47 Minecraft Block Facts You Maybe Didn’t Know

– [Skip the Tutorial] 47 Minecraft Block Facts You Possibly Didn’t Know. Minecraft has hundreds of blocks to choose from, which means it’s easy to lose track of certain facts. So today, I’m joined by the channel Block Facts to give you some of the best block info that might’ve passed you by.

And, hey, the YouTube vice principal told me that no one has ever subscribed to the channel behind their back, so if you’re up to the challenge, turn away from your screen and find that red sub button down below. It’s free, and it helps out a ton. Number one.

Anyone who’s ever used the compostor block knows that it can sometimes be a ripoff, but as it turns out, it’s not just you that it’s ripping off. As a matter of fact, as soon as you put an item inside the compostor, you’ll see that the filling texture is the same as podzol.

Number two. In Bedrock Edition, it’s entirely possible to relight an unlit campfire just by lighting yourself on fire. No joke, by going over and stop, dropping, and rolling right on top of an unlit pile of ashes, all of a sudden, it’s lit up like a Christmas tree. Now, the only question is,

Why doesn’t this happen in Java Edition? I guess we handle fire safety a little different around here. Number three. Throughout Minecraft history, the jungle wood door has been through a couple of different changes. As you can see, in 1.16, the current texture that we have when we have this in our inventory

Does not match up to the door when it’s placed down. And if that inconsistency’s gonna bug you for the rest of the day, then don’t sweat it, because in the 1.17 update, they’re actually changing it in the snapshot. – [Block Facts] Number four. Everybody knows that you’re able

To color beacon beams with stained glass. More interestingly, however, stacking them on top of each other opens up a whole bunch of new colors! This means that there are 12,326,391 unique colors. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number five. Everyone knows that shulker boxes are a great way

To carry around extra items in your inventory, but have you ever wondered how much? As it turns out, if you have 37 shulker boxes fully filled to the brim in your inventory, hotbar, and off-hand slot, then those 999 stacks of 64 items are going to add up to 63,936 total items. Number six.

Going hunting for the different ancient debris blocks that you need to make your netherite armor and tools is not an easy task, and while that journey might seem difficult, as it turns out, it’s not even the hardest one in the Nether. That’s right, folks. It actually turns out that gilded blackstone

Is even rarer than ancient debris blocks. But if you’re giving me a choice between one or the other, I’m definitely gonna take the less rare option. – [Block Facts] Number seven. Getting a full set of 15 bookshelves is almost a prerequisite for getting an enchantment table,

So obviously this is on your to-do list. But how much does it cost? After running the numbers, it takes 90 wooden planks, 45 leather, and 135 paper to make all the bookshelves necessary for a level 30 enchantment. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number eight. Perhaps you didn’t know,

But there’s actually a way to find predictability in the way that bedrock spawns, and using this information, people have made a program where you’re actually able to see where the largest clump of bedrock appears in the top-most layer. And if you’re curious, that’s at X=21,783,512 and Z=-800,011.

What are you gonna do with this information? I don’t know. But is it a fact about blocks? Absolutely. – [Block Facts] Number nine. Even though barrels were first added to Minecraft: Java Edition roughly a month before Bedrock and Snapshot 18w44a, in the files of a Bedrock Edition beta version

Lie some interesting unused textures. Apparently, at some point in development, there were plans to add variants of the barrel, both empty and filled with fish. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 10. For anyone who’s been playing Minecraft for a couple years now, you’ve probably noticed something a little different about your beacons lately.

As it turns out, as of Snapshot 19w41a in Java Edition, you can no longer see the full beacon beam when you look up through it. Now, instead, you’re just gonna get these little particle effects along the side of your screen. – [Block Facts] Number 11. Render distance works

In a couple of different ways in Minecraft. While most of us are familiar with the absolute render distance that refers to the blocks and structures in the distance, there’s a separate entity render distance that exists. That’s why shulker boxes disappear when you’re too far away from them,

Because even though they’re placed like a block, the game still classifies them as an entity. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 12. Because soul sand isn’t a full block, when gravity blocks try to fall on top of it, they’re just gonna get broken, which might not seem like that big of an issue,

But it actually could be. You see, if you’re in a soul sand valley and you want to clear up the lava, then this is not a complete way to get to the soul sand underneath. And, yeah, unfortunately, you’re not gonna be draining up the lava this way. Number 13.

When you toggle a piston between on and off rapidly with a gravity-affected block such as sand on top of it, then eventually the piston will actually break the block. Which, there you go, can even be picked up as an item. Is it practical? Not exactly. You’re way better using a slab or something.

– [Block Facts] Number 14. Mob spawning definitely has some quirks. For instance, even though mobs can’t spawn on transparent blocks such as slabs and glass, piston head blocks work just fine. Now, this is not to be confused with the regular piston block. That part prevents mobs from spawning inside,

Just like any other full block. Number 15. While crafting a stonecutter instead of a crafting table does seem more expensive, when making stairs using a stonecutter, it requires just one block per stair crafted, where a crafting table costs 1.5 blocks per stair. For things like cobblestone,

This doesn’t seem to make much of a difference, but for harder-to-obtain blocks such as quartz and prismarine, the savings add up quickly. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 16. As many of us know, beacon beams can’t pass through solid blocks, but if you’re worried that you can’t use a beacon inside of the Nether

Unless you go into the Nether roof, don’t worry. As it turns out, if you place a beacon underneath bedrock with no other solid blocks like netherrack in between it, then it’ll actually blast through the bedrock roof, and look, you’ve got a fully-powered beacon. – [Block Facts] Number 17.

