Minecraft: Builders & Biomes Junior

{
    "title": "''Minecraft: Builders & Biomes Junior''",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "Ulrich Blum<br>Stephanie Korupp",
            "label": "Designer(s)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Alexandria Land",
            "label": "Illustrator(s)"
        },
        {
            "field": "\n* (link to File:Mojang Studios logo.svg article, displayed as 20px) (link to Mojang Studios article, displayed as Mojang Studios)\n* (link to wikipedia:Ravensburger article, displayed as Ravensburger)",
            "label": "Publisher(s)"
        },
        {
            "field": "January 1, 2025<span class=\"noprint\">; 6 months ago</span><span style=\"display:none\"> (<span class=\"bday dtstart published updated\">2025-01-01</span>)</span>",
            "label": "Publication date"
        },
        {
            "field": "(link to wikipedia:Board game article, displayed as Board game)",
            "label": "Genre"
        },
        {
            "field": "English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese",
            "label": "Language(s)"
        },
        {
            "field": "2-4",
            "label": "Players"
        },
        {
            "field": "15 minutes",
            "label": "Playing time"
        },
        {
            "field": "5+",
            "label": "Age range"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [],
    "images": []
}

Minecraft: Builders & Biomes Junior is a board game published by Mojang Studios and Ravensburger.^[1] The game is a variation of Minecraft: Builders & Biomes designed for younger players. In the game, players collect blocks to build barns for their animals while avoiding hostile mobs.

Equipment

A standard set of Minecraft: Builders & Biomes Junior includes:^[2]

Blocks

A set of twenty-seven wooden blocks which comprise the following materials:

• Six wood
• Six sand
• Four stone
• Five coal
• Six emerald

The blocks are used to form a cube (three blocks long, three blocks wide, three blocks high) which is made by putting them on a block base.

Cards

A set of twenty-five cards, consisting of seventeen animals and eight monsters

Tiles

Twenty-eight tiles, split into the following:

• Sixteen shovel tiles, consisting of twelve iron shovels and four diamond shovels
• Twelve challenge titles

Misc.

• Two tools (pickaxe and shovel)
• One farm game board
• One torch
• Three meadows
• One house

Setup

The following setup instructions are for setting up "Level 1". See this section for info on setting up levels 2–5.

First, set up the cube as shown in the assembly video here. Then, shuffle the twenty-five cards and lay them in a five-by-five grid with the grass side facing up.

Next, take the farm game board and place it next to the card grid with the dirt side facing up, followed by placing the house in the center of the board. Then, have each player take one iron shovel tile and place the remaining shovel tiles next to the card grid (younger players should take a diamond shovel tile to make the game easier for them).

Next, place the torch and the two tools nearby, Finally, put the remaining materials (the diamond shovel tiles, the meadows, and the challenge tiles) back in the game box.

Rules

The object of the game is to fill all of the empty spaces on the farm game board with animal cards before the paths to the farm are blocked by monsters.

Official rules

The player who most recently mined a block in Minecraft is the starting player. Otherwise, the youngest player is the starting player.

When it is the player's turn, they have to take the pickaxe and turn over a card, mining the required blocks as necessary and following the instructions as necessary. Play then proceeds to the left of the starting player.

Gameplay

Mining blocks

Players are allowed to take whatever blocks as necessary from the cube, using the pickaxe to move them from the large cube to the grass platform. Blocks can only be touched with the pickaxe, and not the player's own hands. Any blocks that fall into the lava are removed from the game. The player continues using the pickaxe until either all of the blocks they need are on the grass platform, or if one or more blocks have fallen into the lava at the same time.

Players may also ask for someone else to help them mine out the blocks as long as the other players have a shovel tile. If the player has a diamond shovel tile, they are freely allowed to ask others to help them mine. If the player has an iron shovel tile, they must return it to the supply pile in order for someone to help them. As an example, one player can mine blocks with the pickaxe while the other prevents the blocks from falling into the lava with the shovel.

The wood, sand, and stone blocks are required to build barns for the respective animals, the coal blocks are required to build a torch, and the emerald blocks are wild, meaning they can be used to build both barns and torches.

Cards

If the player turns over an animal card, they must attempt to mine the required blocks to build their barn. If they are successful, then the card is placed on an empty space on the farm game board. If they are not successful, such as one of their blocks falling into the lava, then they turn the card over and take an iron shovel from the supply pile (if a player has a diamond shovel, an iron shovel is not necessary).

If the player uncovers an animal card consisting of blocks that are no longer on the cube, the card is set aside and one block of the player's choosing is taken out of the box lid and placed back on the cube, followed by the player turning over another card.

If the player turns over a monster card, then they must mine a coal block from the cube to build a torch. If they are successful, then the player turns the monster card back over and places the torch on it. If another monster card is turned over and the torch is built successfully, the torch is moved to the monster card that was recently turned over. If the player is not successful, then the monster card is placed on one of the paths on the farm game board, followed by the player taking an iron shovel from the supply pile (if a player has a diamond shovel, an iron shovel is not necessary).

If the player uncovers a monster card and there are no coal or emerald blocks left on the cube, then the player must place the monster card on one of the paths on the farm game board.

End of the turn

Players are allowed to use their hands to clear up their blocks at the end of the turn. If one or more blocks fall into the lava, they are placed in the box lid and removed from the game. Blocks that land on the grass platform are also placed in the box lid and removed from the game. Blocks that fall onto the grass platform or into the lava when clearing up can freely be placed back on the cube. The pickaxe is then given to the player to their left to start their turn.

Setup for higher levels

Challenges for Level 5

• Challenge 1
  • The players can only use iron shovel tiles. They may also decide not to distribute any iron shovel tiles when setting up the game.

• Challenge 2
  • The players cover one to three paths on the board with meadows, making it easier for monsters to block paths on the game board.

• Challenge 3
  • The players lay out the twelve challenge tiles face down and shuffle them, drawing a challenge before each turn as an additional rule for that turn. The challenges also apply to a player with a shovel if they use an iron shovel tile, and the challenge tile is placed in a discard pile at the end of their turn. If the challenge tile pile becomes empty during play, the discard pile is shuffled, and the tiles are reused.
    • Some of the challenges include only using the pickaxe to mine, covering one of the player's eyes with the other hand as they mine, only holding the tool with their index fingers, only holding the tool with their thumb and index fingers, holding the tool without using their thumb, and holding the tool in their weaker hand.

End of the game

If the players build enough barns and collect enough animal cards to fill all the spaces on the farm game board, the players win. However, if the monsters block all paths on the game board, the players lose.

References

External links

• U.K. product page

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