Minecraft Guide

By Luis Joshua Gutierrez, Samuel Heaney, Dan Hammill, +39.9k more
Updated:

Minecraft has no limit to your imagination; you can build your own house out of whatever material you wish. You can make weapons and armour to help protect yourself from mobs. You can make contraptions with the form of electricity known as redstone to kill other players in multi-player mode or to operate an automated farm.

The world of Minecraft is a giant sandbox and can be a scary place when you've just jumped in and don't know what to do. On the first day, you'll have only a few minutes of daylight before the enemy Mobs begin to spawn as night falls. What you do in the first five minutes of gameplay will determine how well you'll be able to survive.

Minecraft was released first as an alpha version on May 17, 2007, for PC. The official "full" release launch was on November 18, 2011. A light version of Minecraft made it to Android devices on October 7, 2011, with an iOS version on November 17, 2011. On May 9, 2012, Minecraft was released on Xbox 360 (co-developed by 4J Studios) as a digital download.

Minecraft is one of the best-selling games of all time, and currently offers a Minecraft free trial if you want to try out the game for free.

About the Guide Writers and Editors

If you'd like to learn more about the writers and editors who contributed to this wiki, head to our About IGN's Minecraft Guide Writers page. If you found this expert guide written by our team of writers helpful, and want to find more like it, please set IGN Guides as your preferred source in Google!

Minecraft The Wild Update Guides

The latest big update to Minecraft, The Wild (or the 1.19 update)m featured tew new biomes, new mobs, and plenty more. The Update was released on June 7, 2022. Learn all there is to know about The Wild update with our handy guides.

As mentioned, there are two new biomes to explore in The Wild Update:

With new Biomes come new things to find in them as well. Below are the new Mobs and new Blocks:

Here are some popular Minecraft guide sections:

Here are some popular Minecraft How-To Guides:

Minecraft For Beginners

If you are new, start with the Minecraft Minecraft Beginner's Guide, which will walk you through creating the basic necessities for exploring your new world. Once you are comfortable with the basics, move ahead to the Crafting Guide or add your own recipes.  One of the most difficult parts for beginners is not having enough items or blocks to craft certain things. In this case, you can use a Minecraft duplication glitch (PS4).

In this Minecraft Wiki, you will find all the hints and tips you need to survive that arduous first day, so you may rest and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Additionally, if you have an interesting Minecraft project, feel free to share it on the Minecraft Projects page. Don't forget to check out the new updates to Minecraft!

How to Play Minecraft:

For avid readers:

The Crafting Tag

Contributors, please note that this wiki has a built-in Minecraft recipe generator that can be used by typing in

<minecraftrecipe>Item You Want</minecraftrecipe>

An example of the generated recipe is seen to the right, with "Item You Want" replaced by "Crafting Table."

More:

For Minecraft fans:

Up Next: Minecraft Chaos Cubed Release Date and Details

Previous
About IGN's Minecraft Guide Writers
Next
Minecraft Chaos Cubed Release Date and Details

Top Guide Sections

Was this guide helpful?

In This Guide

Minecraft
Minecraft4JStudios
Initial Release: May 17, 2009
ESRB: Everyone 10+
Nintendo Switch 2PlayStation 5Nintendo SwitchWii U
+8