Smelting items in a furnace can be a surprisingly good way to get experience, especially when partnered with cactus and bamboo farms to essentially automate the process. While those are good long-term, if you’re only going to smelt one item, the best one to put in the furnace is ancient debris, yielding two experience points

For grabbing the netherite scrap. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 18. While the invisibility potion effect makes you almost entirely invisible to different mobs and players, as it turns out, there’s something in Minecraft a little bit more all-knowing. As you can see, if you have the invisibility effect

And then you walk up to an enchantment table, then it’ll still open up and the book will “see” the player. Number 19. Of the list of words that the enchantment table can use, none of the words actually contain the letters “J” or “Q.” Which is weird, because even though they’re not used

In any of the words that show up, they do still have a symbol attached to them, which I guess makes sense. I mean, why are you gonna code in 24 letters of the alphabet and not do the other two? Number 20. Although beacons do require obsidian to make,

They don’t actually require a diamond pickaxe to break. I know that seems odd, and especially with a high-value item like this. You don’t want to risk accidentally losing it. But sure enough, as you can see, if you use another pickaxe that isn’t diamond, you’re still gonna get the beacon back.

– [Block Facts] Number 21. The smithing table has been through quite a few changes during its short time in Minecraft. When it was first added in Snapshot 18w44a, Minecraft’s smithing table used to look like this. It’s a sort of modified crafting table with some different tools along the side.

I suppose it makes some sense. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 22. On May 17th of 2019, Minecraft celebrated its 10th anniversary. And with that, if you actually happened to place a cake on that day, you’d actually see that the cake model was modified so that it would display a “10” above it

Made out of white concrete. It’s a cute little birthday celebration, but honestly, who among us is crafting cakes, anyway? Number 23. Of all of the blocks that exist in Minecraft, the only three that can naturally generate in all three dimensions are chests, obsidian, and bedrock. And because of that,

I guess technically each dimension has some way for you to get an ender chest on your hands, as well. – [Block Facts] Number 24. When chains were added to Minecraft, they brought around a lot of discussion, but one topic that doesn’t get talked about enough is their blast resistance.

Even though chains are made of less iron, just two iron nuggets and an ingot, they have the same blast resistance as a full block of iron, proving once and for all that it’s never about the amount of iron, but how you use it. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 25.

Roughly eight years ago, on July 31st of 2012, Notch first hinted at the idea of a command block in his Reddit AMA. Here, when asked about more minor updates that the team was working on for the future, he mentioned that they might be working on some kind of script block, which,

As you can see now in reference to the adventure mode, turns out to be the command block. And even though, at the time, Notch said this idea might have felt impure for the game, all of us who have played with the different minigames and command maps that have been made with this

Are definitely thankful for them. – [Block Facts] Number 26. Anyone lucky enough to get their hands on the Heart of the Sea item likely put it into crafting a conduit, but unless you’ve fully powered it, you might not have seen that it’s still there.

When activated, the conduit displays a Heart of the Sea at the center of its model. Then, when all 42 blocks necessary have been placed, the Heart opens like an orange eye, as you can see here. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 27. If you don’t yet have the Flame enchantment on your bow

But you’re still looking to fire off some flame arrows, then this might be an option. You see, if you have a lava bucket, that is gonna be able to catch some of your arrows on fire, but not in the way that you would think. As you can see,

Only if an arrow is shot into flowing lava does it catch on fire. – [Block Facts] Number 28. Beds and the Nether don’t exactly mix well. That’s just intentional game design. Though that’s unfortunate, since it turns out beds might just be what you need for Nether safety.

Of course, you can only test this in the Overworld, but when you sleep in a bed, the player cannot be damaged by lava. When you wake up, you might not be as lucky. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 29. Now, if you’ve ever played Minecraft during Halloween night,

Then you’re well and aware that some mobs on that day will be able to spawn with Jack o’Lanterns on their heads. As it turns out, there’s actually 13 different mobs in the game that are able to wear this, which is good, because this is probably the only time

You’re ever gonna get to see them. Number 30. Now, despite what you might think, there’s actually only one transparent block that cannot be placed on ice. Can you guess it? Well, if you can’t, then it’s actually snow layers that cannot be placed on top of ice blocks,

Which is likely some holdover from world generation. – [Block Facts] Number 31. By this point, hoppers are an essential staple of Minecraft, though if you’ve ever noticed an item traffic jam in your hopper pipeline, this might be why. A hopper can transfer 9,000 items per hour, or 150 items per minute.

