Minecraft

[Minecraft] 200 Minecraft Facts You Might Not Know — How Many Do You Know?

An Qu Xiao Chen Ju Le Bu·5/19/2026

Game Development and Historical Background

The initial version of Minecraft was developed by Notch in just 6 days. Not long after the game's release, players were already using blocks for various creative constructions. Minecraft has been designated as a compulsory course in Swedish middle schools, aiming to cultivate students' planning and creativity.

Mojang once collaborated with the United Nations on the 'Block by Block' project, allowing players to plan buildings for impoverished areas in the game, with reasonable designs being applied to real-world construction. The Danish government once used algorithms to recreate the entire country at a 1:1 scale in the game and held an online exhibition.

Minecraft and Terraria have a friendly interaction; both games have previously recommended players try the other game in their splash texts. Additionally, Minecraft Easter eggs or scenes have appeared in the movie '007' and the TV series 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'.

Mob Trivia

  • Creeper: Originated from a coding error when Notch was making a pig model. The Creeper explosion is actually the system summoning an explosion at its location and simultaneously removing the entity. Players can ignite a Creeper directly using flint and steel.
  • Ghast: Its sound comes from the sleeping cat of C418. The fireballs shot by a Ghast can be deflected back by players.
  • Enderman: Has extremely fast reaction speed; arrows can hardly hit them because they teleport before the arrow arrives.
  • Ender Dragon: Officially acknowledged as female (a mother dragon).
  • Zombie: Killing a zombie sometimes drops iron ingots, potatoes, or carrots, hinting that zombies have previously raided villages.
  • Iron Golem: Naturally spawned iron golems protect villagers and will fight back if a player attacks a villager; however, iron golems built by a player will not attack their creator.
  • Mob Gender: Apart from the Ender Dragon, most mobs in the game are set to be genderless.

Game Mechanics and Features

A day in Minecraft lasts 20 minutes: 10 minutes daytime, 7 minutes night, and 1.5 minutes each for dawn and dusk. Walking one block in the Nether is equivalent to eight blocks in the Overworld, so players often use the Nether for long-distance travel. The maximum size of a Nether portal is 23×23.

Milk has a magical effect in the game, removing all status effects (both positive and negative) from the player. Cauldrons slowly collect water while it's raining. In older versions, there were plans to use 'Crying Obsidian' to record spawn points, but this was later replaced by beds.

Most paintings in the game are pixelated versions of famous real-world artworks. For example, the green-and-red painting is actually a bonsai tree, not an injured Creeper. Additionally, Steve has astonishing carrying capacity, jokingly called the 'King of Weightlifting.'

Platform Version Differences

Minecraft PE (Pocket Edition) was written in C++, while the original PC version was written in Java. In the PE version, leather armor can be dyed by throwing it into a cauldron filled with dye, a feature that was initially exclusive to PE. The creative mode mining distance in the PE version is farther than on PC.

The Windows 10 version supports cross-platform play with Android and iOS. The Raspberry Pi version is a free version specifically designed for programmers and developers, allowing players to modify game code.

Easter Eggs and Name Tags

Using a Name Tag can trigger special effects:

  • Naming a mob "Grumm" or "Dinnerbone" makes it stand upside down.
  • Naming a sheep "jeb_" makes its wool constantly change color.
  • In the PC version, if a player's name is "Notch", they drop an apple upon death.

The yellow splash text on the main menu contains many memes, such as lines from Star Wars and Coca-Cola slogans. If the game language is set to certain special languages, the interface text also changes in interesting ways.

Founders and Company Anecdotes

Notch (Markus Persson) started learning programming at age 7 and made his first text adventure game at age 8. After Minecraft's huge success, he sold Mojang to Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014. Mojang's current lead developer, Jeb (Jens Bergensten), is known for his iconic long hair and beard.

All background music and record music in the game were originally composed by C418. Despite Minecraft becoming one of the best-selling games worldwide, the official statement has been that they will never release 'Minecraft 2', instead continuing to update the existing game.