal (you can also use an Eye of Ender to find the stronghold
by throwing it in the air and following it). Otherwise, they can be used for
swift transport, as you’ll be teleported to the spot the ender pearl lands when
thrown.
Although endermen are peaceful (unless you look at them), they can be frus-
trating because they like to pick up and move blocks, even ones that are part
of your build.
Zombie pigmen
Drops: Rotten flesh, golden ingots, golden bars, and golden
swords
Zombie pigmen spawn in the Nether, though they can cross
through nether portals, and they are created when lightning
strikes a pig, though this is rare.

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 Zombie pigmen are peaceful unless they are hit, but even one accidental bump
will set them to attack—and they will call in their friends. They are ferocious
fighters and will continue to fight you even if you die and respawn. They are
happy to arm themselves in your gear as well, adding insult to injury. There
are also baby zombie pigmen, which are faster and fiercer than their grown-up
counterparts.

Hostile Mobs
Hostile mobs, or monsters, are the ones that you need to watch for (unless you
play with your game set to peaceful, when they are harmless). Hostile mobs
spawn only at night or in low light, and most catch fire when the sun comes up.
Their drops can be useful—skeleton bones can be turned into bonemeal, used
to help plants grow, and zombies and skeletons both drop armor and weapons.
Zombies, baby zombies, and zombie villagers
Drops: Raw flesh, and occasionally carrots, potatoes, iron bars, a
piece of armor, shovels, or swords
Zombies spawn at night or in dark places. During the day, they
will catch fire if they are in the sun, but they might be lurking in
shady areas, such as under trees. If they attack you while on fire,
you’ll end up burning too, so be careful.
They are generally slow-moving (except for their babies) and are fairly easy to
defeat if you are prepared. But if you don’t have a good weapon or armor, they
can still kill you. And even if you manage to kill one, it will summon other zom-
bies to spawn in the area.
Zombies often wear armor, sometimes armor with minor enchantments, and
some may carry a shovel or sword, making them a little harder to fight. On the
bright side, they may also drop some of their weapons or gear when they die.
Baby zombies are a smaller, scarier version. They can fit into one-block open-
ings, are super speedy, and can appear in daylight.
Zombie villagers are villagers that a zombie has attacked, so they still look like
villagers—green, zombified ones. They can be turned back into villagers once
you are able to make potions, but it is quite a process.

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 Skeletons
Drops: Bones, arrows, a bow, and armor
Skeletons in many ways are very similar to zombies; they spawn
in the dark and burn in daylight, and are often wearing armor.
Unlike zombies, they are able to attack from a distance with a bow
and arrow, and they can shoot fast, knocking you back. For this
reason, it is helpful to use a bow yourself.
Spiders, cave spiders, and spider jockeys
Drops: String and spider eyes
Spiders come in several varieties. The most common are large.
Very occasionally they are ridden by skeleton jockeys, making
them more dangerous at a distance. Spiders are faster than other
mobs and can climb and jump, and they can fit through open-
ings one block high and two blocks wide.
Cave spiders are even smaller and fit through small spaces. Even worse, they’re
venomous and their bite will make you sick (drinking milk from a pail will help
heal you). They’re found only in dungeons and abandoned mineshafts, where
they come from spawners (surrounded by cobwebs), but they are vicious foes
(a bucket of lava is a good weapon for destroying their nest and spawner).
Creepers
Drops: Gunpowder; if killed by a skeleton, a music disc
Creepers, the hissing, walking bushes that explode, have become
one of the symbols of the game, as well as a source of frustration
to anyone who has ever built on a survival map. Creepers attack
by moving in close, hissing, and then exploding, destroying many
blocks in the area when they do.
It is especially frustrating to have part of your house, your redstone wiring, or
some other important work destroyed, so it is important to keep the area well
lit. A few cats can help keep them away. It is possible, if you’re alert, to catch
them before they explode and at the very least lead them away, if not slay
them outright.

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 Slimes
Drops: Slime balls
Bouncing green blocks that come in a variety of sizes, slimes
spawn in swamps at night and sometimes in deep caves. They
aren’t hard to fight, because they move slowly, but once you hit
one it will divide into two slimes, and those two will each divide, and so on
until you find yourself surrounded by small slimes, which can’t hurt you and
are easy enough to defeat.
Each small slime drops a slime ball. Slime balls are needed to craft sticky pis-
tons, leads, and fire charges.
Silverfish
Drops: None
Silverfish are small critters that hide in strongholds and the
Extreme Hills biome. They are in blocks that look just like regular
blocks—until you break them and silverfish appear. If you attack
a silverfish, it will call others. They can start to do some damage as their num-
bers increase, to both you and the area. They will break blocks too (potentially
releasing even more silverfish). They can’t climb, so standing on a block and
pouring lava is a quick way to deal with them.
Endermites
Drops: None
A newly introduced mob with the 1.8 update, endermites occasion-
ally spawn instead of an enderman or when you throw an ender
pearl. They are small purple bugs that emit particles, attack, and do more
damage than silverfish, but they are easily defeated.
Witches
Drops: Bottles, glowstone dust, redstone, gunpowder, spider eyes,
sugar, and sticks (except for sticks, all are potion ingredients)
Witches look like villagers garbed in witch gear. They can spawn
anywhere at night and don’t burn in the sun. They are quiet, can
sneak up on you, and attack by throwing potions from a distance.
They are also able to use potions to help themselves; if they are on fire or in

