HOW TO MINECRAFT

Create! Explore! Survive! The basics for getting into the game!


Welcome! Minecraft is a game about placing blocks and having adventures. It's a survival experience about staying alive in your own fantastic world that's also a creative space to build almost anything you can imagine!

We know Minecraft can be intimidating to newcomers so we've assembled this simple guide to get you started. Trust us, you'll be a miner expert in no time!


We'd recommend starting this guide with Starting Out and Survival Tips. But however you choose to play Minecraft is the right way to play. So how do you want to play Minecraft?
Starting out and Survival Tips (A Good place to Start!)
I Want to Craft Stuff!
I Want to Build Stuff!
I Want to Explore My World!
I Want to Fight Monsters!

Scroll below to find out how!
STARTING OUT AND SURVIVAL TIPS!

Select Singleplayer in the Main Menu, then Create New World. You'll see this:




3. Your hand and your first mining tool. Use it to bash blocks out of tons of things in your world!



4. This is your world, unique to you. Build on it, explore in it and thrive off it... Most of all, enjoy it!



1. The health bar (the hearty looking one). Don't let it drop to zero. Otherwise, it's game over!



2. The food bar (the tasty looking one). When it's full, your health will regenerate, so keep snacking!



3. Your hand and your first mining tool. Use it to bash blocks out of tons of things in your world!



4. This is your world, unique to you. Build on it, explore in it and thrive off it... Most of all, enjoy it!



1. The health bar (the hearty looking one). Don't let it drop to zero. Otherwise, it's game over!



2. The food bar (the tasty looking one). When it's full, your health will regenerate, so keep snacking!


The secrets to survival are having a steady supply of food and staying safe from monsters. Luckily, building a shelter is easy. Your hand is your first mining tool, so use it to hit trees or dirt until they turn into blocks. These blocks will appear in your toolbar, and you can then place them right in front of you.



Build your shelter, making sure there’s no way for monsters to get in! Later, you'll be able to build doors, windows, etc, but for now, focus on surviving! Most monsters come out at night, so stay inside until sunrise and you'll be safe.

Animals are everywhere and only take a few attacks to finish off. They’ll drop meat which restores health. There's also apples, melons and other veggie options to be found if you're vegetarian, or just think hitting pigs with pickaxes is cruel. Hmmm, you've got a point.



The first shelter you build will likely look like this, er, 'cosy' one here. Hey, we all start somewhere!

I WANT TO CRAFT STUFF!

Let’s start by punching some trees! The blocks that make up the tree will break and drop wood. Certain blocks need stronger tools than fists to break, but this is the basics of how Minecraft works – break (or 'mine') a block, pick it up, then place it somewhere else to build something beautiful!

Now open your inventory screen. Here you'll find everything you pick up in the world. Those four squares in the top right are your personal crafting area. Drag some of that wood over into a crafting area square. Four wood planks will appear in a fifth square. Drag them into your inventory and they're yours!

This is called crafting. As you may have noticed, it's easy!

Keep crafting wood until you have four planks. Then, put all of these in your crafting area to get a crafting table. You can now drag your crafting table to your toolbar, allowing you to hold it in your hands and place it in the actual world! Just stroll up to it and use it - a new (and better!) crafting window will pop up. Here, you'll be able to craft more complex recipes thanks to its wider 3x3 grid. 'Recipes' are the mixture of items you need to create stuff. E.g. the recipe for a pickaxe is two sticks and three planks: