Tutorials/Traps

This list doesn't cover mob grinders, the killing mechanism in mob farms.

Traps are a common mechanism in Survival Multiplayer (SMP) built by players to kill other players or mobs automatically. The following is a list of basic traps with a short tutorial that often assumes the reader has a working understanding of the basic concepts required to build the trap. Traps are considered a subset of mechanisms.

Hidden Bed Trap
A simple room design that incorporates hidden tnt. The best method of wiring is to disguise the detonator as a light switch, but other means include the use of a BUD switch.

Bed Suffocation Trap
Create a room with a standing space of two blocks high, then, in one corner place two blocks side by side against the wall, and place a bed on the blocks. When a player tries to get up after sleeping in the bed, he/she will only have a one block space to get up in, and their head will get stuck in the roof above them, preventing them from getting out, and suffocating them. Note: After suffocating, the player will respawn in their original spawn location.

Greed
Traps that exploit a player's natural desire for riches in order to lead him or her to their downfall.

Greedy man's grave
Requires: Diamond Armor (all), Diamond Block, Shovel (any), Pickaxe (any), Diamond Sword, Netherrack, Flint and Steel, Torches

Build a 3 block deep hole. Surround it with burning netherrack on all but one side. Put a block of diamond on top WHILE INSIDE. Continue digging downwards until you are at least 24 blocks deep to ensure death. Make a square room with torches and wait inside. When someone steps onto the diamond and breaks it, he will fall. If he dies when he hits the ground, the trap is a success. Collect the loot and leave. If not, the hole isn't deep enough. In this case, quickly kill the surprised player and claim their loot.

However, one may see the ruse and disarm the trap, possibly by filling your trap with lava, water, gravel, or sand, or by covering the hole with obsidian. They may also return with a friend to help attack you when you come out.

This trap depends on people's natural greed, and the fact that sometimes people just don't think.

Diamond Block Silverfish Trap
Make a 3x3 pad of obsidian/bedrock and place a diamond block on top. Next, place obsidian on all sides except one. Finally, place a silverfish block in the empty spot to cap the top off and you're set! Note: This trap is most effective if you put a LOT of silverfish blocks nearby and put a sign that says, "Hands off my diamonds!"

The would-be thief will get massacred by the silverfish.

Fake Mine
You need: Lots of TNT, a structure that looks convincingly like a mine or an abandoned mine, a trigger, an iron door and some redstone

Preparation: 1. Put your TNT below the layer on which the victim will be standing. 2. Place an iron door for players to "enter" the mine. 3. Wire the trigger to the TNT, but make sure the trigger is near the door. 4. Place a sign near your "mine" saying "Diamond Mine". 5. Wait for your first unfortunate victim.

Execution of trap 1. Victim notices your "mine" and thinks you might have diamonds or other valuables stored inside. 2. Victim sees trigger and assumes that it's for the door. 3. Victim activates trigger and gets blown sky-high.

End Trap
Requires: 5 Diamond blocks 1 End Portal block 1 Trapdoor 1 Pressure Plate

Dig a hole 3 blocks down and place 1 End Portal block at the bottom of the hole. Place a trapdoor over the hole and place a pressure plate in front of it. Stack 5 Diamond blocks vertically behind the trapdoor. Make a closed tunnel 2 blocks high and 1 block wide so the victim will not be able to walk around or jump over the pressure plate. Whoever is unlucky enough to fall into the hole will be transported to the End!

Inexpensive Greed Trap
Materials needed: Chest, TNT, Pressure Plate and redstone(optional).

Place a chest at the end of a long, 2 block tall hole made of stone or dirt. In front of the chest, dig a hole 1 block wide and two blocks deep. Place a TNT block at the bottom, a normal looking block on top of that, and finally a pressure plate on top. You can place more TNT underground along the length of the passageway ( but make sure to cover them all inconspicuously because when the player hears the TNT igniting they will probably run back).Whoever steps in front of the empty chest will ignite the TNT. You will need to rebuild the entire trap after each ignition. To ensure death at the cost of more resources, place redstone wire under all of the TNT so that it all ignites at once.

Curiosity trap
Make a chamber that has one entrance and an iron door that is opened only by a pressure plate on the outside, so that once the player is in, they are trapped. This trap can be escaped in three ways, and all of them can be anticipated. To prevent the victim from digging out, put lava behind the walls and beneath the floor. To prevent them from using their own lever or pressure plate to escape, place TNT underneath them or behind the walls. To stop them from destroying the iron door, place lava above that too.

Greedy rails
Make a long Powered Rail, powering all but the first rail. Put a Minecart on the first rail and a Switch to make the cart move. Put a sign nearby that says "(yourname)'s diamond cave, do not enter".

Building the track Make a long track uphill with a drop-off at the top. Where the minecart drop, make a 4x4 hole 2 blocks deep and fill it with lava, so that the player will fall suddenly into lava and lose all of their fortunes. You may use a bucket later to get rid of the lava. Note: make sure the lava isn't visible prior to the drop-off to prevent the player from jumping off.

Explosive Traps
Traps using TNT.

Land Mine
For a simple land mine, mine a 1x1 hole two blocks deep. Next put one piece of TNT at the bottom and cover it with a block that looks natural to the area (a stone block in a cave, etc.). After that just put a pressure plate on top and it's done. If a mob or player steps on it, it will go off.

Note: When using a wooden pressure plate, dropped items will also trigger the TNT and the delay and noise of the TNT may alert the victim.