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 lava they will drink a fire resist potion, for instance, and they are quick to heal
themselves. Your best bet is to get some distance and use a bow and arrow, or
just stay clear.
Guardian
Drops: Fish, prismarine crystal, prismarine shard
Guardians are a new mob, introduced with the 1.8 update. The
first hostile ocean mob in the game, they are swift and fierce
hunters usually found in and around ocean monuments. They can attack with
spikes that they can extend and pull in (though the damage is minimal), but
they also use a far more powerful beam of light to attack from a distance. They
need to “charge” this beam before they can fire and will take a short period of
time to recover before they can shoot again. They are formidable foes.
Guardians don’t die when they are on land, but they will flop around and head
for the closest body of water. If they are in shallow water, you can use a fishing
rod to pull them to land and attack them there, which is far easier than fighting
them in water.

Nether Mobs
Some mobs spawn only in the Nether. These mobs drop items that you can’t
get in the Overworld, such as wither skulls (needed to summon a wither) and
blaze rods (used as fuel and needed in some recipes).
Wither skeletons
Drops: Bones, coal, stone swords, and wither skulls
Wither skeletons are found in nether fortresses and are more
challenging to fight than their Overworld cousins, as they can
cause the wither effect, which weakens you considerably for
10 seconds after being hit.
Every so often, a wither skeleton will drop its skull, which you will need in order
to call the wither (see the “Bosses” section).
Wither skeletons often spawn near blaze spawners, leaving you open to a dou-
ble attack. If you have a bow, you can fight from a distance, possibly from the
shelter of the fortress, but you may knock them into the lava below the fortress,

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 which means you won’t be able to collect drops. They are best not faced up
close unless you have good gear.
Blaze
Drops: Blaze rods (an alternative fuel for furnaces and an ingredi-
ent in potions)
Blaze are spinning, flying mobs that hover near their spawner in
nether fortresses. They are creatures made of and armed with fire,
and can be a challenge because they shoot fire at you from a distance. They
are vulnerable to water, which can’t be used in the Nether—unless you bring
it in snowball form. Snowballs make a good distance weapon, though you’re
best off ensuring you also have fire resist enchants on your armor, or a heat-
protecting potion on hand.
Ghasts
Drops: Ghast tears and gunpowder
A large, floating, tentacled mob that will shoot fireballs at you.
Because they float out of sword range, a bow is your best weapon,
though you can lure them to the ground to attack with a sword too. Just be
careful on the uneven, lava-covered terrain to not fall to your death or trip into
a pool of lava while dodging fireballs! Ghast tears are a rare potion ingredient,
making fighting ghasts worthwhile.
Magma cubes
Drops: Magma cream
Magma cubes are very similar to slimes from the Overworld. They
stretch like springs when they bounce and drop magma cream,
needed for heat-resist potions. They will divide into smaller cubes as
they are attacked, and the smallest have the possibility of dropping
magma cream.

Player-Created Mobs
There are a couple of mobs that you can create as well; they can be used for
defense and company.

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 Snow golems
Drops: Snowballs
Snow golems look like pumpkin-headed snowmen, and they leave
a trail of snow when they move. They are easily crafted by stack-
ing two blocks of snow and then putting a pumpkin on top (not
on a crafting bench; you need to build the snowman). While they
will throw snowballs at hostile mobs, this won’t do much to slow them down;
they’re more useful for harvesting snow and snowballs or to create a snowy
landscape.
Iron golems
Drops: Iron ingots and roses
Also craftable, iron golems are far more powerful than snow
golems. While they occasionally spawn around NPC villages, you
can also make them. Iron golems are not made on a crafting
bench but rather built with four blocks of iron (two stacked and
one on each side of the upper block, like a “T”) and a pumpkin head.
Iron golems protect villagers before players, and won’t leave the area if there
are villagers to defend. They have a fierce attack, swinging their long arms and
flinging enemies away. If you damage a villager, even if you created the golem,
it will turn on you as well. Iron golems will sometimes offer a rose to a villager.

