Gift code

Gift codes are twelve character alphanumeric codes which can be purchased, individually or in bulk of up to ten, for someone else to redeem a copy of Minecraft Beta with. They were implemented on the main website on December 16th, 2010. An account must be created and logged into first before codes can be redeemed.

Trivia

 * Although rare, Notch gives away gift codes for vigilant followers of his blog or twitter to redeem. When this happens, they are nearly instantly redeemed. The first instance of this was on Christmas day, December 25th, 2010, where eleven codes were given out.
 * Gift codes bought during the Alpha development phase will still result in an account being upgraded to an Alpha account, even when redeemed after the Alpha phase ended.