Capture Landmine
This is aimed for mobs more than other players, dig a 3x3 hole 4 blocks deep, place obsidian in layers 2,3,4 the surface layer should be matching to its surrounding, add doors around the four middle blocks (the doors are there to trap a mob inside whilst the TNTs are counting down) finally add 2 TNT in the centre, cap and a pressure plate on top. Best result are attained in a corridor with stone floring and a stone pressure plate.

SIDE VIEW (d = door, s = surface block, _ = pressure plate, o = obsidian (cobble/stone if not achievable), t = TNT) d d d_d <-- Layer 0 sss <-- surface layer (1) oto <-- layer (2) oto <-- layer (3) ooo <-- layer (4)

L0-  L1-   L2/3     L4- ada      sss       ooo               ooo d_d      sss       oto               ooo ada      sss       ooo               ooo

Improved Landmine
First make a 5x5 hole that is 4 blocks deep. Next fill the sides and bottom with obsidian but not the top ring or they will see it. You should be left with a 3x3x3 hole. Place two layers of TNT and cap with a block suited to its surroundings. Finally add a stone pressure plate over any of the TNT blocks.

Trap Ore
What you need: TNT, two Redstone torches, Sand or Gravel (optional), any kind of Ore and Stone.

On the back of the ore, place a redstone torch. Place a block right on top of it so it rests on the torch. Place another redstone torch on top. Then surround the top torch with TNT. Warning: Do not go lower than the top torch or the TNT will be set off. Cover up the ore and wait for someone to mine it!



Remote Explosion
It is possible to detonate TNT that has a pressure plate on it using a fishing rod. This method is undetectable, however, it is unstable and prone premature detonation if you don't have patience.

Pitfall landmine
Unlike the Landmine and Improved landmine, the Pitfall Landmine traps Mobs or players so that the TNT is given enough time to explode. First, dig down four blocks. Next, put a gravity affected block (Sand or Gravel) on top of the TNT and put a pressure plate on top of the sand or gravel. You could also put water at the bottomof the hole.

Note that this trap seldom works on players, as they will most likely avoid the pressure plate. For maximum effect, it is suggested that you place the trap in front of an iron door, as they are usually paired with pressure plates for easy opening.

Note: This trap is effective is because it is almost impossible to get out of the trap before the TNT blows.

Blow and Burn
Griefers love blowing and burning people's houses up. To prevent it from happening to you, make a decoy house out of wood or wool (preferably wool) and fill the chests with wood, cobble, or dirt, maybe even coal to make it look less mechanical. Don't fill them to the top. Fill the area under it with TNT and make some "rays" of TNT extend from the house.

NOTE: Make more rays than depicted.

When the house burns down, the TNT on the inside blows the outside TNT towards the griefer. Even if the griefer thinks he's at a safe enough distance away, he'll be killed by the TNT that was blown outward, so he'll die along with your decoy house.

Underwater Shelter
NOTE: used for multiplayer!

Build an underwater shelter. Put many invaluable items in it. Dig an escape tunnel for yourself that leads to a shelter, the surface, or another safe zone. Hide under it and cry out saying that you've lost your way back and that anyone can have it. When someone walks in, ignite a block of TNT under the shelter and escape through the tunnel you dug earlier.

This is also a great way to irritate people who are genuinely trying to help you, which, in itself, is rather silly. Furthermore, the ideal trap should be able to function without external stimuli (Someone igniting TNT or flicking a switch manually) using redstone or pressure plates, as these would make the existence of this trap somewhat pointless because someone could easily wait for you to go offline before stealing your well-earned loot.

Alarm Tunnel
Build a tunnel leading to an iron door with a lever nearby. Place pressure plates and trap doors with lava, water, or fire under them. When a player pulls the lever to open the door, the trap door opens instead. Annoyingly, the iron door has no way of opening, the pressure plates lead to nothing, and if you want, annoying tunes can be played on note blocks. Flood the walls with lava for even more fun.

Burning Trap
Build a small shelter that has exterior walls made of stone but has wood on the interior (However, do not put stone on the roof as you'll be hiding here). Use an iron door for the entrance to the shelter and wire it to be close-able from the roof. Load the roof with TNT (the more the merrier, right?). When a player walks in, close the door with the switch on the roof. Light the roof on fire, and then ignite the TNT. Run away and enjoy the carnage.

Simple Pit Mine
This is a very simple trap, it is extremely deadly though. Dig at least 5 blocks, then fill the hole up with TNT until there are four blocks to the top. Place one block of TNT two blocks above that, then put gravel or sand on top and then a pressure plate. Then, as a player or mob walks over the pressure plate, they fall in and blow up.

Proximity Bomb
A proximity bomb is a player detector paired with an output of TNT. It destroys itself and blows up its surroundings when the player gets close, and it should often be undetected.

This design, the smallest by far, involves the use of cave spiders as they are the only mob that can fit in a 1x1x1 area.

Vechs, the creator of the Super Hostile CTM (complete the monument) map series, came up with multiple designs for a proximity bomb, the first involving creepers, taking advantage of light levels and gravity. His second, shown here, takes advantage of the ability of blazes to spawn in higher light levels than average hostile mobs.

Sethbling has also put his own spin on a proximity detector.

Mined Block Trap
This type of trap uses a player mining a block as input when setting off the trap. A "NOT" gate is used so that when the player destroys a block with a redstone torch on it, the second phase of redstone is turned on, causing the TNT to be set off.

An advantage of this style of trigger is that the signal is created without the target activating a pressure plate or pulling a lever (in the case of a player). It is also easy to build, since you can wire multiple blocks all over the map. Based on the location, different blocks should be used. Caves may use ore, deserts may use exposed ore (as though sand had fallen to expose it), and player built cities may use rare blocks such as diamond or gold.

