Minecarts are rideable objects placed on rails which can be used to carry items, mobs, and the player. They are used to cover long distances, as they are much faster than walking. Additionally, they are used for recreation - intricate roller coasters have been created through clever track placement and design.
Minecarts are placed in the same manner as other blocks; however, they can only be created on top of minecart tracks. Once placed, they may be derailed by pushing them off of the end of the track. Unlike boats, minecarts are not buoyant, and thus cannot be used for water elevators.
Crafting[]
Minecarts are non-stackable.
Once placed, minecarts can be destroyed and reverted to a carriable item, even while being ridden. Swords revert minecarts to items in one hit with no decrease in durability. Two arrows suffice, but they will be lost just as if used on a mob.
Basic Minecart Usage[]
The rideable minecart.Minecarts can be ridden by right-clicking them. Once inside, the player cannot move, so an external impulse (a powered minecart, booster, or other player) is required to set the cart in motion. It is possible to push the minecart yourself and then jump in.
Players can exit the minecart by right clicking it, however if there is only one block of headroom above the cart the player will take half a heart of suffocation damage as his head will be temporarily through the ceiling. It is possible to interact with the environment while riding a cart, such as shooting a bow at enemies or laying down track in front of the minecart while it is moving.
After rolling off of the end of a track, a minecart can be pushed around on open blocks. If a minecart is pushed onto or falls onto tracks, it will "snap" to those tracks. As of Beta 1.6, if a minecart falls a long distance (with you in it), you take falling damage. The cart will not be destroyed.
A minecart will stop when it encounters a dropped item, and will not travel past it. If either passive or aggressive mob is hit or pushed into a rideable minecart, the minecart will stop and the mob will ride it. They will escape if the player right clicks to ride it themselves (pushing out the animal or mob) or if the cart is destroyed. They may also exit after a while.
Unoccupied Carts, an Incline and a boost[]
This table shows the distance traveled by an unoccupied minecart on an incline, with a boost (or no boost). The most efficient way is to use only 1 boost at the bottom of the incline on the flat surface. Using 2 will increase by about 20% or 1.5m. All distance trends based on the hight seem to be logarithmic. The carts started from rest, on an incline (at Height).
| -Height- | No Boost | Bottom | Bottom and Top | All boosts on incline and bottom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2.77m | 8.77 | 10.8 | 10.8 |
| 2 | 4.59m | 9.59 | 10.83 | 13.37 |
| 3 | 5.81m | 9.81 | 11.66 | 15.12 |
| 4 | 7.04m | 10.04 | 12.46 | 16.95 |
| 5 | 7.87m | 10.87 | 12.29 | 17.95 |
| 10 | 11.65m | 13.38 | 15.12 | 21.68 |
| 100 | 15.87 | 17.05 | 17.54 | 25.34 |
Detecting Minecarts[]
The detector rail is a switch activated by minecarts. It generates a Redstone charge when a minecart is on the rail. It was introduced in Beta 1.5.
Prior to Beta 1.5, carts were detected by usingPressure Plate in line with cart tracks. This had the often undesirable effect of dramatically slowing or even stopping the minecart, which limited the use of this design mostly to boosters.
Minecarts can also be detected when their corners run overpressure plates as they go around a curved track. The effect is similar to the detector rails, but can only occur at curves.
Collision[]
Minecarts seems to have about the same size as a block; 1x1. Because of this, a ladder or door will prevent it from falling down a 1x1 hole. This can be utilized to make minecart dispensers, by stacking carts on top of each other and dispensing them with the help of a booster. A single cart dispenser using a door can also be made by using a ladder to block the cart from falling off the door.
Additionally, you can transport carts along 1 block wide water streams without the minecarts falling by placing ladders underneath. By alternating the ladders, items can still fall through. Because streams carry minecarts at a very slow rate, a trap can be made where anyone sitting in a cart will be suffocated in a block directly above the stream, and their items can be collected below.
Carts on minecart track will also ignore collision in certain situations. A cart traveling downhill or on a curve with a block placed in front of it will go through the block. If it is going fast enough, it can skip through one block and reattach to track on the other side, at significantly reduced speed.
A player riding in a minecart will not collide with or suffocate in any transparent blocks, including glass, half steps, and leaves.
Special Minecarts[]
There are currently two types of special minecarts:
- Powered minecart - A minecart that is powered by fuel.
- Storage Minecart - can store items like standard chests