Minecraft Simulation

What this block of time covers

This script runs the entire Minecraft IRL simulation from entry through to the Nether Portal finale, including base-building, resource gathering, crafting, day/night cycles, mining stations, hearts/respawns, tool effects, and portal crafting.

Please read start to finish first then follow to create a Minecraft simulation - if something isnt working, feel free to mix it up!

Staff take an active role in this, so please ensure all staff know their part in the simulation

Staff will need to

1) One staff member will be the game master (along with other roles) they will explain the game to the children and then move through each of the game phases.

2) Staff will run the crafting table - at the crafting table, children will bring resources and swap for items needed during the game. They will also give out resources once children complete tasks

3) At nighttime, the staff will all become "mobs"

Setup:

1) decide how many children are in each team (between 3 and 6 is ideal) to determine the number of teams you will have

2) Each team is named after a Biome such as

1. Forest 2. Desert 3. Jungle 4. Taiga 5. Ocean

2. Plains 7. Mountains 8. Swamp 9. Nether 10. End

   
   

3) While you set up the rest, get each team to make their own flag to setup on their biome base

4) Set up Crafting Table (one table) with:

• Tool/weapon cards (inflatable swords, pickaxes, axes are the physical props you hand out).

• Laminated Food cards and Heart cards (5 per child issued at briefing).

• Printed Recipe posters (Tools/Hearts/Golden Apple + Portal recipes below).

• Printed mining instruction

  
  

5) Prepare “Night” kit (light switch access, pool noodles for mobs).

6) Place cardboard boxes by each biome base (for building shelters).

7) Place a "Chest" into each biome base, where they will collect and store their resources

Instructions for children:

Gather all children together in the gym before the game starts. Stand somewhere central with recipe posters visible.

Introduction (set the scene)

Welcome to Minecraft in Real Life!Today, we’re going to play Minecraft - not on a screen, but right here in the gym. You’ll be building bases, gathering resources, crafting tools, and surviving the mobs at night. If you work hard and play as a team, you’ll even get the chance to build a Nether Portal and escape to victory!”

Teams (biomes)

You’ll be split into teams called biomes. Each biome has its own base area - that’s where you’ll keep all your resources and build your shelter. Work together and protect your base.

Resources (the coloured blocks)

All around the hall, we’ve hidden 500 resource blocks. Each colour means something different:

• Green = Wood

• Yellow = Stone

• Red = Iron

• Purple = Gold

• Blue = Diamond

• Orange = Food

When you’re collecting, you can only carry one block at a time back to your base. No stealing from other bases!

The game will be split into FIVE phases -

Phase 1 – Build and Gather (15 mins)

When we say GO, you’ll have 15 minutes to:

1. Build a shelter for your team out of the boxes at your base, and

2. Collect as many resource blocks as you can from around the hall.

Remember — one block at a time! Place them all into your base chest.

Phase 2 – Crafting (10–15 mins)

After that, the Crafting Table will open. At the Crafting Table, you can trade your resources for tools, weapons, food, and hearts.

Here are the main things you can craft:

• Pickaxes and Axes – these help you mine faster at the challenge stations.

• Swords – use these to fight back against mobs at night.

• Shields – block one attack.

• Food – trade food for extra hearts.

• Golden Apples – give you 1 minute of invincibility.

  
  

Keep your recipe cards handy - you’ll need the right combo of blocks to craft items.”

Hearts (life system)

Each of you starts with 5 Hearts. If you’re tagged by a mob at night, you’ll lose 1 Heart. To respawn, you run to the crafting table and hand in one heart.

If you run out of Hearts, you can’t play until your team buys you more at the Crafting Table. It costs 2 Food blocks for 1 Heart. So don’t forget to collect food!

Phase 3 – Mining Challenges

Once the hidden blocks are gone, you can still get more by completing challenges at the mining stations. Each station has a physical task — like star jumps, squats, or line hops.

Do the challenge, earn the block.

If you’ve crafted a Pickaxe or Axe, you can do fewer reps or get more blocks — so crafting really helps!”

