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Minecraft is full of little secrets
Minecraft is a global phenomenon. Available on every mobile device and video game console, 204.33 million people reportedly play it every month.
Key to this is how easy it is to pick up and get started but, while it might be easy to jump into, Minecraft is impossibly deep.
The game is full of secrets you can only discover by exploring and playing – and the game has so much scope it’s almost impossible to see them all. Here are 18 secrets Minecraft doesn’t tell you, put together by thegamer.com
You can get llamas to carry things for you
They’re not just funny furry friends – llamas can actually be handy to have around if you find you keep running out of inventory space. If you click on a llama while holding a chest, that chest becomes the animal’s inventory space.
Llamas have a varied inventory space based on their strength – from 15 slots to just three. You can breed them to increase this strength.
Breaking blocks can help you get your bearings
When you break a block, the breaking pattern always appears on its north side. This can come in handy if you need to quickly orientate yourself.
Lava works as a great fuel
Lava lasts far longer as a fuel in the furnace than wood or coal – so make sure to mark any locations you find, and come back with plenty of buckets.
Dig for diamonds
In earlier versions of Minecraft, diamonds were most likely to appear between five and 12 levels down. Now, they appear between 15 and 63 levels down – and the deeper you dig, the more likely you are to find them.
You can change a blue sheep to red
One of the stranger little secrets in the game, if you’ve got a blue sheep and you’d rather it was red – presumably because you’re after some red wool – there is a way to do this. If you place a blue sheep near an Evoker creature, it will wiggle its arms, make a «wololo» sound, and hey presto – your sheep is red.
Older gamers will recognise this as a reference to 90s strategy game Age of Empires, in which priests could convert enemy troops to your side by making the same noise. Strange? Yes. Fun? Also yes.
Torches are handy for farming sand and gravel blocks
Torches aren’t just handy for lighting up dark areas and keeping monsters away. Sand and gravel blocks are affected by gravity, meaning if you remove the block underneath them, they will fall and break. If you want to do this quickly, break a block and place a torch where it was immediately – this will break all the blocks around it, allowing you to collect them quickly.
Mushroom biomes are safe
If you’re in a Mushroom biome, sit back and relax. This is the only area in the game where hostile mobs don’t appear at night or in the caves – meaning you’re free to build a nice home or just wander around. Mob spawners do work, however, so there is a chance you might still see enemies.
Pumpkins are the key
The scary Endermen only attack when you make eye contact with them. And you can use this to your advantage – if you wear an equally-scary carved pumpkin on your head, you won’t technically make eye contact with the Endermen. As a result, they won’t attack you – in fact, they won’t even fight back if you attack them.
Make your own bodyguard
Mobs can overwhelm you, so a bit of help can be invaluable. You can create an Iron Golem to help defend you by placing iron blocks in a T-shape on the ground, and then putting a Carved Pumpkin or a Jack O’Lantern on top as a head. Place a few around your base for your own security force.
Cats are your friends
Just like llamas, cats are more than just nice furry friends to have around. Creepers are afraid of cats, and if you have enough around your house, they will avoid it at all costs. This comes in handy if you need to carry out some tasks without being attacked.
Doors can give you breathing space
For some reason, doors can create air bubbles underwater. If you place a door it will create an air bubble you can stand in – useful if you’re on an extended underwater trip.
Snowball fight!
The Blaze is a tough enemy to fight, but it has one weakness – snowballs. The best way to beat them is to lob snowballs at them from afar.
You don’t have to destroy mob spawners
It can be tempting to destroy mob spawners to put a plug in a flood of enemies. However, there is another option. Enemies only spawn in dark areas, remember, so if you place torches on or around the spawner it’ll stop spitting out enemies.
Sneak swiftly
Sneaking is handy, but it can be slow. But the Swift Sneak enchantment allows you to crouch and walk extra quick – allowing you to escape unseen at double speed.
Milk a Mooshroom
If you’re in the mushroom biome, you’ll probably come across a Mooshroom. As its name suggests, it’s a cross between a mushroom and a cow. And if you try and milk it, you’ll get mushroom stew. Disgusting, but helpful for staving off hunger.
Give a dog a name
Having an army of dogs to help defend you is a great idea – and you can give them different-coloured collars to tell them apart. All you need to do is get a dye for the colour you want and right click on the dog. Simples.
Preserve your amazing designs
It seems the possibilities in Minecraft are almost endless. One of the more unexpected things some users have done is create pixel art with their maps. The problem is if you make any changes to your base, the map changes.
If you want to lock a design in place, add a glass pane to your map. This way you can chop and change as much as you like and still preserve your amazing creation.
Zombies like turtle eggs
Being attacked by a mob of zombies can usually mean certain death. But there’s a secret weapon – zombies love turtle eggs for some reason, so if you lob one they’ll follow it. You can also use it to lure zombies to their death, dropping some useful gold.