So if you have a really high-efficiency farm, now at least you know why it got plugged up. Number 32. If you’ve ever had a physics lesson, you’ve heard that gravity, in theory, accelerates all objects at the same rate. In Minecraft, however, that’s verifiably false. To test this,

If a player stands on a stack of sand or gravel, and then the stack falls onto a non-solid block like a torch, then the player will fall fast enough to go through the stack and even take enough damage to die. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 33.

When hoppers were first added into the game, they initially only had a work-in-progress texture, but maybe not in the way you’re thinking, because as you can see, this only showed up when you had the hopper inside of your inventory. But even with that said, it is still pretty funny

To walk around with a “WIP” just hanging around in your hand. – [Block Facts] Number 34. Unlike their slime block counterparts, honey blocks are sticky along their sides. As the Sticky Situation achievement describes, sliding down the sticky side will slow your fall.

So, if you were to take a stack of 256 honey blocks and slide from the top of the world down to the bottom, it would take one minute and 14 seconds. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 35. As of 1.16, the current longest name for a block is “polished blackstone pressure plate,”

Which is actually tied for “cracked polished blackstone bricks,” both of which being 34 characters long with spaces and 31 without. But, of course, this is excluding the “Education Edition,” because there, it’s not a fair competition. Number 36. Even though some servers, by default, use spawn protection to protect against their spawn point,

As it turns out, if you’re not an admin, there still is a little bit of havoc that you’re able to do there. Sure enough, if you use bone meal on the grass in a spawn-protected area, it’s still gonna produce grass and flowers. – [Block Facts] Number 37.

Pistons have a unique way of interacting with the blocks in front of them. Namely, if you have a piston push and pull a block like glowstone, it ceases to be a block for a moment and instead becomes a block entity. Because of this reclassification, that means a glowstone block

Momentarily does not give off any light during its journey. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 38. Before stained glass and stained glass panes were added into Minecraft, there was actually a similar block named “tinted glass” that existed in the April Fools version 2.0 update. So, what started out as a joke

Actually ended up being Mojang previewing a feature, and as a matter of fact, the texture that was used in the April Fools update was actually used for the block before the stained glass got its own texture. – [Block Facts] Number 39. One of the main features of Java Edition 1.6

Was the addition of hay bales. They were added in the Snapshot 13w16a, when Minecraft hay bales used to look like this. They were called hay blocks and had red bands visible on all sides, instead of looking like the texture we know and love. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 40.

As soon as you hoe a dirt block and turn it into farmland, then all of a sudden, you’re not able to place ladders or torches along the side. But, even though that’s true, you still could do this with signs. As you can see right here, you can type your favorite message on it

And it’s gonna stay on top of that farmland. – [Block Facts] Number 41. Nowadays, ender chests stick out as the safest way to hide your diamonds and netherite, but their original implementation told a different story. In their first appearance during Snapshot 12w21a, every player on a server could access

The same ender chest inventory. For a time, the safest option in Minecraft was the total opposite. – [Skip the Tutorial] Number 42. If the texture for end stone looks familiar to you, then there’s a reason for it. As you can see, the end stone’s texture is actually an inversion geometric translation

And then a recoloration of the cobblestone’s texture. And you know what? Good on Mojang. They were able to cut corners, and I didn’t even notice until it was pointed out. Number 43. If you’ve ever tried to go through the hassle of learning how to play different note blocks,

Then you’re well and aware that if you place a note block on top of specific blocks, then it actually makes a different instrument. So, by that, what if you place a note block on top of another note block? Then it’s gonna produce a string-based instrument when you play it.

Why you’d ever use it like that, I have no clue. The other note block underneath is unable to play anything. – [Block Facts] Number 44. If you’ve ever worked with Observers, you’re probably aware that getting these blocks the right way ’round isn’t always an easy task.

Apparently, even Jeb had some confusion over this. The reason that Observers have their current face texture is because Jeb kept forgetting which bit was the front, so this rejected texture was dug up as a solution. Number 45. Minecraft sponges have come a long way. What used to be an unobtainable block

That didn’t soak up any water is now a treasure valuable enough to validate going to an ocean monument for. But as it turns out, this block was even less useful when Notch first added it. Originally in Minecraft Classic, the block would decay over time, just like leaves.

When the liquid system was reworked in Infdev, they no longer drained water. Clearly, up until the Update Aquatic, this wasn’t very high on Mojang’s priority list. – [Block Facts] Number 46. Of all the mobs in Minecraft, there’s only one that cannot trample turtle eggs.

As it turns out, bats are the only ones that, if they fly on top of a turtle egg, they’re not gonna crack it. So, for what it’s worth, if you ever want to mix together your turtle storage with your bat farm, it’s not exactly a workplace hazard. Number 47.

Surprisingly, even though you’re able to break your fall by falling on top of a waterlogged block, water-filled cauldrons are a different story. As you can see here, if we put side-by-side a waterlogged chest and a water-filled cauldron, one’s gonna save you and the other one doesn’t make any sense. And with that, folks,

Special thanks to Block Facts for their help on this. – [Block Facts] Subscribe to Block Facts! – [Skip The Tutorial] And, hey, if you learned something new or even just enjoyed the video, then consider subscribing to that red sub block down below. And then, have a good one, all right?