Phase 4 – Nightfall Survival

At some point, I’ll call out: ‘Night is falling!’ The lights will go off, and the Mobs will arrive. The staff will be the Creepers, Zombies, Skeletons, and Endermen.

Rules for Night:

• If a mob tags you, you lose 1 Heart and go back to base to respawn.

• If you have a Sword, you can tag a mob once to escape.

• If you have a Shield, it saves you from the first tag of the night.

• If you have a Golden Apple, you’re invincible for 1 minute.

• You can hide in your shelter, but only for 20 seconds at a time.

  
  

During the Night, you can still mine and craft — but be careful, because the mobs are hunting you!

Phase 5 – The Nether Portal (Finale)

Once your team has survived, your goal is to craft the Nether Portal. To do this, you need 10 Portal Blocks.

Portal Blocks can only be crafted using special recipes at the Crafting Table. These recipes are hard - they’ll take lots of rare blocks and teamwork. Once your team has crafted enough Portal Blocks, you’ll lay them out in a big rectangle at your base.

When you have all 10, your portal is complete. We’ll call out ‘The portal is open!’ and your team escapes to victory!

Closing hype-up

So, remember:

• Work together as a team.

• Collect, craft, and survive.

• Protect your hearts.

• And most importantly, have fun!

  
  

Are you ready to play Minecraft in Real Life?!

(Wait for a big cheer, then send them to their biomes.)

Detailed staff instructions:

Phase A — Base build + Hall resource hunt (15 mins)

• Start timer for 15 minutes.

• Children may (1) build their shelter with cardboard boxes and (2) gather blocks hidden around the hall.

• One block at a time back to their team chest. No stealing from other team chests.

• Time calls: “10 minutes left… 5 minutes… 1 minute.”

Tip: Encourage older kids to lead building while younger kids gather.

7) Phase B — Crafting Table opens (10–15 mins)

Teams trade blocks for tools, food, hearts and power-ups. Use the exact recipes below.

7.1 Tool & item recipes (hand out the inflatable prop/card on purchase)

• Stone Pickaxe = 2 Green + 3 YellowEffect: Mining stations require fewer reps (see §8.3).

• Iron Pickaxe = 2 Green + 3 RedEffect: Better rep reduction.

• Diamond Pickaxe = 2 Green + 3 BlueEffect: Best rep reduction.

• Iron Sword = 1 Green + 3 RedEffect: During Night, a child can tag a mob once to avoid being tagged (escape).

• Diamond Sword = 1 Green + 3 BlueEffect: Same as above, but announce “Diamond!” for fun.

• Shield = 3 Green + 1 RedEffect: One free save per Night. On first tag, hand the Shield card to a Mob instead of a Heart.

• Axe (Iron) = 2 Green + 3 RedEffect: Helps at Wood station (see §8.3).

7.2 Health & power-ups

• +1 Heart = 2 Orange (Food)

• Golden Apple (Invincibility) = 3 Purple (Gold) + 2 Orange (Food)Effect: 1 minute invincibility (child holds Golden Apple card; Crafting Table collects it after 1 minute).

Tools and items belong to the team once crafted and are not stolen. Shields are consumed when used. Golden Apples are consumed after 1 minute.

8) Phase C — Daytime Mining Stations (15–20 mins)

Children can keep “mining” by completing quick physical challenges at staffed stations to earn blocks. One reward per completed attempt (unless a pickaxe upgrade changes reps only).

8.1 Standard reps (no tool)

• Wood (Green): 8 star jumps

• Stone (Yellow): 10 mountain climbers

• Iron (Red): 12 bodyweight squats

• Gold (Purple): 15 high-knees (on the spot)

• Diamond (Blue): 20 line hops (two-footed, over a floor line)

• Food (Orange, optional): 10 toe-touches

8.2 Axe bonus (Wood only)

• If a child carries an Axe, they may either:

  • Reduce Wood reps by 4, or

  • Complete the standard reps and collect 2 Green (staff choose one method to keep it simple).

8.3 Pickaxe bonus (reduces reps at Stone/Red/Purple/Blue)

• Stone Pickaxe: subtract 3 reps (min 5).

• Iron Pickaxe: subtract 5 reps (min 5).

