April Fool’s Day has arrived, and once again companies are devoting time and resources on “announcements” that we all simply ignore. After all, none of those announcements are real, so what’s the point?
Well, Mojang Studios has a tradition of celebrating April Fool’s Day with a brand-new Minecraft update that you can actually play, and the tradition is continuing for another year!
Today, Minecraft: Java Edition players on Windows PC and beyond can play the “Craftmine” update, an exclusive and limited time snapshot that lets you craft infinite mines to explore.
Again, it’s real. You can go play it now.
An April Fool’s Day joke that you can actually play
Most companies leave their April Fool’s Day shenanigans to a faux trailer or even simple social media post, but the developers at Mojang Studios actually put together a tangible product for the Minecraft community.
Last year, that was the Poisonous Potatos update, which filled Minecraft with a whole lot of starchy goodness. This year, it’s the “Craftmind” update, which adds the Mine Crafter table.
To play, take any combination of resources and items you want, toss them into the Mine Crafter, and open a portal into a brand-new mine created from your chosen ingredients.
Yes, that means gaining access to a lot more of those resources, too, all waiting for you to collect them until your inventory is full and your back is in pain.
After that, all you have to do is desperately search for the exit, because you’re now hopelessly lost in the mine you created. Sorry.
Here’s how to play the Craftmine update on Windows PC
Sadly, like most of Mojang’s weirdest Minecraft updates, Craftmine is exclusive to Minecraft: Java Edition on Windows PC, Linux, and macOS. There’s no alternative for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition players (including on console), which is a shame.
To access the snapshot, you’ll first need to download the Minecraft: Java Edition “Craftmine” .jar file at Minecraft.net (clicking that link will automatically prompt the download).
Find the new .jar file in your “Downloads” folder, rename it to something like “craftmine,” then head to the “Versions” folder for Minecraft on your PC (this can usually be found under “%appdata%\.minecraft\versions”).
Next, create a new folder here with the same name as the .jar file, then copy that file inside the folder. Once that’s done, open the Minecraft Launcher, head to “Installations,” and make sure that the “Snapshots” option in the corner is enabled. You should see the new Craftmine snapshot appear!
You can play this update for as long as you have the .jar file installed, but keep in mind this update won’t be updated at all moving forward. This is a one and done, just like previous April Fool’s Day updates for Minecraft, and these quirky features certainly aren’t coming to the true Minecraft game.
It’s also recommended to create new worlds to explore the Craftmine update, or at least only use backups of your existing worlds, as these experimental snapshots are inherently unstable and can corrupt your save data.
You can find more information at Minecraft.net.
Some Minecraft updates that will survive the end of April Fool’s Day
If you’re not interested in the goofy, temporary Craftmine update made just for April Fool’s Day, there’s still plenty going on in the Minecraft world right now.
Mojang Studios just released the “Spring to Life” update for all Minecraft versions, which adds a ton of mob variants and other features to make the Overworld feel more diverse and alive.
Finally, Minecraft is finally set to get a major graphical upgrade, and I’ve collected everything you need to know about the Minecraft “Vibrant Visuals” update, including side-by-side comparisons.
For today, though, we can craft mines in Minecraft. What do you think of this April Fool’s Day update from Mojang Studios? Are you glad the developer is continuing the tradition?
