Minecraft Tips #4: How to TRULY Survive Your First Night

by Finn, Grade 6

OK, let’s be honest. Nicolas’ way of surviving is fair. It keeps you safe and gives you enough progress for you to head out and see the world on the 2nd day. But recently, I’ve forged another way to survive your first night, in which you can get more progress out of the gate. So let’s get into it. *WARNING! THIS TUTORIAL REQUIRES SOME BUT NOT A LOT OF MINECRAFT KNOWLEDGE! IF YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, THIS TUTORIAL MAY NOT BE FOR YOU!*

Step 1.0

Spawn into your world. This is an obvious one. Once you spawn in, look around. The best spawn is in the Plains biome, where there are trees and not much else, except for animals. If you are in a Plains biome, try to look for a lake and wait for step 2. If you aren’t in a Plains biome, just look for any lake. Once you found a lake, go onto step 1.1.

Step 1.1

If you are looking for a lake, along your way, punch some grass. This will give you wheat seeds if you punch with your bare hands. Try to get at least 10 wheat seeds. And if you somehow spawn near a lake, also do that, and since you’re lucky, you have more time to gather seeds. So good on you.

Step 2

Get some wood. This is also obvious. Any wood will do. Right now, for the bare basics, get at least a Wooden Sword, Pickaxe, and Hoe, as well as obviously, a Crafting Table. Also make a bunch of Sticks to make some Torches later on. These will be important later on and they’re basic survival tools anyway. Now, get into the lake. Yes, I said get into the lake.

Step 3.0

Now that you’re in the lake, you will probably see some fish. These fish actually have hitboxes, so hit them with your Wooden Sword and try to get 5-7 fish. Don’t eat them yet. And if you do have low saturation/hunger, eat 1 and just don’t sprint anymore. So once you have the fish, move on to step 3.1.

Step 3.1

Before you go, look for a patch of grass that is touching the water. Using your Wooden Hoe, ONLY and I mean ONLY, plant the seeds on the grass blocks that ARE touching the water. This will be the start of a basic farm. Now that you’ve done that, it’s almost night time, so you better move on to step 4.

Step 4

Look for the nearest mountain that isn’t too far away. This is so once you come out, you wouldn’t have to walk far for your probably now grown wheat. Once you find a mountain, look for the nearest vein of Coal. Nearby, there should be some regular Stone and also maybe some Iron. Now make a Stone Pickaxe and maybe also a Stone Sword. If there are Iron nearby, get that Iron first. If not, just go for the Coal. After getting the Coal, make at least a 3 blocks wide and in length, and a 2 block tall room, and also make and place Torches. This will be your starter base until you have enough materials to make your house. Now using your Crafting Table, use the Cobblestone you got from making the base. Now put in the coal and the fish and cook the fish. This will be your food source for the night. Now it should be night time or very close to it. So block off every way mobs can get in and start mining. And after mining a bit, the sun should rise and you’ve survived your first night. But if you don’t want to mine that much, I say before you leave the starter base, get at least one piece of Iron armor, which should keep you busy for the first night as well. But if you do want to make real progress, mine to get full Iron armor and maybe Diamond Pickaxe and Sword as well.

So, that’s the TRUE way to survive. Although Nicolas’ way may be safer, if you aren’t in Hardcore, does dying really matter? So get out there, and using your knowledge of Minecraft, survive the night.