Bosses
Three larger, more powerful mobs, known as bosses, exist: Elder Guardians are
considered mini-bosses, harder to fight than regular mobs; Withers can be
summoned after collecting three wither skeleton heads and are a tougher foe
than Elder Guardians; and the final, ultimate boss is the Ender Dragon, which
spawns in the End.
Elder Guardian
Drops: Fish, prismarine crystal, prismarine shard, wet sponge
New to the game and considered a mini-boss, Elder Guard-
ians are a larger, more dangerous version of guardians and are
found inside ocean monuments.

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 They give a mining fatigue effect to all players within 50 blocks, which will slow
you down considerably if you are trying to mine for treasure within the ocean
monument. Like guardians, they use a beam to attack, as well as having spikes,
but they are far more powerful and will even attack players in boats. They are
incredibly hard to fight, and you will need your best gear, as well as water
potions or enchants on your armor. Again, as with guardians, it is possible to
draw them to dry land with a fishing rod, where you can attack more easily,
but they will immediately try to get back into the water.
Withers
Drops: Nether star
A Wither is a strong boss that must be summoned using a soul
sand cross and three wither skeleton skulls. You need to place
the sand and skulls in a specific pattern and order (the last block placed must
be a skull) for a Wither to appear.
A three-headed flying creature, the Wither shoots exploding skulls from all
three of its heads. It also blasts the wither effect, which weakens all players hit
by it. Some of the skulls will also damage nearby blocks (reducing places you
might find to hide), and if a player is directly hit by a skull, the Wither will
regain some health points.
Fighting a Wither is a big challenge, one best done with several players if you
are on a multiplayer server. If you’re on your own, try to summon it in a con-
tained space with places to hide, have plenty of good gear and health potions,
and take your time.
The Wither drops a Nether star, which is needed to light a beacon, a special
beam of light that extends to the sky and provides a special effect (such as
haste, which makes you mine faster) to all the players in an area.
Ender dragon
Drops: Dragon egg
The Ender Dragon is the ultimate boss in Minecraft. Only
found in the End, which is also populated by endermen,
the Ender Dragon is a huge monster that flies in to attack
players and can do damage with its head, wings, and body.

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 The Ender Dragon has a health bar so that you can track the damage you do.
You’ll also note that it regains health from the crystals on obsidian towers scat-
tered about the End. It’s a good plan to destroy the crystals so that the dragon
can’t heal as you’re fighting it. The dragon can also explode blocks as it passes,
so be careful of falling debris when you fight. You can use a bow and arrow
or wait for it to swoop low (this is more risky). Its head is the most vulnerable
place for players to strike.
When you defeat the Ender Dragon, you will get a dragon egg and lots of expe-
rience points, and the game credits will roll. This is, of course, not the end of
the game, as there is no end point in Minecraft, so you’ll be able to return to
your world and continue your adventures wealthier and with more experience.

Unlimited Possibilities
This has just been the barest peek at some of what Minecraft has to offer. Hope-
fully you have a good taste of some of the possibilities that await you. What
we can’t discuss here is what you yourself bring to the game—creativity, fresh
ideas, innovative designs, and ground-breaking strategies. Whether you play
on your own or with others, whether you like to explore and discover or would
rather look things up and learn from others, the game you play will be unique
to you, something of your own creation.
Minecraft is the perfect opportunity to take risks, experiment, try new things,
and see what you can do. You can share your creations and work with others,
or keep it just for yourself. The opportunities are unlimited—have fun
exploring them!

