While many people get their hopes crushed on April Fools' Day by fake announcements and cruel jokes, theMinecraftcommunity always gets some of the best news of the year. For over a decade, Mojang has released something for Minecraft on this day, and it has become a tradition that fans can’t get enough of.
Every year, we all wait with excitement for April Fools' Day to arrive because, along with it, we get a passionate and unhinged update for Minecraft. From adding nearly infinite dimensions to turning the game into a roguelike, every single year Mojang spoils their fans and so many of these updates are still worth playing today.
11The Steve Co. Update (2011)
The Search For An Unusual Diamond Helmet
This update was the very first April Fool’s joke, and it involved a special in-game crate drop system which would redirect you to a web page that had a fake store to purchase keys and in-game bonuses. This was to poke fun at the rise in the use of microtransactions in games and how Mojang did not support this practice.
While the Java Edition still does not have any microtransactions, Bedrock has added the Minecraft Marketplace along with the paid currency of Mine Coins. This April Fool’s update was hilarious at the time, but now it just feels sad to look at what was once a joke has now become a reality. Even with the Marketplace helping community-made projects to earn money, it still feels strange having microtransactions in Minecraft.
10The Trendy Update (2016)
The Future Is Now, Thanks To Science!
In the heat of the rising tech industry, Mojang looked to bring modern trends to their beloved classic through the Trendy update. As suggested, this update brings a range of new items that all feature modern technology, such as VR headsets, smartwatches and ankle monitors, all of which can be obtained throughmobs that spawn with them.
This was one of the smaller April Fools' updates, but nonetheless, it has some jokes that are great. The Reality Vision item can be equipped and gives you a birds-eye 3D model view of your surroundings like a mini-map. Meanwhile, the Smarter Watch just shows you the time on screen at all times. These two items pretty much sum up how strange more modern tech would be in Minecraft, and the update just makes us appreciate redstone even more.
9The Texture Update (2018)
Who Took All The Textures Away?
If you appreciate the art style Minecraft has, you may want to look away from 2018’s April Fools' update. This update was around the time when the textures were going to be updated to their current modern look, and to play with the fans, Mojang released this texture pack instead, which downgraded every texture to only contain 8-bit designs.
Surprisingly, this texture pack does actually help the game run better, but you do lose all visibility in the process. Most textures are barely even textures and are more or less solid colors, which makes blocks hard to tell apart. This makes for a chaotic and painful playthrough that feels like it was made for the NES.
8Minecraft 3D (2019)
Radical, Gnarly, And Funny
Outside of being a massiveDoom (1993)love letter, this update has a ton of ’90s inspirations, with it even being distributed as a Shareware title alongside the update, just like in the good old days. This retro update has many changes that make Minecraft feel like an entirely different game.
There are tons of little details that retro gamers will just adore, such as many special cheat codes, having to change the disk and even the loading using command lines. This version just oozes with love and care and while it may hurt your eyes and ears playing, it is a blast to experience what Minecraft could have been had it been released in the 90s.
7The Villager Update (2014)
Back To You Villager Number Four
If you have ever wondered what Minecraft would be like ifVillagerscould talk, this update gives you the best way to experience that. For this update, Mojang claimed the Villagers had taken over and every player’s skin was changed to a Villager, along with the music and sound effects being an a cappella rendition by the voice ofElement Animation.
Element Animation is an iconic Indie Animation YouTube channel which created the hit Villager News animations, and for years now, they have been creating quality content mainly featuring talking Villagers from the game. They even work with Mojang, creating animations and voiceover work for marketing, which is always a blast to see at Minecraft Live.
6The Love & Hugs Update (2015)
World Peace Achieved
If you thought Minecraft was too violent, this update fixes it to be a world of only love! As a late Valentine’s Day present, Mojang gifted their lovely players the Love & Hugs update and with it many changes to the game. All centered around making the game less about surviving and more about loving everything and everyone.
This update makes sure you are loved in every single way. From the second you start your ‘Existence Mode’ world, you will notice that punching Mobs just causes heart particle effects and if they attack you, you will just gain hearts instead of losing them. Certain mobs are even completely different, such as Creepers and the Wither smiling and creating flower patches instead of explosions.
5The Vote Update (2023)
Democracy Strikes Again
While Mob Votes were a hated concept, this update makes you vote on everything in your game. Every two minutes, a new decision will pop up, asking all players in the world to vote between two options, which can have varying effects on not just the world but also how you play the game.
Each vote can lead to a bunch of wacky effects, items, mobs and even the moon. Most of the additions all have a comedic tone, such as the vote to add ray-tracing to the game, spawning a character named “Ray Tracing” or the new The Thing banner pattern, which is just the A from Mojang’s logo turned into anAmong Uscharacter shape.
4The One Block At A Time Update (2023)
Inventory-less
This update provides a unique challenge that tests your Minecraft knowledge. As the name suggests, you will be taking this update a little bit slower than usual, as your entire inventory and hot bar have now been removed. Instead, you can only pick up one block at a time. With no inventory or even crafting grid, you are limited to what you can do in the world around you.
You may think at first that this makes the game unplayable, but you can actually beat the game in it. By doing strange things, such as throwing blocks onto your head or throwing a Crafting Table at the recipe you have laid out on the ground, you can achieve the basics and make your way to the Nether. Here you will find End Portal Frames to head to the Ender Dragon.
3The Poisonous Potato Update (2024)
The Tastiest Dimension
If you were ever a huge potato fan, this update will either be a dream or a nightmare, depending on how much you are willing to risk poisoning yourself. The Poisonous Potato Update takes everyone’s favorite food source and themes multiple items, blocks and even mobs around it. It even adds a Poisonous Potato dimension!
In the Poisonous Potato dimension, there are all kinds of wacky things to find, including, but not limited to, potato-themed Zombies, Villagers and even Creepers, all of which drop Poisonous Potatoes. The main goal of the update is to find and defeat the boss, Mega Spud, but there is plenty more to explore and mess around with, like a grappling hook or the Floatater blocks.
2Craftmine Update (2025)
Enter The Mine-geon
Alongside the release ofA Minecraft Movieshortly after, the 2025 Craftmine Update brought something else new to the series in the form of an entirely new way to play Minecraft. The Craftmine Update flips the way you approach the game on its head by turning the sandbox survival gameplay into aroguelikewith various Mines for you to craft your way through.
Every Mine is unique in that it generates a world with various modifiers that you may unlock. Your main goal in each is to collect items to trade for EXP to level up your skill tree and unlock different perks. Just like every rogue-like, this update has so much replayability. Scatter in collectibles, boss Mines and much more and this update is one that almost feels like a fully fleshed-out DLC.
