Tales of a Minecraft Server Noob, Part 2: A Three Hour Tour – Welcome to the Minecrap Server

(When we last left our heroine, she was hammering away at a project on the Pretzelcast server, and had just been told by Astragali, a friend and fellow Pretzel, that there was a surprise in store on the Minecrap server. We return to our story in progress...)

...so Astra pops back onto The Pretz and says, “THE MINECRAP MAP IS BACK UP! WRITE DOWN THIS IP AND COME WITH ME!” Excited Astra was excited, and he had reason.

You may remember from the last installment that I had spoken with alefnull, admin on the Minecrap server (and man with the banhammer) regarding getting whitelisted on Minecrap, and he had mentioned that the map was unavailable, so there would be a wait of some weeks. It seemed it was a surprise to the entire Minecrap community that the map was back up and running, and everyone was rushing to the server to see what could be seen.

What did I know about Minecrap?

Well, I'd seen Satori's builds at Lyon Estates and elsewhere, and I'd watched a tour done by Ironfruit and Bethness (The Half-Bakes); both were shown on YouTube. Impressive stuff, but the reality was SO much better. Landing at spawn, I was confronted with a carnival atmosphere-bright colors, people rushing everywhere, and the chat literally exploding with running commentary. With Astragali as my guide, I stepped out into an amusement park of the like I had never seen. As I goggled at the sights, Astra threw me a diamond sword, gave me a brief rundown of chat commands, and informed me that I was godded (he knows I lag out and die with astonishing regularity).

The fabulous Rainbow Cove in the daytime...

...is even better looking at night!

 Thus began the whirlwind tour that in real time lasted over three hours, but seemed to take about ten minutes. We were joined in our trek by the talented Teddanator as we teleported through the fantastical landscape, seeing the sights. I felt like Alice in Wonderland - everything was larger-than-life, whimsical, and fascinating. As soon as I drank in one build, Astra would exclaim, “You HAVE to see THIS!” and I'd be teleported away to another exotic locale.

Thefre's elephant in the big top.

Here's a rundown of a few of the things I saw, with main builders in parentheses. There was too much to see to tell it all!¹

• The amusement park at Rainbow Cove, circumscribed by a working monorail made of rainbow colored wool, the biggest carousel ever (Astragali), a big top complete with enormous elephant (Thefre), an underwater aquarium (Teddy and Mhykol), and the largest kitchen I'd ever seen, which was a boat ride as well (Hojjosh and team).
  
  
• Ezchili's dirtbike (made of actual dirt blocks) parked at Shroomgirl's McDonalds (Chicken McLugnuts to go, please!).
  
  
• Rome (Chris_W_2k5, Alefnull, Bitburner, Hojjosh) Yes, ROME, complete with coliseum.
  
  
• Lyon Estates, where I actually got to tour Satori's house in person (awesome).
  
  
• An absolutely gorgeous Opera House (also built by Satori).
  
  

  

  Satori's Opera House, exterior...

  
  

  

  ...and interior. Now I just need a date for the show-and a dress...and shoes...a handbag...jewelry!

  
  
• A rocket and a planet (Teddy), the planet being hollow with vignettes of Minecraft biomes inside.
• Shroomgirl's giant games(!)
  
  
• Dr. Astrastein's Lab, complete with Van de Graaff generator, a giant zombie on a slab, and Notch's brain in a jar.
  
  
• A working waterslide (wheee!) Don't remember the builder on this one, sorry.
  
  
  
  

  

  The evil genius at work on a guinea pi...erm, willing subject.

  

  Where Notch's brain REALLY is. Now maybe we can get him to work on optimization!

So, over three hours later, I was standing atop a clock tower at Rainbow Cove with Astra and Teddy, grinning like a total fool over all that I'd seen. Still grinning, I made my goodbyes-after all, it was after 2AM my time, waaay past this crow's bedtime. I smiled so much that my face hurt for hours into the next day. If the map ever comes back again, it's a must see.

The next day, I was back at Minecrap. I struck out into the sunrise to find a place to build. Three “days” later, I had found a beautiful valley in which to situate my home, which would quickly become known as the Crow's Nest. Unfortunately, as soon as I had the house and interiors complete (with a working piston elevator and lots of other redstone operated goodies made by Thefre) the map had to be reset (horrors!) and Crow's Nest was lost. The next day, Astra and Thefre helped me search for the site to no avail (we did find some beautiful places though), but enter Jade to save the day! She had previously taken the coordinates on a visit to see Thefre's amazing Crow's Nest sign, so away we went. We were joined by a team of folks who pitched in to get the house back up, and in a few quick hours, my home was restored, with more perks than I had originally (but minus the elevator, unfortunately).

Home sweet Crow's Nest...now history.

Then, a few days later, the map was gone...again. It seems I have lost Crow's Nest for good. *sniffles*

So I went back to The Pretz, where I founded Ninja Decorators, LLC, and began to design my first client's interiors.

Then I learned of Sanctuary.

Upcoming: Part Three: Claiming Sanctuary

1Any mistakes in crediting builds are wholly my own. My brain just ain't what it used to be. Happens, when you get old.