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 Index
A benches bosses
crafting, 62–63 Elder Guardians, 115–116
abandoned mineshafts, 101
using, 146 Ender Dragons, 116–117
accounts
biomes Withers, 116
Minecraft, 36
beaches, 96 bows and arrows, using, 79
Mojang, 36
deserts, 94 box of holdings, making, 27
achievements
examples, 93 branch mining
accessing, 29–30
explained, 91 adding onto, 184
getting hints from, 30
extreme hills, 95 beginning, 184
action methods
forests, 93–94 drop chute, 182
chopping, 13
hills, 96 getting to bottom, 182–183
digging, 13
ice plains, 96 starting levels, 183
hitting, 13
identifying, 91 water flow, 182
sprinting, 13
intersecting, 92 brewing potions, 87–89
using something, 13
jungles, 94 brick blocks, crafting, 68
Adventure maps, 48
mesas, 94–95 brown dye, 71
Allow Cheats, 12
mushroom islands, 95 buckets, using, 76
AND gate, 217–218
neighboring, 92 building versus carving, 124–125
animals, as sources of meat, 25. See
Nether, 97–98 buttons, using with redstone,
mobs
oceans, 96 204–205
anvils, using, 82–83
plains, 93
API (application programming
plateaus, 96 C
interface), 242 cactus farm, automating, 174–176
random generation, 91
appliances Cape Cod style houses, 128
rivers, 96
dispensers, 148 caps, explained, 242
savannah, 93
refrigerator, 148 carpet, using on floors, 144
Sky/End, 98
stoves, 150 carrots, growing, 163
sunflower plains, 93
armor carving vs. building, 124–125
swamps, 94
boots, 79 cats
taigas, 95
chest plates, 79 breeding, 107
variations, 96–97
helmets, 79 characteristics, 107
Biomes O’Plenty mod, 58
leggings, 79 drops, 107
black dye, 71
AshleyMareeGaming mods, 58 keeping safe, 107
blaze
automated farms. See also farming cave spiders
described, 114
cactus, 174–176 described, 111
drops, 114
dispensers, 167 drops, 111
block materials, 61
hoppers, 168–170 finding, 111
blocks
pumpkins and melons, 234–236 caves
dimensions, 127
repeaters, 167–168 digging, 20–21
dirt, 65–67
Awkward Potion, making, 88 exploring, 178
explained, 242
axe. See pickaxe tool chairs, constructing, 146
gravel, 65–67
B harvesting, 4 chandeliers
ice, 69 explained, 136
baby zombies
light levels, 122 fence posts, 137–138
described, 110
Nether blocks, 70 glass panes, 137–138
drops, 110
obsidian, 69 glowstone blocks, 138
banners, creating patterns on, 73–74
prismarine, 70 lava, 139
bats
sand, 65–67 chest-plate armor, 79
breeding, 108
stone, 65–67 chests
spawning, 108
wood, 64–65 including in shelters, 125
BattleTowers mod, playing, 56–57
wool, 69 making, 27
beaches, 96
blue dye, 71 opening, 125
beacons, light level of, 134
boats, traveling by, 83–84 placing, 159–160
beds
Bonus Chest, 13 using in automated farms, 169
constructing, 145
books, enchanting, 80 using labels with, 161
including in shelters, 125
boots for armor, 79 chickens
making, 27–28
breeding, 106

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 drops, 106 digging drops, 109
versatility, 106 action, 13 harming, 109
chopping action, 13 advice about, 179 endermites, described, 112
chunks, explained, 242 caves, 20–21 End/the End, explained, 242
circuits and currents. See redstone dirt entrances. See house entrances
currents and circuits collecting, 65–67 EULA (end-user licensing agree-
circular shapes, creating, 186 versus grass blocks, 65 ment), 41
clay versus mycelium, 65 experience points
dyeing, 72–73 versus podzol, 65 collecting, 82
finding, 67–68 dispensers explained, 242
recipe, 72 using, 148 identifying, 14
clocks, materials in, 202 using in automated farms, 167 extreme hills, 95
coal, finding, 24 using with redstone, 211
cobblestone dogs, breeding, 108–109 F
finding and crafted, 66 donkeys Faithful 32x32 resource pack, 45, 47
replacing with stone bricks, breeding, 106–107 farming. See also automated farms
192–193 drops, 106–107 automated, 167–170
using for pathways, 189 riding, 106 cactus for green dye, 174–176
comparators, using with redstone, 209 spawning, 106 plants for food, 162–170
compasses, materials in, 202–203 doors. See also redstone doors trees, 170–173
cows building, 26 farms, starting, 25
breeding, 104 buttons and levers, 140–141 fire
drops, 104 iron, 140 light level of, 134
spawning, 104 pressure plates, 140–141 as light source, 132–133
crafting redstone torches, 140–141 producing, 123
benches, 62–63 rigging, 140 fireworks, making, 90–91
explained, 62 wooden, 140 fireworks launcher
crafting area, identifying, 17 drilling, 179–182 button, 240–241
crafting benches, using, 63 drop chute making, 239–244
crafting grid bottom of, 183 repeating, 240
displaying, 63 building for branch mining, 182 fishing rods, using, 77–78
distributing items along, 63 droppers, using with redstone, flint, using, 77
using, 63 210–211 flooring
crafting recipes. See also recipes dungeons, 101 adding detail, 144
for pickaxes, 19 dyed wool, 73 block types, 143
table, 19–20 dyeing carpet, 144
Creative mode, 11 clay, 72–73 stone bricks, 144
creatures. See mobs glass, 72–73 wood planks, 143–144
creepers leather armor, 73 flower pots, crafting, 154–155
described, 111 wool, 72–73 folders
drops, 111 dyes resourcepacks, 48
finding, 28 colors, 71–72 saves, 48
lurking at night, 23 crafting, 70–72 food, finding, 25–26. See also plants
critters. See mobs for food
crops, growing, 165 E food status, checking, 13–14
currents and circuits. See redstone E-land map, 49 forests, 93–94
currents and circuits Elder Guardians, 115–116 Forge Mod Loader
cyan dye, 72 electricity, redstone ore as, 200 BattleTowers, 56–57
cylinders, creating, 186–187 enchanting downloads, 54
applying to items, 81 installer, 55
D books, 80–81 mod versions, 56
daylight sensor, using with redstone, experience points, 82 mods, 52–58
207–208 explained, 80 Play option, 55
death, ways of, 14 performing, 80–81 profiles, 52–54
debug screen, bringing up, 177 enchanting system, cost of, 81 verifying number of mods, 56
depth, adding to structures, 190–193 enchanting table, using, 80–81 forums, explained, 242
desert temples, 101 enchanting tools, 75 friendly mobs. See also mobs
deserts, 94 enchantments, explained, 242 bats, 108
despawn, explained, 242 Ender Dragons, 116–117 cats, 107
detector rail, using with redstone, 208 ender pearls, 109 chickens, 106
Diamond Minecart mods, 58 endermen cows, 104
diamond tools, 75 characteristics, 109 donkeys, 106

