How to Play Minecraft

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: April 10, 2024 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to start playing Minecraft on a computer, a smartphone or tablet, or a console. Once you've purchased, downloaded, and/or installed Minecraft, you can create a new world to start exploring and experiencing Minecraft's features.

Part 1

Part 1 of 5:

Setting up a Game on Desktop

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1
Download and install Minecraft. Minecraft must be purchased, downloaded, and installed onto your computer before you can play the game. You can purchase the game on the official website minecraft.net
- If you already have Minecraft installed, skip this step.
2
Open the Minecraft launcher. Double-click the Minecraft Launcher app icon, which resembles a block of dirt.
- You may have to wait for Minecraft to update before continuing.
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3
Click PLAY. It's a green button at the bottom of the launcher. Doing so will prompt Minecraft to start.
- You may have to enter your Minecraft login details before you can proceed.
You'll find this option at the top of the main menu.
It's near the top of the window.
In the text box at the top of the window, type in the name that you want to use for your world.
Click More World Options... to review the world's options, then change anything that you want to change (e.g., the world type, or whether or not structures are enabled).
It's at the bottom of the window. Doing so will confirm your game settings and create your world. Once the world loads, you can begin playing Minecraft.

Part 2

Part 2 of 5:

Setting up a Game on Pocket Edition

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1
Buy and install Minecraft. You can buy and install Minecraft on both iPhone and Android.
- If you already have Minecraft installed, skip this step.
Tap the Minecraft app icon, which resembles a block of dirt.
It's at the top of the screen.
You'll find this option near the top of the screen.
5
Tap Create New World. This option is near the top of the screen. Doing so will open the world's creation page.
- If you don't see this option, first tap the New World tab in the upper-left corner of the screen.
6
Enter a name for your world. Type in the name that you want to use for your world.
- The default name is "My World".
7
Select a difficulty. Tap the "Difficulty" drop-down box, then tap a difficulty level in the drop-down menu.
- On higher difficulty settings, monsters do more damage and are harder to kill.
Scroll down through the "Game Settings" section of the screen and review the game options. You can change any of these before launching your game, though some options may not be available after you start the game.
It's on the left side of the screen. Doing so will confirm your game settings and create your world. Once the world loads, you can begin playing Minecraft.

Part 3

Part 3 of 5:

Setting up a Game on a Console

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1
Buy and install Minecraft. You can buy and install Minecraft on both the Xbox One and the PlayStation.
- If you already have Minecraft installed, skip this step.
Insert the Minecraft disc, or select Minecraft from the list of purchased games.
It's at the top of the Minecraft main menu.
You can usually do this by pressing the right shoulder button on your controller.
It's at the top of the Create tab.
6
Enter a name for your world. Select the text box at the top of the screen, then enter a name for your world.
- The default name is "New World".
7
Select a difficulty. Scroll down to the "Difficulty" slider, then move the slider right to increase the difficulty or left to decrease the difficulty.
- On higher difficulty settings, monsters do more damage and are harder to kill.
8
Adjust the game options if needed. Select More Options, then change any options that you need to. You can exit this menu by pressing B (Xbox One) or circle (PS4) when you're done.
- For example, you might enter a code for a specific world into the "Seed" text field, or you might uncheck the "Generate Structures" box to prevent villages from being created.
It's at the bottom of the screen. Doing so will confirm your game settings and create your world. Once the world loads, you can begin playing Minecraft.

Part 4

Part 4 of 5:

