New on Realms: Snowballs and Fireballs

Every few weeks we parcel together a selection of fine maps made by our amazingly talented community, and make them available to download over our Realms service on the Java Edition of Minecraft. How nice!

In our last Realms content update of the year, we’ve got three new creations for you and your friends to enjoy. There’s a minigame that combines a snowball fight, base-building, and tug-of-war, a magical combat map that scratches the magical itch we’ve had lately, and a game where you shoot cannons at reptiles from poorly-constructed water craft. Read on to learn more!

Snowbound

by The Nice Elves

Last year, a diverse group of content creators gathered around the warm glow of their computers to celebrate the holidays and contemplate the true meaning of mapmaking. From that collaboration we got The Naughty List, a winter wonderland filled with minigames for all to enjoy.

This year, much of that team returned to drop off a surprise present at our doorstep: Snowbound! We’ve seen snowball fights before, but we were delighted to find that Snowbound had some depth beyond the typical mechanics. Players start on opposing sides of the map armed with only a shovel. That shovel allows you to gather piles of snow into snowballs, which are both useful for pelting your opponents as well as purchasing snow blocks or fortifications from your inventory. As you defeat opposing team members, your territory expands, and theirs shrinks. Once you’ve pushed them back to their base, you win!

Sorcerer's Book 2

by CmdBlockPL Team

Due to a certain series of books about a teenaged wizard, an entire generation of children grew up wishing that they too could learn magical spells to help them out in everyday life. What if you could learn and perform magic simply by writing it into a book? In this map, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword, because the pen lets you make a bunch of sweet magic spells!

Open up for your book and type BAL. Boom, you know the fireball spell. ICE? A wall of ice is now at your command. What about WIN? Will I automatically win the game? I guess not, but I do feel better that my guess of JUM tossed an icy jump magic spell into my hotbar. Learn the difference between DAP and DAB, then charge into battle!

Raft Clash

by SirBenet

If there was an award for Most Adorable Pirate Alligator in a Minecraft Map, this would win that award. When players indicate that they’d like to play against the AI, Captain Coldblood comes bounding out of a door, does a little leap, and then awaits your challenge. You can also play against other players, should you wish for a more unpredictable match.

Your ultimate goal in Raft Clash is to blow up your opponent’s treasure chest with your cannons. Your pirate raft (the low-budget version of a pirate ship) can be customized with these canons, but also with several kinds of blocks, a wheel with which to steer, and of course, your treasure chest. Be sure to guard the chest with blocks and with your nautical expertise!

The most wonderful time of the year

We’ve got a few ideas on how to spice up Realms content in the new year. Map jams, or maybe competitions? The technical 1.13 update provides tons of new tools to mapmakers, 1.14 is great for those who love water, 1.15 contains all ne- wait, we’re not allowed to talk about that one. If you’re part of the Realms creator community, or would like to be, feel free to reach out and chat with us. Our team is taking a bit of much-needed rest soon, but if all goes according to plan, we’ll return to you with a fresh, new batch of content in January.

To learn about loading this and other content into Java Realms for your PC, visit our help site. If you haven't yet tried Realms for yourself, you'll have a blue diamond on the Minecraft Realms button, located on the main screen of Minecraft: Java Edition. Click it, then follow the instructions to try Realms free for 30 days.

Also, in the fun and festive spirit, I’ve hidden a 180-day Realms code somewhere in this article. If you’re the kind of person who reads to the bottom of the article on the day that it’s posted, this might be for you!

Happy holiday Minecrafting!