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 horses, 106 grass stalks, getting seeds from, creating realms, 38
mooshrooms, 105 25–26 home-server setup, 40–41
mules, 106–107 gravel LAN (local area network) setup,
ocelots, 107 collecting, 65–67 33–35
pigs, 105 properties, 66 purchasing Realms subscriptions,
rabbits, 106 gray dye, 71–72 36–38
sheep, 105 green dye, 71–72 hotbar, explained, 242
squid, 107 griefing, explained, 242 house entrances
villagers, 108 grinder/mob grinder, explained, 242 doors, 140–141
furniture grinders, making from spawners, 103 impact, 139
beds, 145 grinding, explained, 242 pistons, 142
benches, 146 guardians house styles
chairs, 146 described, 113 Cape Cod, 128
sofas, 146 drops, 113 modern, 129
tables, 146–147 houses. See also homes
H building, 20–22
G Hardcore mode, 11 dimensions of floorspaces, 22
game modes harvesting blocks, 4 foundation, 188–189
Creative, 11 health status, checking, 13–14 lighting, 122–123
cycling through, 11 helmet armor, 79 time required for building, 22
Hardcore, 11 hills, 96 trapdoors as shutters, 190
Spectator, 11 hitting action, 13
Survival, 11 home server, accessing on I
game modifications. See also mods Internet, 43 ice, finding, 69
maps, 48–49 homes. See also houses ice plains, 96
resource packs, 45–47 making markers for, 29 input/output gate, 216
skins, 44–45 protecting, 121 installing Minecraft, 7–9
Game Type menu home-server setup instructions, lack of, 10
displaying, 9 completing, 41–43 inventory
Minecraft Realms, 10 determining IP address, 42 accessing, 17
Multiplayer, 10 Linux, 41 character, 17
Options, 10 OS X, 40–41 contents, 14
Quit Game, 10 Windows systems, 40 crafting area, 17
Singleplayer, 10 hoppers explained, 17
games, starting, 10. See also hosting using in automated farms, results square, 17
games 168–170 you, 17
gaming servers, explained, 242 using with redstone, 211–212 Invisibility, Potion of, 89
gathering resources, 28 horses IP address, determining, 42
gear breeding, 106–107 ipconfig, typing, 42
crafting, 74–78 drops, 106–107 iron, smelting, 28
materials, 74 riding, 106 iron golems
Generate Structures, 12 spawning, 106 described, 115
ghasts taming, 107 drops, 115
described, 114 hostile mobs. See also mobs item frames
drops, 114 baby zombies, 110 clocks in, 152
glass cave spiders, 111 compasses in, 152
dyeing, 72–73 creepers, 111 features, 152
making, 67 endermites, 112 maps in, 152
glass blocks, using in windows, 153 guardians, 113 placing on walls, 151
glowstone blocks silverfish, 112 using, 135
fire, 132–133 skeletons, 111 using in storage rooms, 152, 161
functioning underwater, 132 slimes, 112 items, number of, 64
light level, 134 spider jockeys, 111
sea lanterns, 133 spiders, 111 J
using in chandeliers, 138 witches, 112–113 jack-o’-lanterns, light level of, 133
golems zombie villagers, 110 Java 6 and 7, 7
iron, 115 zombies, 110 jukebox, connecting to door,
snow, 115 hostile mobs, monsters as, 102. See 231–234
granite, 66 also mobs jumping, 13
grass blocks hosting games. See also games jungle temples, 101
comparing to dirt, 65 completing home-server setup, jungles, 94
explained, 66 41–43

