Minecraft is an absorbing game in part because it is full of secrets. There is no manual that tells you how to beat its various monsters or craft the tools you need - you either have to look it up online or experiment. Even seasoned players can uncover new surprises. Here are our five favourite Minecraft Secrets. Also, belated happy birthday to this beloved sandbox game, which turned five in May.
1. Killer Rabbits
A recent update to Minecraft added rabbits - cute fluffy bunnies (well, as fluffy as a creature made of blocks can be) that hop aimlessly around and occasionally invade your carrot crops if you leave them undefended. You can even tame a rabbit by feeding it carrots and it will follow you around as a loyal pet.
There is however, one deadly exception. Whenever a rabbit is spawned by the game there is a small chance that what will appear is not the twitchy-nosed ball of cuteness you might expect, but a terrifying killer rabbit with glowing red eyes - a tribute to the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (below, for your enjoyment). The Killer Rabbit will attack on sight and can easily destroy an unarmored player. How embarrassing.
2. Herobrine
There is a peculiar myth that has grown within Minecraft fandom. You might even call it folklore. Some players have reported seeing a mysterious figure in the game, known as 'Herobrine'. This figure looks like the standard player avatar, but with glowing eyes. Herobrine, the story goes, is actually the dead brother of Minecraft's creator, Notch, who has somehow become embedded in the game.
This is, of course, complete nonsense. Notch doesn't even have a brother, much less a ghostly one who is haunting his Java code. Nevertheless, the hoax/prank/rumour/legend persists, fuelled by faked Herobrine sighting screenshots and mischievous Minecraft server operators pretending to be Herobrine to unnerve new players.
3. The Far Lands
The world of Minecraft may be described as 'infinite' but in reality the algorithm that generates the blocky landscape begins to break down over a certain distance. If you travel (or 'teleport' using a cheat program) just over 12.5 million blocks from the central 'spawn' point where you begin the game the various counters and variables that the terrain generator uses will overflow and the algorithm will create bizarre structures and deep, semi-enclosed canyons.
Errors in floating-point mathematics produce strange, unnatural physics and blocks can move or appear solid but be unable to support weight. Minecraft fans have nicknamed this strange region The Far Lands. (example image: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/File:Farlandscornerflying.png)
4. Jukebox and music discs
If you combine eight wooden planks with a single diamond in the Minecraft crafting grid (stick the diamond in the centre) you can craft a Jukebox. The wooden,. chest-like block will play music if you insert a music disc. It's an obscure crafting recipe but the real secret is how you go about obtaining music to play on it.
There are 12 music discs available in Minecraft, each of which holds a unique piece of music composed for the game by 'C418' (Daniel Rosenfeld, composer of the Minecraft soundtrack and designer of many in-game sound effects.) Two such discs can occasionally be found hidden inside dungeon chests but the rest can only be created if you can get a Skeleton Archer to accidentally kill a Creeper. This is not easy to do in normal gameplay although it is possible to build a redstone-powered trap that can make things easier:
If that all sounds like too much hassle, you can hear clips of each disc here.
5. The End
There is barely a hint of it as you play through the game but Minecraft actually has an end. A way to 'win' - although most players never reach it. By collecting the right resources you can create a portal to the Nether, a fiery 'hell' dimension. By gathering certain other items from there you can find and activate an End Portal, hidden away in an underground stronghold in the 'real' Minecraft world.
The End Portal will take you to The End, a dark dimension which is home to the Ender Dragon. Kill the dragon (trickier than it sounds) and you will 'win' the game and get to read a cryptic poem that was written by the Irish poet and novelist, Julian Gough.
Got one to add? Tell us in the comments below!
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