Minecraft Quiz
Minecraft's first version was written in under a week.
A Minecraft quiz with answers about the game's history as well as its world: who made it, what it was first called, where its strangest creature came from and who wrote the music. No crafting recipes required.
Did you know?
- In 2014 the Danish government's mapping agency released a model of the entire country of Denmark in Minecraft at full scale, built from official geographic data. It was intended for schools. Within weeks some players had managed to smuggle in dynamite and blow up parts of virtual Copenhagen.
- A Minecraft world is far larger than the planet we live on. A standard world stretches about 60 million blocks from edge to edge, giving a surface roughly seven times that of the Earth. Almost nobody has ever walked to the border without using tricks.
- The first official Lego sets based on the game came about through a public vote. In 2011 fans proposed the idea on a website where the toy company collected suggestions, and it reached the required ten thousand supporters in about two days.
How a one-person project became the best-selling game
Minecraft started in May 2009 as a hobby. Its creator put an unfinished version online within days and sold early access for a low price, using the income to keep working on it. Players spread the word through videos and forums, and the game had already sold millions of copies before it was declared finished in November 2011 at a fan convention in Las Vegas. He was working a day job at the time.
A world without instructions
The game gives players almost no goals. In survival mode they gather materials, build shelter and fend off monsters at night; in creative mode they have unlimited blocks and can fly. Worlds are generated by an algorithm as the player explores, so no two are alike. A material called redstone carries signals like an electric wire, and patient players have used it to build working calculators and even simple computers inside the game.
Out of the bedroom
The blocky look, chosen at first because it was quick to program, became the game's signature. A version for schools appeared in 2016 and is used to teach subjects from chemistry to history. A United Nations programme has used the game since 2012 to let residents, including children, design parks and public squares in their own neighbourhoods before anything is built. Its simple cubes also let it run on almost any device, from old laptops to phones.
A game that keeps growing
More than a decade after release the game still receives large free updates, which add new landscapes, animals and building materials. By 2023 it had sold over 300 million copies, more than any other video game. Its players range from small children to adults who were teenagers when it first appeared, and many of today's game designers say they learned to create by building in it.