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 K The Lord of the Rings Mod, 58 player-created, 114–115
LP (let’s play), explained, 242 taming, 104
killing, ways of, 14
modern houses, 128
L M modes. See game modes
magenta dye, 71 modpacks
labels, using with chests, 161
magma cubes picking, 52
ladders, using for digging, 180–181
comparing to slimes, 114 scrolling through, 50
lampposts, adding to walkways, 139
described, 114 mods. See also game modifications;
lamps. See redstone lamps
drops, 114 Technic Launcher
LAN (local area network), setting
mall disc, using with redstone door, AshleyMareeGaming, 58
up, 33–35
231–232 Biomes O’Plenty, 58
land. See biomes
maps Diamond Minecart, 58
landscapes, forming, 99. See also
Adventure type, 48 explained, 49, 242
world-generated structures
E-land, 49 Forge Mod Loader, 52–58
language settings, changing, 10
finding, 48 The Lord of the Rings Mod, 58
launcher, running, 8–9. See also
Survival type, 48 SkyDoesMinecraft, 58
Technic Launcher
types, 48 Technic Launcher, 49–52
lava
markers, making for homes, 29 Too Much TNT, 58
ineffective use of, 123–124
materials. See also organic materials YouTube channels, 58
light levels of, 134
mining for, 61 Mojang account
using in chandeliers, 139
varying, 188–189 creating, 36
leads, using, 77
meat, animals as source of, 25 merging with Minecraft ac-
leather armor, dyeing, 73
melon and pumpkin farm, 234–236 count, 37
leggings for armor, 79
mesas, 94–95 versus Minecraft account, 36
levers, using with redstone, 206–207,
minecarts, traveling by, 84–85 monsters
224
Minecraft as hostile mobs, 102
light sensor, redstone lighting
described, 3 lurking at night, 23
with, 227
installing, 7–9 monuments, creating, 194–196
light sources
platforms, 4 mooshrooms
beacons, 134
sample setting, 15 breeding, 105
chandeliers, 136–139
wiki, 31, 59 drops, 105
examples, 122, 132
World Map site, 48 moving
fire, 134
Minecraft account, merging with backward, 13
glowstone blocks, 132, 134
Mojang account, 37 forward, 13
jack-o’-lanterns, 133
Minecraft forums, finding maps jumping, 13
lampposts, 139
in, 48 left, 13
lava, 134
Minecraft launcher, download- right, 13
redstone lamps, 134
ing, 4–6 mules
sconces, 135–136
Minecraft login credentials, chang- breeding, 106–107
lighthouses, creating, 195–196
ing, 37 drops, 106–107
lighting. See also redstone lamps
Minecraft name, entering, 5 riding, 106
recessed, 136
mining spawning, 106
tree farms, 173
and ladder placement, 181 multiplayer game, hosting, 33–35
lighting levels, 122
materials, 176–177 mushroom islands, 95
Linux
in Nether, 177 mycelium, comparing to dirt, 65
home-server setup, 41
ores, 177
installing Minecraft on, 7–8 N
for redstone ore, 201
livestream, explained, 242
mining level, finding, 177 NAND gate, 218–219
localhost, choosing for Server Ad-
mining techniques Nether
dress, 42
branch mining, 182–184 explained, 243
logging in to shared games, 35
shaft mining, 179–182 mining in, 177
logic gates
spelunking, 178 Nether blocks, 70
AND, 217–218
mob drops, explained, 103–104, 242 Nether fortresses, 102
input/output, 216
mob grinder, explained, 242 Nether mobs. See also mobs
NAND, 218–219
mob spawner, explained, 242 blaze, 114
NOR, 220
mob spawning, 103 ghasts, 114
NOT, 217
mobs. See also animals; friendly magma cubes, 114
OR, 218–219
mobs; hostile mobs; Nether mobs; wither skeletons, 113–114
using, 215–216
neutral mobs Nether portals, making, 69
XNOR, 221
critters as, 102 nether quartz, 70
XOR, 220–221
explained, 102 netherrack, ignited, 134
login credentials, changing, 37