Instead of using a NOT gate one can simply use a piston to push a TNT block into an active circuit. The advantage of this method is, that the trapped block does not need to be wired itself:

Sticky Piston Trap
This trap is similar to the door trap, except less visible. The design involves 4 sticky pistons, 1 pressure plate, a block/roof over the pressure plate so the mob can't escape (1 block high for chickens, slimes, magma cubes or silverfish, 2 high for creepers, players, NPC villagers, skeletons, zombies or zombie pigmen and 3 blocks high for iron golems and endermen) and 4 blocks to hide the sticky pistons. Dig 1 block down, and place the pressure plate in it. Dig two blocks down the blocks adjacent to the pressure plate. At the bottom of each 2 block deep pit, place a piston. Place 4 blocks that can be pushed by pistons above the pistons. It is advised to use blocks fitting the environment for low visibility. It is possible to create a chain of piston traps side-by-side and make a barrier.

Note: Do NOT use sand or gravel as your blocks effected by pistons. Also, exercise caution when dealing with skeletons (as they can shoot from the trap while being protected from the sun by the roof), and with creepers, (which can explode if you are close to the trap). It is possible to create a clock, connect it to an AND gate the plate, and wire it up to a dispenser loaded with arrows, as shown here - http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Tutorials/Traps#Sticky_Piston_and_Arrow_Trap Also, here is a video of it.

(Note - No AND gate is used in this, but it shows a similar idea)

O = Pressure plate X = Piston $ = Blocks pushed by piston @ = Blocks not needed % = Block Transferring power to pistons.

First Layer

@ $ @

$ O $

@ $ @

Second Layer

@ X @

X % X

@ X @

Piston TNT Trap
This trap is for small 1x2 passage-ways, perhaps inside a friends tunnel-mine. a pressure plate is places, and when stepped on pushes two normal pistons up, blocking the "happy" miners escape, then hidden tnt sets off causing instant death.

Piston TNT Trap 2
This trap is made mainly for mob killing (or very gullible friends) It works similar to the Piston Trap above, but this just shows you the simplest way to do it. Note that this video does not actually work, as the player can walk right though primed tnt. To make the trap work, another block must be added above the piston with the tnt on the surface.

Roof TNT Trap
A 'Roof TNT Trap' can be made by putting a pressure plate next to a door then wiring that pressure plate to activate TNT hidden in the ceiling. This works best in a small area such as a mine. To limit the space the target can run, use an iron door and only place the pressure plate on the outside. To further limit the space the target can run, have the pressure plate also wired to an inverted piston that drop gravels, blocking the remainder of the tunnel.

Trapdoor Lava Pit Trap
This trap utilizes wandering mobs, trap doors, lava, and pressure plates. To see how it's made, view the diagram on the left, and to see it in game, view the image beneath it.

This trap can also be made with water and signs. Make the hole 3x3x4 instead, and fill the bottom with signs, and replace the lava with water. This takes away the problem of having to collect lava. This will also fix the problem of the lava destroying the mob drops.

Mined Ore Trap
Note: The double door glitch only works in older verions! Very simple. Use the double door bug so one of the iron doors stays open and then put a pressure plate inside a room. Then mine a block out of the wall and place lava 2 blocks back and seal it up with some ore, so when people mine the ore, the lava comes out and they can't escape because when they try to exit the iron door closes. Here is an overhead view: X= wall D= door P= Pressure Plate O= Ore L=Lava XXX XLX XXXXXOXXXXX X        X                    X         X                    X    P    X                    XXXXXDxXxXX

A very similar trap to this one is to fill the person's house with block 97 (which spawns silverfish when mined). Mining it also has the added bonus of activating other silverfish blocks in the immediate area. When they mine the block, they will be attacked, if not killed.

Door Pitfall
This trap is very simple. In front of the door you want to dig down a 1 by 1 hole as far down as you want. Make your pit as close to the door as possible, and be sure to dig it from the same side of the door as you. Once your pit is done, return to the surface. Place a TNT block 2 blocks down in the pit. Place a sand or gravel block on top. Then put a STONE (this way it can only be triggered by players and mobs) pressure plate on the sand/gravel. When a player or mob steps on the pressure plate the delay between the pressure and the door opening will be just long enough for the TNT to activate, causing the player or mob to fall to their deaths. Notes: The delay will only help if there is NO gap whatsoever in between the pressure plate and the door. Optional: Place lava at the bottom of the pit so players aren't motivated to come back for their drops (make sure lava is placed more than one block from the bottom so it isn't smothered by the sand/gravel).

Door Trap
This is a very simple and also rather obvious trap that is made by putting a pressure plate in the middle of 4 open doors so that the victim is trapped inside when they enter, you may also decide to put a block 2 blocks higher than the pressure plate to stop the victim jumping out. This is a very quick and easy to set up trap, making it ideal if you are new to minecraft or simply in a hurry. It is also recommended that the pressure plate is made of stone so that a player can not activate the trap without standing on it, this can be achieved by throwing a block onto a wooden pressure plate. A simple way to make it into a drowning trap is to add a block of water in the block above the pressure plate. When combined with a block on top, the player/mob will drown and not be able to escape. Another way to make this trap more deadly is to place a block of TNT right under the block with the pressure plate on it. Since TNT explodes relatively fast, even if the person manages to get out of the trap quickly, the TNT will probably explode before they have moved a safe distance away. Another fairly simple way is to replace the doors with iron doors and make the top stone and the pressure plate stone and put lava in the middle burning player/mobs making easy to collect their items.