Starting Out in Minecraft

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1
Learn the controls and functions. You can view a complete list of your Minecraft version's controls by doing the following:
- Desktop - Press Esc, click Options..., click Controls..., and review the controls.
- Mobile - Tap the "Pause" button at the top of the screen, tap Settings, and tap Touch on the left side of the screen. You can also tap Controller or Keyboard & Mouse to view these control layouts as well.
- Consoles - Press the "Start" or "Options" button, select Help & Options, select Controls, and review the controls.
2
Gather initial resources. Minecraft is largely about gathering and using the resources from the world around you. When starting out in Minecraft, you'll immediately need to gather the following:
- Dirt - Perhaps the most common block in the game. Dirt is relatively useless later in the game, but can be used to create an effective temporary shelter early in the game. The dirt is very useful as it can also help when you get caught in a deep hole, which you can easily arrange one by one to create a dirt stair.
- Wood blocks - Hitting trees will yield wood blocks. Wood is necessary for crafting everything from weapon and tool handles to torches and crafting resources.
- Gravel and Sand - Both of these resources are similar to dirt, and can be used as floor or wall material. Gravel and sand both fall when no block is placed directly below them.
- Wool - You can get wool by killing sheep. Wool (three pieces of the same color) and any type of wooden planks is necessary when creating a bed, which is an essential piece of equipment if you want to avoid frustration early on in Minecraft.
3
Create a temporary house. Using dirt, gravel, and sand, build four walls and a roof for yourself. Make sure you use dirt or planks for the roof, as gravel or sand will fall. This will ensure that you have a place to hide when the world's night cycle begins.
- When making a house, the easiest way to make one (Also suggested by Mojang) is to find a hill and mine out a cave in the hill and put doors so mobs can't get into the house. To make doors, arrange 2 columns of wooden planks on the left of your crafting table.
- You'll want to use dirt for your house because wood is much more useful for crafting tools.
- Remember to leave at least one block-sized hole somewhere in the house for telling when it is day so you can get out at the crack of dawn to have extra time to collect resources.
Build a crafting table. Crafting tables can be used to make almost anything in Minecraft. You can craft a crafting table inside of your inventory.
5
Build a bed. Beds serve two purposes: they allow you to bypass the dangerous night cycle by sleeping through it, and they reset your spawn point to the last bed in which you rested. This means that should you die, you won't respawn at the beginning of the world; instead, you'll spawn next to your bed.
- Creating a bed as soon as possible is incredibly important, especially if you built your shelter relatively far away from where you started your game.
6
Sleep in your bed as soon as night falls. As previously mentioned, this will allow you to skip the night cycle, which is when Minecraft's monsters (referred to as "mobs" in-game) appear.
- If you didn't have the chance to create a bed before nightfall, sit tight in your shelter until the sun comes back up.
7
Craft some tools. Tools are the backbone of any successful Minecraft playthrough, as they allow you to obtain and craft objectively superior weapons, tools, and armor later in the game. You'll want to start out with the following tools:
- Pickaxe - Used for mining stone. You'll start by crafting a wood pickaxe, but you can craft a stone pickaxe by using the wood pickaxe to mine three blocks of stone.
- Sword - Used for defending yourself against mobs. Any sword—even a wooden one—is significantly better than using your fists.
- Axe - Used for quickly chopping wood. While you don't need an axe to chop wood, having one will significantly speed up the process.
- Shovel - Used for quickly gathering dirt, gravel, and sand. You don't need a shovel to gather these resources, but having a shovel will speed up the process.
8
Know the different kinds of mobs. While you may be tempted to run away from every animal and monster that you see, most mobs won't attack you unless you attack first:
- Peaceful - These mobs will never attack you, though they will flee if you attack them. Examples include most livestock (pigs, cows, sheep, etc.).
- Neutral - These mobs will not attack you unless you attack first. Examples include Endermen and Spiders (day only).
- Hostile - These mobs will always attack on sight. Examples include Zombies, Skeletons, and Spiders (night only).

Part 5

Part 5 of 5:

