# Mineplex

Mineplex is a Minecraft minigame server created in 2013 by Gregory Bylos and Jarred van de Voort. In 2016, Mineplex had millions of unique players monthly. At its peak, the server had around 20,000 concurrent players at any given time. Mineplex won the Guinness World Records award on January 28, 2015, for having 34,434 concurrent players, the most on a Minecraft server at the time. This record was later lost to Hypixel the same year.
Mineplex's popularity on the Java Edition of Minecraft rapidly declined after its peak years, while the Bedrock Edition counterpart averaged 4,000+ concurrent players. After years of decline, Mineplex abruptly ceased its operations on May 11, 2023. Following the closure, former admin and Overwatch content creator Samito stated on social media that he had acquired Mineplex and plans on re-opening it sometime in the future. Mineplex is actively undergoing a rebuild and modernization effort. The Closed Beta began on August 9, 2024. The server is currently behind a paywall, set to relaunch to the public sometime in the future.

## Features

The server's main features were its various minigames as well as its specially customized and heavily modded multiplayer maps. Players were also able to purchase items such as ranks that allowed for certain in-game abilities.
After the server was acquired by the new ownership team, they announced the launch of a groundbreaking feature: the Mineplex Studio. This platform empowers game developers to create and publish their own games within the Mineplex ecosystem. Equipped with a comprehensive suite of tools, the Mineplex Studio facilitates the development of high-quality games swiftly and cost-effectively. Its mission is to democratize game development, reducing barriers to entry for studios of all sizes.

## History

Mineplex was founded and created on January 24, 2013, by Gregory Bylos and Jarred van de Voort, known in Minecraft as "Sterling_", and "Spu_" respectively. In June 2013, Mineplex merged with a Minecraft server known as "BetterMC". The server received large increases in players after YouTuber CaptainSparklez became part of the ownership team, and he would publish videos about the server. In 2016, the Dallas Mavericks partnered with Mineplex to create Dallas Mavericks World, a minigame for the server. According to a news release by the team, it would allow players to compete in building competitions and play a basketball minigame in a full-scale model of the American Airlines Center. The minigame was launched on the server in the summer of 2016 but ultimately failed due to Mineplex's partnership with Mojang Studios. Mineplex was one of the oldest Minecraft servers that existed since 2013, until the server ceased operations in May 2023.

### Closure

On May 11, 2023, Mineplex's website and Minecraft servers went down without prior notice. Mineplex was removed from Minecraft: Bedrock Edition's featured server listing four days later on May 15. An announcement from one of Mineplex's administrators was made on the Mineplex Discord server the following day that the server would be permanently closed down.

### Revival

On May 27, 2023, a former administrator of the server, Sam Dawahare, known online as "Samito", posted on Twitter that he had "acquired 100% of Mineplex". The official Mineplex Twitter account reposted this, saying they had a "new team" and were "really excited to be back." The server's official website was updated to show a "Coming Soon" message, stating "We're so excited to see you all again when we re-release."

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Category | Performance | Date | Result | Ref. |
| Guinness World Records | Most Popular Minecraft Server Network | 34,434 | January 28, 2015 | Won | |