This 3D-pixelated game is one of the most popular of all-time! Keep reading to discover all the coolest facts about Minecraft!
How did a simple-concept pixelated game with no goals to accomplish become the best-selling single game of all time? Well, we’re about to tell you with these fun facts about Minecraft!
The 2011 sensation from Swedish designer Markus Persson is so influential that schools are now creating Minecraft courses for young people to learn about life planning, resource management, the environment and computer programming.
How cool is that? The humble game, in which its first version was created in six days, is now educating children around the world while entertaining millions.
How many millions you ask? Well, you’ll have to continue reading these Minecraft facts to find out.
We’ll look at the development of the game, the rarest items, some strange mob facts, and which country has the most Minecraft users.
We’ll also peek in on some Guinness World Records that have been broken including the largest Minecraft city and the most common block.
Also, what does a yawning cat, Denmark, and backwards English have to do with the Minecraft universe?
Maybe take a break from mining, or trying to reach the World Boundary, or finding the Dragon Egg and learn a little bit more about the influential game that just keeps getting better!
Contents:
21 Fun Facts About Minecraft
1. Is Minecraft the best-selling video game of all-time?
Currently, Minecraft holds the record for the best-selling single video game in history with close to 240 million copies sold. Available on many platforms, the Minecraft universe boasts 140 million monthly active players.
2. How does Minecraft’s popularity compare to other popular video games?
While Minecraft may be the best-selling single game of all-time, a few others have outsold Minecraft with successful game franchises.
The franchises that have Minecraft beat are: Mario, Tetris, Pokémon, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and FIFA. Not a bad list to be on!
3. When was Minecraft first developed?
Minecraft was invented by Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson in 2009. Persson wanted to create a game that allowed for a free exploration in a virtual world.
His first iteration of the game only took six days to create! Minecraft as we know it today was completed and released in November 2011.
4. What is the Cave Game?
Did you know that the first name for Minecraft was Cave Game? Once that name was rejected, Minecraft: Order of the Stone was selected.
The name was then simplified further, to just be called Minecraft. This was one of the Minecraft facts that surprised us. Did you know this one?
5. How many game modes can you play in Minecraft?
Discounting demo mode, which is basically a preview of the game before you buy it, there are five modes of gameplay in Minecraft.
The different modes include survival mode, creative mode, hardcore mode, adventure mode, and spectator mode.
6. The school where Minecraft is a required course
The Victor Rydberg secondary school in Stockholm, Sweden requires every student to take a course in Minecraft at 13-years old.
The study of Minecraft educates children in spatial thinking, coding, city planning, life skills, and environmental issues. We think this course should be mandatory for everyone!
7. What country do the most Minecraft users come from?
Minecraft is incredibly popular worldwide, but do you have any guesses where most of the players come from?
Here’s the top 5: USA (21.2%), Brazil (6.2%), Russia (6%), Great Britain (5%), Germany (4.6%).
8. The land of pigs and creepers
All Minecraft players know there are creepers and pigs in abundance throughout the game, but did you know that the creeper was supposed to be a pig in the initial game build?
Minecraft creator, Markus Persson accidentally inputted the wrong dimensions in the code for a pig, creating the unique height and length of the creeper we know today.
9. The entire country built in Minecraft
Did you know that Denmark created a full scale model of the country in Minecraft at a 1:1 scale? An impressive achievement in a push to get Danish citizens more engaged with the country’s geography.
However, not long after the country went live, users bombed it relentlessly and planted American flags on top of the ruins.
10. Is the world of Minecraft infinite?
Many people believe that there is no end to the open Minecraft world. However, there is something called the World Boundary.
At 30,000,000 blocks from the center of the map, a player will no longer be able to proceed, because the World Boundary is impenetrable.
11. All about the mobs
Minecraft mobs (mobiles) are AI-driven characters that resemble living creatures. There are four types of mobs in Minecraft.
Passive mobs, like horses and sheep, are harmless and will not attack. Neutral mobs, like endermen and llamas, will attack if provoked. Hostile mobs, like creepers and skeletons, will immediately attack. And boss mobs, like the Ender Dragon, fight when a player is established in their world.
12. The purchase of Minecraft
Did you know that Microsoft purchased Minecraft from Markus Persson’s Swedish studio Mojang in 2014 for $2.5 billion?
Persson noted he would leave Mojang after the sale saying: “I make games because it’s fun, but I don’t make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits.”
13. The mysterious language of the Enderman
Did you know that the Enderman language is Sdrawkcab hsilgne? That is English backwards?
Yep, the sounds made by the Endermen are slowed-down reversals of the English equivalent. It all sounds like croaking and wheezing to us though!
14. What’s the fastest mob in the game?
YouTuber Skip the Tutorial gathered all the mobs in Minecraft to see who was the fastest and slowest. Do you have any guesses before we reveal the answers?
The slowest is the lazy panda, who moves at a speed of 0.98 blocks per second. The fastest, surprisingly, is a trio of pets, the parrot, cat and wolf. The reason – pets can teleport!
15. The typo glitch on the Minecraft main menu
Have you ever been booting up Minecraft and the name of the game is misspelled? Well, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. In fact, every 10,000 times you play Minecraft the game title will say Minceraft instead.
16. What’s the rarest item in Minecraft?
By far the rarest block in Minecraft is the Dragon Egg. It’s also quite useless as it’s a decorative item that generates only once.
To obtain the rare egg players must travel to The End through the End Portal, destroy the End Crystals and then the Ender Dragon. It’s as easy as that!
17. The shriek of the ghasts
Here’s one of the funniest fun facts about Minecraft that we discovered. Did you know that the sounds the ghasts make in Minecraft are actually recordings of a cat waking up?
Minecraft composer and sound designer Daniel “C418” Rosenfeld’s cat to be exact. A cat who will live on in Minecraft history!
18. What’s the most common block in Minecraft?
At first guess, you’d think the most common block in Minecraft would be wood, dirt, or cobblestone – but you’d be forgetting one very important block.
Air. In fact, everywhere there isn’t a block, it’s filled with an air block. And yes, air is considered a block in the Minecraft universe.
19. What’s the largest city ever built in Minecraft
This is one of the coolest and most impressive Minecraft facts. The Minecraft city of Greenfield, based on real-life Los Angeles, is a 38 square kilometer (23.6 mi) build with over 500 million blocks. The city has over 8,000 buildings, seven districts and a full-size airport!
20. How is time different in Minecraft?
One day in Minecraft is very different to one day in the real world. In fact, Minecraft time is 72 times faster compared to real-time.
This means that each Minecraft day is a total of 20 minutes of real-time. Put it this way, if you play for 24 hours straight, you’ve just spent 72 days in the Minecraft universe.
21. How many skins are there in Minecraft?
As of 2022, Minecraft has a collection of nine default skins when you begin the game. The game started with only one skin, Steve, in 2009, then expanded with Steve’s female equivalent, Alex, in 2014.
However, now there are more inclusive and diverse skins to choose from including; Noor, Sunny, Ari, Zuri, Makena, Kai, and Efe.
Who wants more fun facts?
If you’re looking for some recommendations, these are a few of our favorite fact books to buy. We use these when planning fun trivia nights with family and friends!
We really hope you enjoyed all our fun facts about Minecraft! Did you learn something new?
If there’s any Minecraft facts we missed, you can let us know in the comments below and we’ll add them to this article!
