UPDATE: Hey Daria! Some caves can be accessed from the surface, and others are way deeper. Surface caves often start at the sides of mountains and down ravines. Sand and gravel is often a clue to the start of a mine, so if you see some sunken gravel/sand, it might have sunk into a cave entrance (so start digging). Good luck!

Handy Hint:

In Minecraft, one of the most important things you’ll do is mining. (Who would’ve guessed?) Mining is done using your hands and pickaxes. Hands can help you make a start by punching dirt and even though they’re not great for digging they’re necessary if you plan on getting the resources for your first basic pickaxe.

Take Your Pick

Pickaxes come in five different types: Wood, Stone, Iron, Diamond and Gold. As you might expect, each type differs in durability. The better the material, the stronger and faster your pickaxe will be and the more materials you can mine!

The Hole Truth

As you go down into the ground, you’ll encounter many things that you won’t find on the surface. One thing you might discover is abandoned mineshafts. These mineshafts are filled with rails, monsters and all kinds of items. If you explore the shafts somewhat further, you might also come across ravines, cave spider spawners and dungeons.

Spider-man

Cave spider spawners appear entirely surrounded with webs, guarded by, of course, cave spiders. Usually they block entire corridors, and the only way around them is to remove the web and destroy the spawner. An easy way to defeat the spiders is to set fire to their webs, which not only removes the webs but also hurts the spiders as they spawn. You can also cut away webs using shears, which earns you pieces of string.

Pay Dirt

Once you’re past the spiders you might be lucky enough to find a dungeon! Dungeons are small cobblestone rooms with a monster spawner and a chest in them. Be careful when you find them, they often have monsters already inside them and you’ll need to clear the room before you can get that sweet loot!

Words by Martijn van de Kerkhof