Your first night in Minecraft, then the first 10 hours

You have about 10 minutes of daylight. Use them to get wood, stone tools and a bed, then sleep as soon as the sun sets. Without a bed, dig into a hill and light it up: no monster spawns on a block lit by a torch. The timings and recipes below come from the Java Edition 26.3 game files; Bedrock Edition starts the same way.

Hold the attack button on a log until it breaks. Collect 5 or 6 logs from one tree, then open your inventory (E) and use the 2 × 2 grid:

• 1 log gives 4 Planks.
• 4 Planks make a Crafting Table. Place it: it opens the 3 × 3 grid.
• 2 Planks, one above the other, make 4 Sticks.

Craft a Wooden Pickaxe (3 Planks on top, 2 Sticks below in the middle) and mine 3 Cobblestone from any exposed stone. Swap it at once for a Stone Pickaxe, then make a Stone Sword and a Stone Axe. Stone tools are faster, last longer and can mine Iron Ore and Copper Ore; a wooden pickaxe cannot.

Mine 8 more Cobblestone for a Furnace and some extra for a shelter.

A bed is 3 Wool of the same color on top and 3 Planks below. Kill 3 sheep (1 Wool each), or shear them if you have Shears (1 to 3 Wool each).

• You can sleep only once it gets dark, about 10.5 minutes after sunrise, or during a thunderstorm.
• Sleeping skips the night and sets your respawn point at the bed.
• If a monster is within 8 blocks around you (5 blocks up or down), the game refuses: "You may not rest now; there are monsters nearby".

Later on, 3 Hay Bales make 4 Straw Beds. You can sleep in one, but it never sets your respawn point and breaks when you get up.

Monsters spawn in the Overworld only on blocks with no light from torches or other light sources. Before night falls:

1. Dig 2 or 3 blocks into the side of a hill.
2. Close the hole behind you with Dirt or Cobblestone.
3. Place a torch inside. With no coal, smelt a log in the Furnace to get Charcoal: 1 Coal or Charcoal and 1 Stick make 4 Torches.

Spend the night crafting and mining around your hole. Zombies and skeletons burn in the morning sun, but creepers and spiders do not: look around before you go out.

Place the Furnace (8 Cobblestone in a ring). Put raw meat on top and Coal, Charcoal or Planks below. Cooked meat fills your hunger bar far better than raw meat. Break Short Grass for Wheat Seeds (1 chance in 8 per plant): you will need them for a farm.

Iron is the first real upgrade. This tool shows where iron, coal and copper are most common:

• Smelt Raw Iron in the Furnace to get Iron Ingots.
• Iron Pickaxe (3 ingots): needed for Diamond, Gold, Redstone and Emerald ores.
• Shield (6 Planks and 1 Iron Ingot) and Bucket (3 ingots), to block arrows and carry water.
• Full iron armor: 24 ingots (helmet 5, chestplate 8, leggings 7, boots 4).

The ore distribution guide gives the best Y level for each ore.

Till dirt next to water with a hoe and plant your seeds. Three Wheat make a Bread. A village gives you beds, food and trades: trading with villagers turns spare crops into Emeralds.

Two things change with time. After 3 in-game days without sleep, phantoms attack from the sky. After the first 5 in-game days, pillager patrols can appear: their captain's Ominous Bottle starts a village raid.

With iron gear, a shield and food, you are ready for the deep caves. Follow the best Y level for diamonds, then build an enchanting table with 15 bookshelves. That is roughly where the first 10 hours end and the Nether begins.