TNT Door Trap
This is a very simple trap. Start out by building a simple, one story shelter (but don't put in a door yet). Then, go inside the shelter and replace the floor with a two-block deep hole. Cover the bottom of the hole with TNT, then cover the TNT with flooring material. Place valuables inside as needed. Now, exit the shelter and place a pressure plate one block inside the doorway. This plate should be above a block which is above a block of TNT. Place an iron door in the doorway and one pressure plate outside the door. The would-be griefer will step on the outer pressure plate, causing the door to open. When they enter, they will step on the inner pressure plate, thinking nothing of it because it looks like the pressure plate reopens the iron door when they exit. In reality, it's simultaneously triggering the hidden TNT. They'll be blown up while trying to steal your stuff.

Tutorial on making a TNT door trap;

A Very Simple Trap Door Trap
This is one of the quickest traps you can make, and does not require many materials. But be warned that it isn't high quality and more intelligent players will quickly disregard it. First, you have to find a place where this trap can be easily concealed, such as a dark doorway or another clever hiding spot. Next, you simply dig a hole about 7 blocks deep, and 1 block wide. Use a bucket to fill the hole 6 or 7 blocks deep with lava. Then, put a wooden trap door on top of it and a pressure plate in front. Players will walk on top of the plate and through the door and fall into the lava. NOTE: This is not a very good trap, but works if you need simplicity.

Fake Entrance Trap
This is a fairly easy trap to create, but requires a lot of obsidian. Make a fake entrance to your home out of obsidian. It should be 4 x 4 x 9, with six blocks extending underground (4 x 4 pit), and a 2 x 1 space for a door. Hollow out the obsidian (fill the edges of the 4x4 pit), and make an obsidian floor at the bottom of the pit. Then make the 3x3x4 part on the surface. Now go back down, and three spaces from ground level, make a 2 x 2 "floor" out of any material. Use the walls to place it. Two spaces from ground level, make a 2 x 2 array out of TNT. Then at ground level, make a normal floor. On the floor above the TNT, place a pressure plate on three of the spots except the back corner. On this back corner, place a chest. Put a few iron ingots or something somewhat valuable (but not TOO valuable) in the chest. Then, coat the obsidian on the surface with stone or another material. Place an iron door at the front of this material, with the pressure plate positioned so that you cannot leave by way of the other pressure plates inside. If you want to, you can make a sign announcing this is your house. When people walk in, they will not be able to leave, and they must step on a pressure plate to get to the chest, igniting the TNT. They will either blow up or fall to their deaths. It is constructed out of obsidian so it is reusable, but you can make a one-use trap out of any material. Watch a tutorial here-

Fake underwater mine trap
This one is fairly simple (but time consuming). Dig a 2 x 2 hole at least 28 blocks deep, or more if the target is wearing armor. Put signs in the second block after the surface and make a water pool, so there`s nothing but air below. So, put a sign saying something like: "Diamonds here!" or "Mine" or even "Do not enter"(Nobody can resist a sign that says "Do not enter"). The unfornate player will jump in it and die from fall damage. This trap does have the inherent design flaw in that a player can easily circumvent the fall by placing water below the bottom sign, or using a ender peral to teleport to the bottom, so it is recommended that you place another method of killing the person at the bottom (ie. land mine, lava or a crushing piston that is triggered with a preassure plate).

Gravel Suffocation Trap
Probably the simplest trap in Minecraft. Make 1x2 holes wait for a player or mob to fall in and then suffocate them with gravel.Get their items out of the hole.

Murder Holes
Note: This trap is designed for player sized mobs like zombies. It also does not work well on other players. Nevertheless, when done in mass in a ring around the structure being protected, it works relatively well. Dig many 1x1 holes four blocks into the ground.. Then, make a two block high tunnel along one of the edges of the holes that runs ONE BLOCK DEEPER than the bottom of the holes. Then, put signs on the top of the holes to fool mobs into falling in. Go into your tunnel and kill the mobs by yourself while they stand in the hole helplessly.

T= tunnel H= hole B= block

BBHB BBHB BBHB BTHB BTBB BBBB

Suffocation Tower
(Note: Only suitable for 1 block wide mob.However, a two block variant can also be created)

Requirements: Cobblestone(as much as possible),Sand/Gravel(2),Pressure Pad(2),Iron Door(2) ,Trapdoor(1),Dirt(3)

Build a tower out of cobblestone(hollow 1 block center, 5 block tall walls,Trapdoor for floor

Then place a pressure pad in front of the iron doors. The mob will step on the pad and will open the door for a time,long enough to let them in but not long enough to let them out. Get to the top of the tower and suffocate the mob inside with your gravity-affected blocks. Get inside the tunnel you have dig and pillar your way out. Remember to close the trapdoor floor!

Semi-Advanced Traps
Many traps require some redstone wiring, but these take a significant amount and require a basic understanding of redstone circuitry. Explosive traps, those that use TNT, may destroy sections of redstone wire if the explosion occurs too close.

Tripwire Jump Trap
This trap relies on the fact that like end portal, trip wire is invisible from the bottom. Make a room or hallway at least 3 bloks high, and put trip wire in a layer on the third layer up. If the victim jumps, they will trigger the trap. How they are captured or killed is up to the player.

Mob Proof Dispenser Trap (SMP)
This is a fake entrance, and iPlace an iron door with a stone pressure plate on one side, and a button on the inside. Then place dispensers (1-4, make sure unfatal) in a very obvious location aiming at the door. Then dig a fatal hole on the other side. When the player walks onto the pressure plate, the dispensers should fire. This will push mobs back. In addition, any mobs walking on the pressure plate will (as of 1.2) now attempt to go around as their AI prevents them from falling into the hole. Upon the door closing, they will try to go through the door again, resulting in death. This trap is excellent for SMP servers. Upon seeing the obvious dispensers people will attempt to charge through and end up falling through the hole, where they die. Tested on mc.Slap-gaming.com, a very popular server, 9 out of 10 people were killed by this trap. The seventh person /spawned, which resulted in a near fatal fall leaving her with 1 and 1/2 heart.

