Blocks

For the music disc by the same name, see Music Discs.
**Blocks** are standard-sized block units, whose appearances differ from block to block. They make up the landscape of the *Minecraft* world and are used in many of the game's mechanics.

 File:BlockCSS.png

## Description

 File:CobblestoneNew.png
 File:WoodenPlanksNew.gif
 File:Coarse Dirt.png
Each cube is unique and offers the player building materials, utilities, decoration, and crafting. For example, an emerald block functions as both a building material and compact means of storing emeralds. Blocks are place-able, unlike most other objects  (without the use of an item frame). They make up the in-game environments and can be collected, placed, and used in many different ways. Some blocks spawn naturally, such as dirt or stone while other blocks, such as bricks and redstone lamps, must be crafted by a player. Logs, for example, is one of the more useful blocks, due to its widespread use and requirement in many crafting recipes. All player-made structures are created by using multiple blocks of one, or several different varieties.

Certain blocks have special uses. For example, Jack o' Lantern, glowstone, and sea lanterns can be used to light underwater areas, because they cannot be extinguished by water.

There are three different transparency levels by which blocks can be classified:

* Transparent blocks, such as air and water.
* Semi-transparent blocks, such as glass and leaves.
* Opaque blocks, such as wood or cobblestone.

Most transparent/translucent blocks, can't have torches placed on them.

The face of a block is 16x16 pixels, and each block is proportionately one cubic meter. Most blocks are static, although water, lava, portal, and fire blocks have a shifting pattern. While the default texture pack's textures have 16x16 block faces, there are texture packs with 32x32 or even 64x64 textures. These texture packs often require a mod, but usually, they only require the default *Minecraft* resource pack.

## Naturally-generated Blocks

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The following is a list of many blocks that generate naturally *Minecraft* worlds. Entries marked with a D require additional data values to entirely define the block in a *Minecraft* world. Entries marked with an I have a different ID as an inventory item. Entries marked with a B require additional inventory data to fully define the inventory item. Entries marked with a T have tile entities associated with them to store additional data. Items with IDs in red cannot be legitimately obtained by a player in the game. They can only be obtained by "hacking" (Such as using an inventory editor) or while in multiplayer servers, or by using the /give command. Items available only in Creative mode are in blue. Items only obtainable through the Silk Touch enchantment in Survival Mode  are in green.

### The Overworld

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Below is a list of blocks that can be obtained in the Overworld .

#### Naturally Generated

Naturally generated blocks include blocks that are created through a 'seed ' either player-generated or generated by a random seed generator.

#### Naturally Created

Naturally created means a combination of events that cause a new block to be placed by non player causes.

 File:NPC Village Overhead.png
#### Structures

Same as naturally generated, but these blocks are only created with the "Generate Structures" option enabled.

All blocks are limited to stacks of 64 per inventory slot .

### The Nether

 File:Netherfortress.jpg
 File:NetherrackNew.png
#### Naturally Generated

 File:RedMushroomNew.png
 File:BrownMushroomNew.png

## Additional Reading

 File:Aerial view of tall building- Minecraft.jpg
There are over 150 different types of blocks in *Minecraft*, including environmental features like air and water, which cannot be obtained, various types of wood, various colors of wool, various, slabs, stairs, utility blocks, and the list goes on. New blocks are typically added to one or more versions of *Minecraft* every few months.

 File:Ground view of tall building - Minecraft.jpg
In a standard, randomly-generated world, one can find air, stone, grass, snow, dirt, water, water source, lava, lava source, sand, sandstone, gravel, gold ore, iron ore, diamond ore, Redstone ore, lapis lazuli ore, clay block, coal ore, bedrock, ice, wood, birch wood, wooden planks, etc.

In abandoned mineshafts, oak/dark oak wood, stone, rails, and various exposed ores can be found. Leaves, cacti, sugar cane, vines, pumpkins, dandelions, poppies, brown and red mushrooms, dead bushes, shrubs, and tall grass can all be found exploring the Overworld. In dungeons, one can also find cobblestone, mossy cobblestone, a monster spawner, and chests. However, cobblestone is most often obtained by the player by mining stone and chests are crafted, making this a unique structure.

Cobblestone, wooden planks, fences, pressure plates, bookshelves, crafting tables, stairs, torches, black wool, glass panes, iron bars, lava, chests, and furnaces can also be found in the randomly-generated villages.

Stone bricks, mossy stone bricks, cracked stone bricks, iron bars, end portal frames, monster spawners, bookshelves, wooden planks, fences, chests, and cobwebs can be found in the strongholds and abandoned mineshafts also added in Beta 1.8.

Obsidian can be found naturally but is not considered a part of a random generation. Instead, it's created when a naturally-occurring lava source block comes in contact with water. Cobblestone can also be found naturally in the same circumstances as obsidian but is formed when moving lava  comes into contact with water . Strongholds are also partially built of cobblestone.

Players can craft a variety of blocks that are not naturally found in the world, such as crafting tables, bookshelves, and furnaces, using their 4x4 personal crafting grid. Redstone , diamond , gold, and lapis lazuli can be found in the lower areas of maps.

Netherrack, glowstone, gravel, soul sand, Nether brick, Nether brick fence, Nether brick stairs, and Nether wart can be found in the Nether, which a player can only reach via a Nether portal. End stone, bedrock, and obsidian can be found in the End, which can only be reached via an End portal. Torches, an End portal, an End gateway, and a dragon egg are generated after a player kills the Ender Dragon.

The Pocket Edition had three unique blocks: the cyan flower, Nether reactor core, and glowing obsidian, however, these blocks are no longer in the game.

## Trivia

* When placing a block in any version of *Minecraft* with a slow computer, it may place two blocks instead of one, and when removing a block, it removes them both. People with particularly low-end hardware may even experience three blocks being placed or removed with one click of the mouse. A common solution to this problem is to reduce the render distance.
* Water, doors, lava, doors, sugar cane, grass, flowers, open trapdoors, cobwebs, dead bushes, shrubs, and saplings are the only blocks that a player can walk through.
* Lava only flows 4 blocks in the Overworld. In the Nether, it can flow 8 blocks, similar to water in the Overworld. If the water block is hacked into one's inventory, it can be placed without evaporating and it will flow the same as in the Overworld. However, a block update will cause it to evaporate.
* Nether portal blocks may be considered artificial blocks because players must strike the portal frame with a flint and steel to create them.
* Netherrack, glowstone, and soul sand are blocks found only in the Nether. They all have helpful uses in the Overworld, such as an infinite light source, traps, and mob spawning (wither).
* Some blocks must be destroyed by a specific tool in order to be collected, such as diamonds being mined with an iron pickaxe or better.
* Some blocks like bedrock and end portal frames can not be mined in survival mode. Others that can only be accessed with commands, like invisible bedrock, can not be mined in creative mode and can only be removed with the `/setblock` command.
* During the survival test phase of *Minecraft*'s development, a player began with 10 TNT blocks, and they could obtain dirt, cobblestone (from stone), wooden planks (from wood), gold blocks from gold ore, iron blocks from iron ore, stone slabs from coal ore and white wool from sheep.
* In the Classic version of *Minecraft*, a player could build with naturally-occurring blocks (except for redstone and diamond), and can use bookcases, sponge, colored wool, brick, obsidian, and moss stone. Operators of servers can also place bedrock.
* Some custom servers give the ability to place fluids.

## See also

* Data values
* Items
* Opacity
* Luminance
* Ore
* Technical blocks

## Refererences

1. ↑ Notch (Tumblr)