The Many Wondrous Styles of Minigames

Before we jump into the nitty gritty of this thing and get you some game tips, let's break down the general types of games in this book.

There are about as many types of minigames in existence as there are plug-in creators and Redstone engineers that create them. There are always new variations and entirely new styles of minigames out there, but since Minecraft has been around for a while, a few genres have become established and most minigames new and old fall into them.

These, young Crafters, are the genres we're going to get you familiar with in this book, and will having you beating people at all over the Internet in no time.

SURVIVAL-BASED

Minecraft's about two things in the regular version of the game: survival and building. Learning how to do these two things is learning how to Minecraft, and people really pride themselves on their abilities in these departments.

Thus, when people set out to make minigames that took the regular game of Minecraft and made it competitive, one of the first things people did was to make a bunch of Survival-Based Minecraft minigames to pit their hard-won skills against those of their friends and the rest of the Internet.

These games will test your ability to simply stay alive and thrive in Minecraft, forcing you to mine for resources, hunt mobs, craft items, and even enchant a thing or two in some cases. On top of that, almost all Survival-Based minigames also require you to vanquish other players to win.

These are some hard minigames, but they're also highly rewarding and very beloved by the community.

PARKOUR

Parkour is different from just about every other minigame in this book, because it's not really about surviving, fighting, or building, but instead just plain jumping! Parkour is the art of jumping from block to block, and it's gone from being an obscure part of the online game to a bona fide phenomenon that you can find on almost every single server.

Parkour feels like an easier, less-intimidating minigame on the surface: you just jump from spot to spot, and when you fall down no alarms go off or "You Lose" signs flash or anything (usually, there are some competitive Parkour servers where things are a little more formalized). You just go back to the first block and start again, and you can go as slow as you want.

However, thinking of Parkour as easy is a mistake. This is one of the most tricky minigames in existence; one that takes years of practice and an incredible sense of timing and spatial recognition to get truly good at.

You can try, and we'll give you some tips, but beware Crafters: Parkour is some hardcore Minecraft minigamin'.

PLAYER VS. PLAYER

Person on person combat is the focus of most video games out there, and where regular, single-player Minecraft doesn't have it very often (except when you're being funny and slap your friend), online Minecraft has taken Player vs. Player (or PVP) combat and turned it into an art form.

There are literally hundreds of different variations on PVP minigames online today, from the easy and cute Spleef to the complex and difficult games like Warlords and Annihilation.

If you can think of it, from gun-based shootouts to Bow-only combat, people have probably made a formal, score-keeping minigame out of it and play it like crazy on some server or another. In this book, we've collected the best of the best, as well as the games that are most popular online right now. We'll walk you through how they work and how to get better at them, so that next time you log in, you'll find nobody on the server who can match your skills in combat.

SKYBLOCK AND SKYBLOCK VARIANTS

While a lot of games in this book have similarities to other video games you might play (such as the PVP games to first-person shooters), Skyblock is a style of minigame that's pretty much entirely unique to Minecraft. It involves surviving and performing challenges by crafting, but doing so while high up in the air on a teeny little block of land.

Skyblock takes a whole lot of knowledge about Minecraft to do well, because you have incredibly limited resources. If you screw up, you really can't fix it usually and will have to start all over.

This makes Skyblock one of the most respected forms of Minecrafting online today, because people know just how hard it is (most have tried and failed to get very far in it).

That being said, it just takes a little planning and thought to get a good, long game of Skyblock going. It's unlikely you'll complete the whole thing on the first go (very few could do this), but with our guide, you'll be on your way to a fully completed challenge list in just a match or two of this incredibly fun game.

LONG-FORM

Most minigames are short-lived things: meant to provide quick, fun entertainment for a half hour at most and a few minutes at the quickest.

The games in our Long-Form chapter are a different beast entirely. They are games designed to play and keep playing, where you go from having very little to months later being far advanced, and having a ton of stories to tell on the way.

Think of these kind of like Minecraft's MMORPG form. You and hundreds and even thousands of other players play in the same world and interact with it, building, warring, gaining experience, and all manner of other things for months on end.

When it comes to rewarding minigames (and those that take a bit of commitment), Long-Form minigames are at the top of the list.

CREATIVE

If you're more the type that likes to play Minecraft for the building and not the survival or combat, worry not: there are minigames out there for you, too. Creative minigames put the focus entirely on what you can do with blocks in this game, and they find ways to make it competitive so you can actually use your creative skills to win.

These games are also absolutely top-notch training games to get better at building and become more creative, and only about one-third of people on them are actually any good, so they're not just for expert builders. Those of you who are just looking for some light fun, or who want to get better at building, should try them out as well.

QUIRKY

Here's where we showcase all the minigames that just don't fit in any other category. Party games, goofy competitive games, and even a kart racing game can be found here, and there's very little in the way of difficult, complex rules to figure out.

These are the games you should check out when you just want to jump in and have some good, fast fun and take a break from all this serious Minecrafting in many of the other games. Each of them is very well done and there are usually tons of players online taking part in them, so you can always find someone else to get a bit goofy with.

Now that you know a bit about what kind of minigames there are, let's show you where to find 'em and get to playin'!

Where the Games Are: Minigame Servers, and...