Arrow Dispenser


This trap is created by attaching a dispenser filled with arrows to a clock generator. When the clock triggers the dispenser, an arrow will fire. The rate of fire is limited by the clock; slower clocks means fewer arrows shot over a given time period. With a rapid pulser, the dispenser will fire roughly 5 APS (arrows per second).



Since dispensers don't 'burn out' like torches, it is possible to greatly increase the rate of fire of the dispenser by attaching it to a rapid pulsar. To wire this, connect the rapid pulsar to the dispenser, give the dispenser another power source (such as an adjacent redstone torch). By connecting the rapid pulsar to a stable input (such as a torch controlled by a lever seen to the right), the dispenser can be controlled by turning off the torches in the pulser.

The trap can be automated by attaching a pressure plate to the control torch. When the pressure plate is active, the pulsar is allowed.

One way to improve this trap is to place it at the end of a long thin corridor with an iron door entrance. The iron door is opened only from the outside via pressure plate. Have the pressure plate wired to an RS NOR latch so that once activated it will remain active, but can be deactivated by a hidden button.

Sticky Piston and Arrow Trap
This video will show you a way to both capture and kill 2 blocks high monsters. You need 3 pistons (sticky unless block is gravity affected), a block that pistons can move, a dispenser loaded with arrows, 2 repeaters, a redstone torch and some redstone. Any clock will work.

Sticky Piston and Fire Arrow Trap
This trap uses concepts that are described in the "sticky piston and arrow trap," but is only suitable for killing other players, rather than mobs. This trap works by taking advantage of the fact that when a block is mined, and a Redstone torch is attached to the other side, the Redstone torch breaks off. This creates a change in input in order to activate three piston walls, and two rows of dispensers (which are hidden behind two of the walls). The walls that move in this trap serve two functions; two of them reveal rows of dispensers (containing arrows) that may have lava flowing down the front to create fire arrows. The other wall moves in the way that the player came in from to prevent them from running out of the line of fire from the arrows. When the block is mined, the Redstone torch releases a signal that activates these doors. Then, using a logic gate* that is attached to some pulsars (or any other form of clock), the dispensers are activated, firing arrows at the player that activated the trap until dispensers run out of arrows. If the player that activated the trap is wearing projectile protected armor, they will most likely be able to escape the trap. This is why the fire is important for making it more likely they will sustain fatal damage. They may be able to down a fire resistance potion in time, but this is unlikely.

There is a variation of this trap; instead of having three piston walls moving to reveal dispensers and trap the player, you could have the floor open up to a room with dispensers on all four walls, making a much more efficient trap to kill the player. This version of the trap is much simpler to build; however, the former trap is much cooler to see, and may disorient the player more, so that they can't decide what to do to get out.**


 * It doesn't seem that there exists a name for the logic gate that I used, as I couldn't find it anywhere on the basic Redstone help page.
 * Standardized diagrams dictating how this works will be available soon!

Piston Suffocation Trap
Tutorial for making a piston suffocation trap:

Requirements: 2x Sticky Piston 2x Piston At least 11 Stone Full stack of stone (for hidden version) 2x Painting (for hidden version) Stone Pressure Plate 4x Redstone Torch 2x Redstone Dust Chest or Ender Chest (for greed version) 3 full stacks of stone (for greed version) Torches (for greed version) 1x TNT (for Double Whammy version) Iron Door and another pressure plate (for Double Whammy version)

Standard Version: Create 2 stone pillars (3x1x1) 2 blocks away from each other. Then connect the pillars with another stone block so the player can just barely walk through. Dig down 2 blocks while inside the gate, and then complete a 5x2x1 hole perpendicular to the walk-in direction. Place stone 3 blocks under the block at the top of the gate and place redstone torches on both sides of it. Place redstone dust so the torches power them (on both sides of the stone block with the redstone torches) and then place 2 more stone blocks next to each redstone dust. Next, place redstone torches on these stone blocks and cover them up with 1 stone block each. You can now place a sticky piston on each of these stone blocks so they face the gate. Now, place a pressure plate right in the gate. Dig 1 block down on each side of the pressure plate not occupied by stone and place an upward-facing piston in the open slots. If this is too complex, my video explains this version, but none of the others!

Hidden Version: Start with the Standard Version trap. Duplicate the stone gate (twice) so that there are gates covering both of the pistons, not just the pressure plate. You can now place paintings over the pistons to disguise them (and the trap!)

Greed version: Start with the Hidden Version trap. Duplicate the gates even more to form a long hallway and place your Chest or Ender Chest at the end (contains no loot). Place torches along the sides of the hallway to finish the trap. This can be useful in Multiplayer to trap players.

Double Whammy version: Start with the Hidden Version trap. Duplicate the gates like in the Greed version and light it up with torches. Place an Iron Door and hook up a pressure plate. Place TNT under the pressure plate (people can't see it, trust me!) Place a Chest or Ender Chest (also contains no loot) at the end, so if players manage to escape the TNT, they may be drawn to the Chest/Ender Chest and get suffocated by the pistons!

Rapid Pulsar Arrow Dispenser


While a standard pulsar will flicker on and off quickly allowing the dispenser to fire rapidly without the manual addition and removal of power, it is often too fast and will cause delays in firing due to the dispenser not being able to keep up. The design on the above diagram compensates for this by slightly slowing the interval between pulses.

