If you have spent any length of time within the Minecraft world, you will be familiar with the common mineral, redstone. Redstone is the “wiring” in Minecraft used to connect one contraption to another, your power source within the game.
How do you get it? Naturally, of course! You can mine for redstone ore underground as with most materials in Minecraft. That ore will turn into redstone upon breaking it with an iron pickaxe or better. However, you can also acquire it from killing a witch, looting a temple in the jungle, or trading with a villager.
Once you have your redstone in hand, you are ready to experiment with its’ possibilities. At the most basic level of gameplay, if you need a little portable light within the game, all it takes is redstone and a stick to craft a redstone torch. Want to provide constant light to your Minecraft home? Combine redstone and glowstone to make a lamp, keeping the darkness at bay… and all of the creatures that come with it.
Redstone is used for powering various sorts of gadgets. You’ll want to be familiar with several fundamental items. In the trigger category you find buttons and levers, as well as pressure plates. Buttons send a redstone signal upon being pressed, while levers function more like light switches. A pressure plate each side of a door can allow it to open as you enter and then close behind you, triggered by your weight as you step on and off again.
Two kinds of pistons also exist in the Minecraft world: regular and sticky. Regular pistons push a block one step forward and then leaves it there, whereas sticky pistons attach to the block and can thus push or pull it. You can use those to make doors, elevators, secret entrances and so on.
Repeaters, as you might guess, repeat the redstone signal: one placed after the first fifteen blocks of redstone will extend your signal’s reach for another fifteen blocks.
So, what can you do with all of these buttons, levers, pressure plates, pistons and repeaters? The sky is literally the limit. You might decide to make piston-controlled waterfalls, secret trapdoors, music machines, clocks, and even rollercoasters. If you want to get really fancy, try assembling a number of gadgets and contraptions into a Rube Goldberg Machine. Feeling lazy? Redstone can even power up automatic farming and mining machines as well.
Redstone can also enhance the brewing of potions. Combining redstone dust and a water bottle will give you the Mundane Potion, while adding the dust to a number of other potions (e.g. Potion of Night Vision, Water Breathing, or Invisibility) will increase their duration.
As you can see, redstone will provide the power source for many of your Minecraft creations and adventures. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination!
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