Minecraft Nomad 50,000: Part 1 (It’s Playtime!)
(A general knowledge of Minecraft is preferred, but not required.)
Hello everyone, and welcome back to It’s Playtime! Today, we’re going to be doing a really long series. There might be other games sprinkled in between, as I don’t want this blog to be all about a particularly long series for a while, but expect a lot of Minecraft showing up. It’s one of the most creative games I’ve seen, and I want to continue trying new concepts for it.
So yeah, today we’re obviously doing Minecraft. However, I don’t want to do a normal world and beat the game or whatever, as that is rather basic. Instead, I’m doing the Nomad challenge. This challenge isn’t as well known as, say, the 100 days challenge or the 100 players challenge… But you can still find several challenges like this around the internet if you look.
Essentially, a Nomad challenge is when you have to keep moving. You can’t build permanent houses, you can’t stay in one area for too long, and you travel really long distances. You’re always on the go and seeing new places. I’ve done this challenge before, but usually it’s only lasted a few days before I move onto something else. I have learned some tips along the way though, and now I’m ready to tackle the full thing.
Here are some more specific rules. I will be playing on Bedrock edition, specifically on the Nintendo Switch. It really would have been easier if I had just played on the computer… but I didn’t think about that at the time. I also have to use the first seed I spawn in, no matter how bad it is. I will be putting Show Coordinates on, because I have a goal in mind.
The goal is to reach 50,000 in both X and Z coordinates. For those who don’t play Minecraft, you use these coordinates to travel a specific direction, and you start very low. This is an insane amount of distance, but I wanted this series to be rather long. I am not allowed to stay in one place for more than 5 days. On the fifth day, I am forced to leave.
Also, since I have to carry my bed with me, if I die, then I go back to the beginning and have to restart. It’ll be brutal to climb back to my position, but hey, it raises the stakes. Finally, each blog entry will be 10 days long in-game (each day being 10 minutes of real world time, not including night). Did you get all that? If you did, then let’s start.
I spawned in a desert biome, which isn’t the best place to start. I quickly figured out the direction where both X and Z coordinates would go up and started running, hoping to find another biome. Deserts aren’t great in both the supplies and food department, and I needed both at the beginning. On the way, I found some rabbits. Hoping to get some food, I killed one and got a rabbit’s foot, which is a rather rare drop. It doesn’t do much in Minecraft, but as it’s sometimes treated as a symbol of luck, I jokingly thought that keeping this would bring me good luck in the run. Ha ha… Yeah… Joking…
Eventually, I came across a jungle on the other side. I gathered some of the wood, as well as dirt. The dirt is essential, as I can get into tough situations where I need to build up fast. Always good to keep emergency supplies on you. Then, I spotted a few parrots. Ah yeah, it was pet time. I got some seeds and looked for the right colored bird. I found a blue one, which is my favorite color variation. I tamed it and named her Berry, since she reminded me of blueberries. With her on my shoulder, we set out on our journey through the jungle.
The day soon began to end, and I was worried we had to dig in and deal with monsters under the thick canopy in the morning. Then, in the distance, I spotted a farm. We had found a village. I was ecstatic. A village is the best thing to get in the beginning of a world. Immediately, I ran inside a house and kicked out the sleeping villager, sleeping in his bed myself.
Day 2 has come. This one is the day of preparation. I raided the village, taking its wheat and supplies. The stuff I found was rather good too. Iron ingots, a saddle, armor and an iron pickaxe… Then, while I was exploring, a spot of red caught my eye. Somehow, a ruined nether portal was nearby. Maybe my rabbit’s foot was lucky after all… I raided the chest and got some enchanted armor, as well as a golden apple. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had gone from 0 to 100 really quick. To complete my armor set I made some shoes with my iron ingots. I had a full set of armor in only Day 2. Things were looking up.
On day 3, I made preparations to leave. I stole an orange bed from one of the houses, looked at the village one last time, and then travelled on, Berry fluttering after me. I saw some horses nearby, but decided not to tame them. I was saving my saddle for something else.
Soon after the village was out of sight, I ran into more desert. I guess I couldn’t avoid it this time. I travelled through it for a time, it being mostly uneventful. However, near the end of the day, I spotted a desert temple. I was really confused now. What on earth is my luck with this seed?! Are people going to think I’m cheating or something? I had actually died to one of these temples before, but I knew better now. Still, just in case, I made a chest and put my really valuable stuff in there. Then, as it was becoming night, I slept. I didn’t want to deal with the monsters once I got back.
Day 4. I broke into the chest room, being careful not to set off the trap. It was a good thing, too, as I forgot to make my bird stay. Poor Berry would have exploded. I didn’t really need the TNT behind the walls, so I left it. The chests were really good though. I got smithing templates and another golden apple, among other things.
I built my way out, and only then did I realize my inventory was too full. I chose to leave some unimportant stuff behind, like bones, spider eyes, seeds, spare armor… things like that. I needed to make room for some more important stuff. I did keep the rabbit’s foot, though, because of the irony of my luck. And then as I was collecting my bed, I accidentally broke my chest with the useless stuff. So, it took me a few minutes to shift through many dropped items to get the one I wanted. That was irritating.
We travelled a little longer, coming onto more grassy terrain. I travelled over a mountain or two, then fell asleep as night was coming on.