It is important to note that in order for the trap to work, the input (I) to the rapid pulsar must be turned ON when the operator does not want the dispenser to be firing. When the power is turned off the circuit will begin pulsing at a steady rapid rate. This allows the arrows to be fired at the quickest rate without delays between shots. A constant power source must also be applied to the dispenser in such a way that it will not conflict with the input of the pulsar to the dispenser. A single redstone torch one block above the dispenser will accomplish this.

This trap works best as a player controlled mob-counter-measure through the use of a switch, as a pressure plate would only send power through the pulsar when a mob is standing on the plate (although a NOT Gate wired to the input before the pulsar could be used to compensate for this).

Arrow Machine Gun
A trap that can be used for many things. First, on a flat surface, mine 1 block down and place a redstone torch. Above it put 2 dispensers. to the left and right of the 1st dispenser, put stone. Then put redstone torches behind (away from the front of the dispensers) the two stone blocks. They must be ON the blocks, not next to them. Put two more stone blocks on the redstone torches, and put redstone torches behind those. After that put two more stone blocks on those redstone torches. Put 2 redstone torches on top of those, and a stone block behind the top dispenser. Finally, put redstone on top of all the uncovered stone blocks. The thing should start to flash. Put arrows in the dispenser, and to turn it off hook up a lever and turn it on.

Undetectable Trap
A trap that is based on the fact that you can pick up dropped items through the corner of 2 blocks, which makes the trap undetectable without xray. The dropped item sits on a wooden pressure plate, which is connected to an inverter that holds open a line of sticky pistons that hold the floor. A simple tutorial for this kind of trap can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y96hqyYD83k or here:

Lava And Collection Trap
You need one sign, one bucket of lava and two buckets of water.

Make a trench two blocks wide and put the water flowing down it. Then put the sign at the end on a wall. Put the lava over the sign. Make a glass hut at the end of the trench an wait for the monsters to start rolling in.

Crushing Trap
This trap uses pistons to crush skeletons, zombies or players to death. For every square meter you'll need a sticky piston, two cobblestone, and one piece of redstone dust. A lever is also needed to trigger the trap, plus some extra redstone dust.

Dig the room so the ceiling is 6 blocks high. Place sticky pistons all around so they are facing down at you on the 4th block up. There should be enough space above the piston to walk on it, and enough room on the floor to jump. Replace the ceiling using cobble just beneath all of the sticky pistons. The room should now appear to be 2 blocks high, with 2 empty blocks above the pistons (unseen). Using a maintenance shaft, get in the area just above the pistons. Place cobble to cover all the pistons. Cover the top cobble layer with redstone dust. Then, make a trail with redstone dust to a lever. From here you can trigger the ceiling.

Upon activating the lever, the pistons will push the blocks down and start damaging tall mobs and players. This design can be converted to use pressure plates on the ground to activate the trap rather than a lever. To be effective against spiders and short mobs, lower the entire trap by 1 block, or cover the floor with sticky pistons facing upwards and wire them as well.

Small Crushing Trap
Dig a 3x1 pit 2 blocks deep. Put a pressure plate in one end, redstone in the middle, and any block in the end. On top of the block opposite the pressure plate, put a sticky piston facing the plate, and then put some dirt on the piston to hide it.

Mobs will fall in the hole. If they're 2 blocks tall they'll get crushed, and if they're 1 block tall they'll get trapped!

Side view

Corridor trap
The following Trap uses pistons to suffocate and trap the player. once the player dies, they cannot get their items back, and if the player does set the trap off, but doesn't get killed by it, they still can't make it past.

An advantage of this trap is that it can be reset with the press of a button, or completely disabled, if needs be. It is not very obvious - and can simply be disguised as an iron door.

Cave Spider Trap
Actually fairly simple and requires no redstone, but requires a cave spider spawner and iron, coal, or gold.(Diamond could work, but there's no assuring they'll have an iron pickaxe.) Find a cave spider spawner, or hack one in. Surround it in valuables such as coal. Tell others you've found a mine shaft, then "accidentally" give away directions to it. Pretend to feel stupid for giving away directions. Another player will come, then dig the blocks. By then make sure you're not there. The enemy will then get poisoned and bitten until they're dead. An alternate version of this trap would be to either hack in a cave spider spawner or build your house around one, and then to make a dark are where they can spawn but cannont get out. You could then have a piston move a block below the area for them to spawn, and have a pressure plate or button connected that seemingly opens the door to your house. Upon pressing the button/pressure plate, the pistion will retract and a cave spider will drop on the player. For added efficiency, it could be placed behind the door in a corridor, making it harder for the player to escape the venomous bite of your arachnid friends.

Suffocating Piston Trap
The following piston trap suffocates the player slowly by filling the room with sand and continuing to fill it until they die or there is no sand left. The player trapped could mine out, or maybe replace the redstone torch(?) Lastly, they could mine enough of the fallen sand that they do not suffocate. Just things a creative player who doesn't panic might try. The following video shows the trap "in motion" and how it's made:

Pitfall
Beware: the following pitfall traps don't necessarily kill the target by falling damage. Some players prefer to use fire, lava, or cactus to deal damage and use the pit as an area the target can't escape before fatal damage has been dealt.