Surviving in Minecraft

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Coal is an invaluable fuel source for the furnace that you'll create later, but it's also a crucial component for torches.
2
Make torches. You can create a stack of torches with one stick and one piece of coal (or charcoal).
- Once placed, torches cannot be destroyed or extinguished; they can only be knocked out of place, at which point they can be picked back up and redistributed.
3
Place plenty of torches around your dwelling. In addition to brightening up the area, torches raise the ambient light level; this prevents hostile mobs (e.g., Creepers, Zombies, Skeletons, etc.) from spawning near your house, which affords you some security at night.
- You'll need to place a lot of torches in order to fully prevent mobs from spawning near your house. A safe bet is to place a solid ring of torches around your house.
4
Build a furnace. Among other things, furnaces can be used to cook food and smelt iron ore into iron bars. Since food is essential to survival and iron is arguably the best common resource you'll be able to find for most of Minecraft, a furnace will be invaluable.
- You can use your furnace by placing a furnace-compatible resource (e.g., food or ore) in the top section of the furnace and then placing fuel (e.g., coal, wood, lava, etc.) in the bottom section.
5
Begin exploring your world and gathering resources. Things like cobblestone, coal, iron, and wood are all essential to your prolonged survival in Minecraft, so gather as much as you can.
- If you find a particularly resource-rich location (e.g., a cave), mark the path to it with torches or an expendable block trail.
- You can create chests to store your gathered resources so that you don't have to carry them with you the next time that you go exploring.
6
Build a new house. While your initial temporary dwelling is most likely crude and constructed of mismatched material, you can create a well-fortified house once you have enough material.
- Resources such as stone (particularly granite) and iron are more explosive-proof than are dirt and wood. This is helpful when attempting to minimize Creeper damage.
7
Move your temporary house's contents to your new house if necessary. This is easiest to accomplish when your house is nearby. If you'd rather use your old house as storage and fortify your new house independently, doing so is safer than attempting to move.
- Only move your house's contents during the day.
- Do not break a chest while items are still in it—move the items from the chest into your inventory, then break the chest to pick it up.
8
Find food. You can obtain food by killing animals and picking up the meat that they drop (e.g., picking up raw pork from pigs). Food can be consumed to heal your character and restore the "Hunger" meter, which depletes over time.
- You can cook food by placing it in a furnace that has fuel in it.
- You can consume food by placing it in your equip bar, selecting it, and pressing the "Mine" button (or tapping and holding the screen in Minecraft PE).
9
Avoid fighting mobs if possible. Minecraft is not a combat-centric game; while you have the means to craft items with which you can defend yourself, actively going out and attempting to kill mobs is more likely to result in your death than in you surviving the night. While there will always be exceptions to this rule (e.g., if you have to kill a spider for some string), running away from conflict is always better than entertaining it in Minecraft.
- If you must fight mobs, you'll want to use a sword or an axe to do so; other tools are more effective than using your bare fists, however.
- Creepers (the green exploding monsters) are best left alone. If one begins pursuing you, hit it once and then retreat until it explodes.
- Endermen (the tall black figures) will not attack you if you avoid looking at them or hitting them. If provoked, Endermen will prove incredibly tough to kill with any equipment.
- If you have a bow and some arrows, you can usually attack enemies while backpedaling. Keep in mind that some mobs (e.g., Skeletons) also have bows and arrows.

Community Q&A

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Question

Can endermen get into my house?

Community Answer

It depends on the height of your house. If it is less than 3 blocks high, you will be safe. The endermen could only start teleporting when you look them in the eyes though. They will not spawn in water or in a well lit house.

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How do you make a brewing stand?

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You need 1 blaze rod and 3 cobblestone to craft a brewing stand. Place the blaze rod in position 5 and the cobblestone in positions 7, 8, and 9.

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How can you make things to protect you?

Community Answer

The best way to protect yourself is armor. Like tools, you can make different armor out of different materials. However, unlike tools, you can only make leather, iron, gold, and diamond armor. There is also chain armor, however this is only attainable through villager trading. There are other, less common ways of protecting yourself. You can make structures, walls, and barricades to prevent hostile mobs (monsters) from coming into your home. You can also get a friend in the game to help. A rare but efficient way to protect yourself is create a beacon -- it can give you a resistance boost.

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Tips

Crafting a map will help you document your progress through Minecraft's world. In the Console edition of Minecraft, you may automatically spawn with one.

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You can play in Peaceful Mode if you'd prefer to play Survival Mode without the risk of being killed by monsters.

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Raiding village chests will give you resources. Look for the Blacksmith's shop: it has a flat roof, and you'll often see lava in the front. These don't always appear in villages, but when they do, you can find a chest inside.

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Warnings

Be careful when exploring the Nether, as you can be stuck there forever if you don't remember your portal location. It's recommended to take some flint and steel with you so you can relight your portal if it gets destroyed.

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Never dig straight down. Minecraft is full of pitfalls and sub-surface lava lakes. You might even found yourself stranded in a group full of zombies.

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Ravines are a source of getting a hand on some ores, though ravines can possibly carve through a mountain, with a roof on top, meaning monsters spawn below. You also have to be careful when getting down. Jumping into a waterfall, or water source can help absorb it. Though you better make sure that you can get back up as well!

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Don't hurt villagers because this will decrease your village reputation. If it gets lower than -15, iron golems will target you, and you clearly wouldn't want that.

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Creepers and Spiders are the two most relentless basic mobs in the game, and both can kill you quite quickly if you're not prepared.

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