Day 5. Soon after I began travelling again, I found another village on the water. By this point, I wasn’t even surprised, just a bit worried about whether this journey was going to be entertaining or not when I’m this stacked. There was not much in that village though, just a few bits of iron, as well as a map of the village. I decided to keep the map as a small memento of the area. Several times as I was exploring the village, I would wonder where Berry is, only to find her fluttering over the rooftops. I think she really enjoyed that place.
I soon went to sleep in one of the houses, my food and supplies problem being all gone. I had bread and melons for days on end, and a travelling partner to keep me company. There was only one thing I was missing… But I’ll explain that at some other time.
Day 6. I said goodbye to another village and moved on. This was mainly a travelling day. I mostly travelled through plains, forests, and mountains. On several of those mountains, I realized I could just travel around them. That was annoying. Berry also learned how to talk spider, so she occasionally scared me with that. She only says the noises occasionally, almost as if she’s intentionally trying to fool me. What a little prankster.
After a while of nothing but travelling, we came across a snow Taiga. One of my favorite biomes. It felt like a winter wonderland travelling through, and the entire forest looked like Christmas trees. There were lots of snow foxes around too. I wish I had taken more pictures of it.
Near the end of the day, I spotted an ice lake. Back on day 3, I had crafted a boat for aquatic journeys. However, now, there was a much more fun use for it. I spent the rest of the day doing nothing but speeding around the lake in my boat. That was fun. As the sun was setting, I set my bed on the ice and got an experience of sleeping on a lake.
Day 7. When I woke up, I realized there was an ice river that would lead me along the direction I needed to go. I was excited about this, since I could get a lot of progress done in a single day. I set off in my boat, rowing along the ice river at top speeds. I was a bit clumsy with it, since I haven’t done much boating on the ice before. Occasionally, I had to get my boat out of tight spots. However, I got the hang of it and was having a lot of fun too.
At some point, I realized it would be cool to speed along the river with Berry on my shoulder, so I got out and looked around… and didn’t find her. It turns out that if you go too fast, especially in Bedrock edition, you may leave your pet behind and they disappear. Basically, there was nothing I could do. Berry was gone. That was disappointing, especially since it could have been avoided. RIP Berry. You won’t be forgotten.
With that unfortunate mistake, I continued onward. The river gave way to a much bigger icy area. I was now in the ice spikes biome. It was really cool to me at first, and I even decided to rest here. I didn’t know how much more tense things would get.
In the morning of Day 8, I was surrounded by polar bears. Here’s a fun fact. In Java, the polar bears attack if you hurt them or if they’re near cubs. In Bedrock, they just kinda attack when you get near them. Polar bears do big damage too, and I’m not good at combat. I knew polar bears spawned in the ice spikes, but I didn’t know they spawned so unbelievably often. There were five or six polar bears all around me.
With the realization that I was in huge danger, I ran back to the safety of the Taiga. There was no way around if I wanted to reach the goal. I had to go through it. I formulated a small plan while at the shore. I made a shield, then decided I would run through the ice spikes instead of using the boat. That way, it would be less likely for me to run into a polar bear by accident. If I did run into one, I would use my shield and run away. Not the bravest plan, but hopefully a smart one.
I braced myself, then ran across the ice spikes, sometimes passing by bears and only stopping for a brief food break. Luckily, the biome was smaller than I thought, and there was a Taiga shore on the other side. I was filled with relief, and I could finally relax. There was no more ice, so I travelled through the snowy forest. Along the way, I spotted some wolves, and only then did I realize I could have used those bones I left. How unfortunate, a dog could have been very helpful. Maybe I’ll get one in the future.
Day 9 has arrived. On that day, I mostly ran through the snowy forest. Progress was very slow though. The problem was powdered snow. A block that you can sink through and potentially die if you don’t dig out of it fast enough. There are subtle patterns that separate it from regular snow though. Basically, though I wanted to look at the pretty forest, I was instead looking at the ground in case I was walking toward powdered snow. Not the most fun experience.
Halfway through the day, I came across Ice Spikes again. It was back. This time, it wasn’t as bad though, as I could see some islands in the distance. It was a simple matter of island-hopping through, and it was much less dangerous than last time. I made it back onto another tega shore soon after.
Day 10, our final day today. After some more slow travelling, I realized there were more ice spikes ahead. I saw there was more tega off to the side, so I began going around the cliffs to see if there was a way around. It look a long while, using up several of my emergency dirt, but I made it to a place where the coordinates seemingly agreed to lead to more Taiga.
On the way, I got trapped in powdered snow several times. Thankfully, it wasn’t hard to dig out of though. That being said, I used up all my emergency dirt and had to use a lot of my wood to get myself out of a powdered snow-filled area. To top it all off, at the end of the day, the coordinates led me back to the ice spikes. There was no choice. I had to go through them again. However, the sun was setting, and there was no way I was going to deal with polar bears AND monsters. So, I decided to put my bed down and rest, the last thing I see being the ice spikes ahead.
What a wild ride so far. At first, it started out amazing. I got every piece of luck I could ever need. However, as soon as I made it to the snowy biomes, things got hard. I used up some supplies, I lost a friend, and I had several tense moments. The snowy biome proves that you need a lot more than luck to survive the wilderness. And you know what? I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Next time we come back, we’ll tackle the ice spikes and whatever comes next, maybe even finding a new friend. Make sure to come back next time. I’m sure I’ll have even more wild Minecraft stories to tell.
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