TNT-based pitfall trap
Create a deep 3x3 pit (deep enough so mobs will die upon hitting the bottom). Two blocks down from the surface, place a layer of stone or cobblestone. On top of that, do the same, but make sure the center block is TNT. Finally, place a layer of any block type on top (except TNT, of course). An advantage to stone/cobblestone is that it takes less blocks, while an advantage to dirt is that upon the TNT's explosion, it creates a small ledge around the pit you can stand on to help rebuilding. After your top layer is done, put a pressure plate on the block above the TNT. When a mob - or player - walks on the plate, the TNT will trigger, damaging them and making them fall to their death in the pit below. To collect the items, create a maintenance hallway to the bottom of the pit.

TNT-based pitfall trap (Easy)
Dig 3 blocks down but stay on the surface. Put a block of sand on the bottom of the hole, and a block of TNT on top of the sand. Place a pressure plate on top of the sand and when a mob steps on it, it will trigger the TNT and the mob will take damage and fall into the pit created by the explosion.

WARNING! ''Mobs will NOT BE DEAD upon finding (unless they burn in sunlight). Shoot them with arrow(s) until they die. Happy hunting!''

Cactus-based pitfall trap
One way to dispatch a target is by filling the bottom of the shaft with cacti. Since a cactus can't be placed adjacent to any other blocks, a checkerboard pattern must be used. Players and most mobs will fall between the cactus and be unable to escape. Spiders, however, won't be able to fall between the cactus and, depending on the design of the shaft, may be able to escape before taking fatal damage.

Another thing you should consider is that cacti destroy items.

Shallow pitfall
Dig a pit 1-block deep hole at least 5x5 blocks. Place fences on the inside edge. Since fences count as one and one half blocks in height, mobs can walk in but can not jump out. Alternatively, line the outside with half-slabs.This can also be combined with a mob grinder, via water currents leading to it. Zombies and Skeletons will take damage from sunlight during the day if the pit is uncovered, making this an effective way to sort out creepers. This design does not capture spiders.

Water-current based pitfall trap
To effectively improve the size of your pit without digging a larger area, dig a shallow ring around the top layer of your pit. Fill this area with water so that mobs will be dragged to the center. If necessary, water can be stopped by placing signs or Stone Pressure Plate.

Wired pitfalls
Pistons and other redstone blocks are sometimes used to push the target into a nearby pit, or you can place a lever beside a door and deceivingly wire it to a mechanism that uncovers a hole in the floor so that the target falls into a pit of lava.

Snowball-based pitfall trap
Load the dispenser with snowballs (or eggs if you find them easier to get and arrows if you wish), and aim the dispenser at a connected pressure plate next to the pit. When the target walks across the plate, the dispenser shoots a snowball to knock the target into the pit, where they can be dealt with however you like.

The Obscured Pit
The mechanism is a pressure plate attached to 5 pistons: 4 pistons that retract, and one that extends. Build this in a flat sandy area. Wire the pressure plate to an inverter then to 4 sticky pistons 1 layer underground. When the plate activates, the pistons should open a 2x2 hole. Replace the sand on top of the extended pistons on the ground. Then, under the sand manipulated by the pistons, make a hole as deep as you want. It can have water supported by signs, so as not to kill your victim, or they can plummet to certain doom. Then, add a normal piston wired into the plate so as to push the victim into the opened shaft. Then, you can replace the top layer of sand.

Pitfalls using pistons
Another kind of pit is the piston pit. In this pit trap a sand structure is build on an activated piston. The structure itself uses torches to keep the sand at the top. The structure is build like an upside down pyramid so that one sand block is holding the others. When the piston is toggled, the main sand block above the piston will fall triggering a cascade in the rest.

This trap is easy to reset if enough sand is available, you just have to put new sand on top of the piston and build a new sandfloor. If sand is scarce, you may want to build a maintenance shaft to the bottom of the pit to retrieve the sand.

Repeatedly triggering a trap of this type without collecting the sand from the pit will eventually fill the entire pit with sand. To counter this, you can set up a floor of torches, redstone torches, redstone repeaters and/or tall grass. As the sand blocks fall on these objects, they will break and produce lootable sand blocks. These could possibly be collected (along with the victim's items) by the owner of the trap for future use, although they have to be picked up very soon after the trap has been triggered, as they will despawn in a couple of minutes like any other lootable items. A more elaborate system could even have the sand and items redirected to a water stream which leads them to a collection point.


 * Piston Pitfall auto reset

A variation to this is to make it so that the sand crushes the victim when activated. However, this poses two major disadvantages. First of all, with updated minecraft the player will be pushed out from the sand. This can be countered by filling in the hanging 'pit' of sand in, making it so that there is no room to be pushed out into. The second problem is that no idiot wouldn't notice a giant structure of hanging sand above them.

Tripwire Piston Pitfall trap
A compact & fast design, can kill the target by any type of damage. Cheap & fast to build, yet does the job right and is almost undetectable. The victim is walking in a tunnel, there are no pressure plates, just a tripwire hanging at the target's head level. Once the victim touches the tripwire, a block is pushed up preventing the target from escaping and the pistons below quickly open up a hole and the target falls down in a pitfall. From there, you can do anything with the target.

Non-Destructive TNT Death Hole
This trap uses TNT, but does not destroy the pit or any blocks other than the sand/gravel disguising the pit. Dig a deep 6x6 hole. put obsidian in the bottom and sides of the hole,turning your 6x6 shaft into an obsidian tube with a 2x2 hole. Put a redstone wire on one of the obsidian blocks at the top layer of the pipe. Put TNT next to the wire, above the hole at the top of the pipe, and disguise the pit with dirt etc., but put sand/gravel above the tnt. It should look something like this:

R   R  O T TO  O    O  O    O  O    O  O    O  O    O  O    O  O0O0OO

P= Pressure Plate R= redstone wire T= TNT O= obsidian

Wire the TNT to a trigger, ensuring that players will walk onto/near the sand/gravel and activate the TNT. The TNT drops them into the hole, and blows up without destroying any blocks other than the sand that the player stood on. All you need to do is replace the TNT, sand and the trigger for another use. This could perhaps be wired to some pistons that automatically reload the TNT and sand.