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 neutral mobs. See also mobs payment details, entering, 6 prismarine, 70
dogs, 108–109 pickaxe tool profiles, using with Forge Mod
endermen, 109 crafting recipe for, 19 Loader, 52–53
wolves, 108–109 making, 20 pumpkin and melon farm, 234–236
zombie pigmen, 109–110 uses of, 18 purple dye, 72
night picking up items, 22
assembling tools, 18–20 pigs R
building houses, 20–22 breeding, 105 rabbits
collecting resources, 16–17 drops, 105 breeding, 106
finding trees, 16 finding, 105 colors, 106
inventory, 17 hit by lightning, 105 drops, 106
making planks, 18 pink dye, 71 Killer Bunny, 106
preparing for, 16–22 pistons. See also sticky piston rails, traveling by, 85–87
night lurkers using with entrances, 142 realms, creating, 38–39
creepers, 23 using with redstone, 210 Realms subscription, purchasing,
monsters, 23 plains, 93 36–38
skeletons, 23 planks recessed lighting, 136
spiders, 23 making, 18 recipes. See also crafting recipes;
zombies, 23 using as sticks, 18–19 shaped recipes
NOR gate, 220 plant farms basics, 64
NOT gate, 217 automating, 165 explained, 18, 243
NPC villagers, 108 dimensions, 164 finding online, 30
NPCs (non-playable characters), farmland, 166 for pickaxe, 19
explained, 243 growing crops, 165 stairs, 64
harvesting, 164 record lock, using with redstone
O multi-tier, 166 doors, 231–234
oak tree farm, building, 171–172 orange wool, 166 red dye, 71
obsidian, mining, 69 pod, 164 redstone, explained, 243
ocean monuments, 101 releasing water over, 167 redstone circuitry
oceans, 96 stone brick slabs, 166 buttons, 204–205
ocelots water flowing, 165–166 transmitting powers, 203
breeding, 107 water sources, 165 redstone components
characteristics, 107 plants for food. See also food comparators, 209
drops, 107 carrots, 163 dispensers, 211
operating systems growing, 163 droppers, 210–211
choices, 6 potatoes, 163 hoppers, 211–212
selecting, 7–8 wheat, 163 pistons, 210
OR gate, 218–219 plateaus, 96 repeaters, 209
orange dye, 71 player-created mobs redstone currents and circuits
ores. See also redstone ore iron golems, 115 example, 213
finding, 28 snow golems, 115 explained, 212–213
forms, 68 plugins, explained, 243 input and output, 215
mining, 69, 177 podzol, comparing to dirt, 65 logic gates, 215–216
types of, 68 port, opening on router, 43 power off, 214
organic materials. See also materials potatoes, growing, 163 power on, 214
examples, 156–157 Potion of Invisibility, 89 redstone doors. See also doors
flower pots, 154–155 potions mall disc, 232–234
window boxes, 155–156 adding ingredients, 89 pumpkin and melon farm,
OS X Awkward type, 88 234–236
home-server setup, 40–41 brewing, 87–89 record lock, 231–234
installing Minecraft on, 7 drinkable, 87 wiring, 228
Overworld, explained, 243 splash, 87 redstone lamps. See also lighting
starting, 88 connecting, 226
P power, transmitting, 203 light level of, 134
paintings, crafting, 150–151 power input and output, 215 lighting with levers, 224
Paleo diet, following, 25 power sources lighting with light sensor, 227
pathways examples, 212–213 lighting with switches,
building, 190 switches as, 214 225–226
completing sides of, 192 powered block, explained, 243 powering, 213, 224
stone bricks, 190–191 pressure plates, using with sticky piston door, 228–231
using cobblestone for, 189 redstone, 205 wiring, 226

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 redstone ore. See also ores Seed for the World Generator, 12 squid
ceiling lamps, 225 seeds, getting, 25–26 breeding, 107
crafting with, 201–203 server, setting up, 40–41 drops, 107
mining for, 201 server connection, setting up, 42–43 spawning, 107
using, 200 shaft mining, 179–182 stained glass
using as electricity, 200 shaped recipes, explained, 63. See blocks, 73
redstone projects also recipes crafting, 153
doors, 228–236 shapes panes, 73
fireworks launcher, 239–244 circles, 186 recipe, 72
TNT cannon, 237–238 creating, 186–188 stairs recipe, 64
redstone switches cylinders, 186–187 starting games, 10
buttons, 204–205 shared games, logging into, 35 status bars
daylight sensor, 207–208 shears, using, 76 food, 13–14
detector rail, 208 sheep health, 13–14
levers, 206–207 breeding, 105 locating, 13
as power sources, 214 drops, 105 steel, using, 77
pressure plates, 205 getting wool from, 27, 69 Steve character, 17
torch, 204 shearing, 105 sticks, using planks as, 18–19
tripwire hooks, 206–207 using, 105 sticky piston, using with
weighted pressure plates, 206 shelters redstone door, 228–231.
redstone torches, 140–141. See also beds, 125 See also pistons
torches building vs. carving, 124–125 stone
refrigerator examples, 125–127 collecting, 65–67
constructing, 148–149 minimum requirements, 125 crafting, 66
dispenser for, 149 shutters, using trapdoors as, 190 smooth, 67
render distance, explained, 243 silverfish, described, 112 types of, 66–67
repeaters skeletons stone bricks
using in automated farms, comparing to zombies, 111 replacing cobblestone with,
167–168 drops, 111 192–193
using with fireworks finding, 28 using for paths, 190–191
launcher, 240 lurking at night, 23 stone tools, 75
using with redstone, 209 skins storage rooms
using with redstone door, changing on Profile page, 44 chests, 159–160
231–232 downloading, 44 completed example, 162
resource packs explained, 44, 243 design example, 162
availability, 45 uploading, 44–45 labels, 161
deactivating, 47 SkyDoesMinecraft mods, 58 stoves, creating, 150
downloading, 45–46 sleeping, 27–28 strongholds, 102
Faithful 32x32, 45, 47 slimes structures. See world-generated
finding, 45 comparing to magma cubes, 114 structures
resources described, 112 sunflower plains, 93
explained, 243 drops, 112 Survival maps, 48
gathering, 28 smelting, explained, 243 Survival mode, 11
results square, identifying, 17 smelting iron, 28 swamps, 94
reticles, explained, 243 smooth stone, 66–67 switches
rivers, 96 snapshots, explained, 61, 243 redstone lighting with, 225–226
router, opening port on, 43 snow golems using as power sources, 214
appearance, 115 swords
S drops, 115 making, 27
sand sofas, making, 146 using, 78
collecting, 65–67 soul sand, 70 system requirements, 6–7
properties, 66 spamming, explained, 243
types of, 66 spawn, explained, 243 T
saplings. See trees spawn point, explained, 243 tables, crafting, 19–20, 146–147
savannah, 93 spawning, explained, 103 taiga biomes, 95
saves folder, 48 Spectator mode, 11 taming
sconces spelunking, 178 horses, 107
creating, 135–136 spider jockeys, drops, 111 mobs, 104
item frames, 135–136 spiders Technic Launcher. See also
screenshot/screenie, explained, 243 drops, 111 launcher; mods
sea lanterns, 133 lurking at night, 23 downloading, 50
varieties, 111 exiting, 52