• Diamond Pickaxe: subtract 8 reps (min 5).

Example: Diamond (20 reps) with a Diamond Pickaxe becomes 12 reps.

9) Phase D — Nightfall Survival (15–20 mins)

1. GM calls: “Night is falling!” → dim/switch off lights (windows keep it safe).

2. Mob Team enters play with tag noodles/belts.

3. Rules at Night:

   • If a child is tagged, they respawn by returning to their base and handing in 1 Heart.

   • Out of hearts? They cannot leave base until they buy more at the Crafting Table (2 Food = 1 Heart).

   • Swords: a child may tag a Mob once to avoid being tagged (escape) when cornered.

   • Shield: first tag each Night is ignored by handing the Shield card to the Mob instead of a Heart.

   • Golden Apple: 1 minute invincibility (carry the GA card; Crafting Table collects it after 1 min).

   • Shelter safe-time: max 20 seconds per hide, then they must leave.

4. Kids may still mine and craft during Night — it’s just riskier.

GM ends Night with “Sunrise!” and lights on.

10) Phase E — Crafting the Nether Portal (finale, ~20–30 mins)

• Each team needs 10 Portal Blocks to open their portal.

• Portal Blocks are crafted only at the Crafting Table using the five hard recipes below.

• Each recipe may be completed once per team and yields 2 Portal Blocks (5 recipes × 2 blocks = 10 total).

• Teams must bring the correct blocks/cards; staff collect/consume resources as stated.

The 5 hard Portal Block recipes (2 Portal Blocks each)

1. Obsidian Frame

   • 4 Blue (Diamond) + 6 Yellow (Stone) + 2 Red (Iron)

   • Consumed: all blocks.

2. Reinforced Corners

   • 3 Blue (Diamond) + 4 Purple (Gold) + 2 Green (Wood)

   • Consumed: all blocks.

3. Power Lattice

   • 5 Red (Iron) + 5 Yellow (Stone) + 2 Orange (Food)

   • Consumed: all blocks.

4. Enchanted Keystone

   • 1 Golden Apple card + 1 Iron Sword card + 1 Shield card

   • Consumed: all three items (collect the physical GA card and take back the sword & shield cards/props).

5. Activated Core

   • Show a Diamond Pickaxe card (not consumed) + 3 Blue (Diamond) + 2 Red (Iron) + 2 Purple (Gold)

   • Consumed: blocks only; Diamond Pickaxe card is shown then kept.

Important: If your group skews younger or you’re short on rare ores, feel free to halve the block counts only for Recipes 1–3 to keep the finale achievable. Keep Recipes 4–5 as written so they still feel “hard”.

Building & opening the portal

• As teams craft blocks, they receive Portal Block cards.

• They lay them out in a rectangle frame at their base.

• When a team reaches 10 Portal Blocks, GM announces:“The portal is open!” (play music, group cheer, photo time).

11) Edge cases & quick rulings

• Tool hoarding: Tools belong to the team; sharing within team is fine. No stealing between teams.

• Queue control: 1–2 runners per team at the Crafting Table to avoid crowding.

• Safety: If play gets rough, pause, reset, remind “gentle tags only”.

• Younger children: Allow co-op crafting (older buddy helps) and accept alternative reps (e.g., 20-sec wall sit instead of squats).

• Time running short: Announce a 2-minute lightning trade at the Crafting Table (allow straight swaps: 3 any blocks → 1 missing block type) to push the finale across the line.

12) What to physically hand out at the Crafting Table

• Inflatable Swords / Pickaxes / Axes (hand to the child who will use it).

• Shield card (or a simple strap-on cardboard shield prop).

• Golden Apple card (bright gold card with a “Return after 1 min” note).

• Heart cards (when purchased).

• Portal Block cards (large purple/black).

13) Time guide (you can flex ±5 mins)

• Briefing & team to bases: 5 mins

• Base build + hall hunt: 15 mins

• First Crafting window: 10–15 mins

• Daytime Mining Stations: 15–20 mins

• Night Survival: 15–20 mins

• Portal crafting & finale: 20–30 mins