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 explained, 50 U wooden tools, 75
Get More Modpacks button, 51 wool
username, choosing, 6
interface, 51 dyeing, 72–73
scrolling through modpacks, 50 V getting from sheep, 27, 69
testificates, 108 vein, explained, 243 World Types, 12
texture pack, explained, 243 villagers. See also zombie villagers world-generated structures. See also
textures, changing, 45 breeding, 108 landscapes
TNT cannon spawning, 103 abandoned mineshafts, 101
creating, 237–238 as targets, 108 desert temples, 101
materials, 237 testificates, 108 dungeons, 101
Too Much TNT mod, 58 villages, explained, 100 jungle temples, 101
tools Nether fortresses, 102
anvils, using, 82–83 W ocean monuments, 101
assembling, 18–20 walkthrough, explained, 243 strongholds, 102
buckets, 76 wall decorations villages, 100
crafting, 74–78 item frames, 151–152 worlds
diamond, 75 paintings, 150–151 Allow Cheats, 12
enchanting, 75 walls Bonus Chest, 13
examples, 75 adding depth to, 192–193 choosing options, 11–13
fishing rods, 77–78 secondary building materials, creating, 10
flint, 77 192–193 Creative mode, 11
leads, 77 watchtower Generate Structures, 12
levels of efficacy, 75 beginning, 186–187 Hardcore mode, 11
materials, 74 fences, 188 moving around in, 13
pickaxe, 18 glass panes, 188 naming, 10
shears, 76 iron doors, 188 Seed for the World Generator, 12
steel, 77 stone bricks, 188 Spectator mode, 11
stone, 75 viewing platform, 187 Survival mode, 11
wooden, 75 weapons Wrednax, 223
torches. See also redstone bows and arrows, 79
torches swords, 78
X
light levels, 122, 133 wheat, growing, 163 XNOR gate, 221
making, 24 white dye, 71 XOR gate, 220–221
tracks, traveling by, 85–87 white-list, explained, 243
transportation
Y
wiki, 31, 59, 243
boats, 83–84 yellow dye, 71
window boxes, crafting, 155–156
minecarts, 84–85 YouTube channels, finding mods
windows
rails, 85–87 on, 58
design example, 154
tracks, 85–87 glass blocks, 153 Z
trapdoors, using as shutters, 190 materials, 152–153
tree farms zombie pigmen, drops, 109
Windows systems zombie villagers. See also villagers
building from oak, 171–172 home-server setup, 40
lighting, 173 described, 110
installing Minecraft on, 7 drops, 110
trees witches
acacia saplings, 171 zombies
appearance, 112–113 armor, 110
birch saplings, 171 drops, 112
finding, 16 characters, 110
wither skeletons comparing to skeletons, 111
growing, 170 drops, 113
jungle saplings, 171 drops, 110
finding, 113 finding, 28
oak saplings, 170 spawning, 113–114
spruce saplings, 171 lurking at night, 23
Withers, 116 movement, 110
tripwire hooks, using with redstone, wolves, breeding, 108–109
206–207 spawning, 109–110
wood, 64–65
wooden doors, 140

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