Water and lava-based traps
Fluids are often used in traps. Water is generally used to slow players and to drag mobs, but can also be used to drown them. Lava works entirely different by igniting the target. It is a very effective way of killing the target, but also destroys drops if they come in contact.

Water
Traps using water.

Mobavators - Move Mobs To Other Traps
Mobavators can be used to move mobs from spawners to wherever you want, and they can haul a lot of mobs up. Usually mobavators are expensive when moving mobs from deep underground, but for players with a lot of resources they can be very useful. The usually work like this:


 * X = Sign

Y = Glass/Any other solid block O = Water


 * YXXY
 * YOOY
 * YXXY
 * YOOY
 * YXXY

An alternate design:
 * YXOY
 * YOXY
 * YXOY
 * YOXY
 * YXOY

Drowning Room
Make a small room, preferably 5x5x2. Place a chest in the center of the back wall. Then put 2 blocks of sand above the chest with water behind it. As soon as they break the sand to enter the chest, the water will pour out. If you want, you could have an airlock instead of the one-way door. Have torches supporting sand in the hallway to the trap. As soon as the water comes out it will flood the hallway and burn out the torches, causing the sand to fall and trap the player even more.

Automatic Drowning Trap w/ Trapdoors
This trap is made by digging a 2x2x3 hole in the ground, filling the middle of the hole in with water, and putting trapdoors at the top. Place pressure plates a block away from the trap in a square pattern so that, at the moment, they can't open the trap doors. Between the pressure plates and the trap, place redstone wire to open all the doors at once. When a mob walks over the pressure plates he can fall down the water, and the trapdoors will shut, forcing him to drown. At the lowest level of the trap you can make a 1x1 tunnel of water to retrieve the loot. Generally these are the most efficient types of traps because there is no lava involved to burn any loot.

Retrieval Traps
Create a water current that drags the mobs down under a solid block. The current will hold the mobs under until they drown. The loot from the mobs will sink, which can be collected below.

Water Whirlpool Trap (Water Tower)(Atlantis Trap)


This trap is used as a water barrier to keep the mobs from swimming into another area. This requires that the floor of the body of water be easily accessible. The trap is extremely effective, but it's rather large, sucking in a 6x6 area of water.

Dive down to the bottom of the pool of water. Build up a hollow tower out of a weak material, ideally sand. The basic template is a square hole, at least 2x2. The air gap will be this size.
 * x = sand O = empty
 * O X X O
 * X O O X
 * X O O X
 * O X X O


 * Make the top flush with the surface, then empty the tower of water using a bucket. Set four TNT blocks as low as possible, then light the TNT and run.
 * T = TNT X = sand O = empty waterTower3.png
 * O X X O
 * X T T X
 * X T T X
 * O X X O

The TNT does not have to be on the bottom. The result will be a 2x2 tower of air going from the surface to the bottom with waterfalls on all sides.

Dark Room and Drowning Room Trap
This trap consists of : large dark room (any size from 8x8x8 upwards/outwards)

drowning room consisting of many signs, water, a block (solid and non transparent) and trapdoors

collection room (optional) under drowning room (image will represent how drops get carried there) To create drowning room :

(side on view)(create clone of below directly next to and create walls(place trapdoors here) of 'B' on either side) B B B B B B B

T W W W W W S

T W W W W W S    Dark Room

S W W W W W S

B S S S S S B

B F F F F F W <-- only 1 'W' on 1 side

'B' any solid and non transparent block 'W' water source 't' trapdoor 's' sign 'f' flowing water

Trapping pool
This trap is designed to trap skeletons and zombies, not to kill them! Start on the surface by digging out a 5x5 square.Then dig a 3x3 square in the center. Dig the 3x3 one more layer deep and climb out. Place water in each of the corners and in the middle of each side on the top (where the water isn't flowing along the top. Done.

When morning arrives you may find a live zombie to kill or unleash upon unsuspecting village, or a skeleton to use to get a music disk or to snipe. This system can also be hooked up to a mob grinder, or if you dig the middle square down you can place some lava/cactus/iron golem/snow golem (just for the laughs)/TNT/dispenser/place to spatter from fall damage/mob arena (figure this out yourself!)/Void hole(sadly unsatisfactory)/ mine cart transport for later torment/etc,etc. Just make sure you use a sign to cut off the flow.

Lava
Traps that require lava.

Lava elevator trap
This trap is an elevator This trap has lava hidden in it so that when a player/mob swims upward it burns and dies in the lava.

Lava ladder trap
This is designed for use on a SMP server. Make a 'dummy house' (A house that is not really a house, it is only to lure people). Put ladders up to the second floor of this house and place lava at the top of the ladder. The lava will not flow down and hurt you because of the ladders. When someone goes up the ladder they may climb into the lava, because some players often don't look up when climbing. The player usually falls off the ladder, so their items won't burn. This trap will also work downwards but it is not very effective.

Emergency Lock Down Trap
An emergency lock down trap ensures players can't bypass the trap redstone lock system by breaking the door. It uses an iron door as support for the initial sand block. A diagram for the completed section of the corridor can be found to the right.

Place the iron door in the middle of a tunnel with adequate space. Connect the iron door to a redstone lock system. Dig above the door until the area above the hall is a hollow 5x3 area. Place sand on top of the door, then place torches on the side of the sand. Repeat until the sand touches the wall. Place lava in the empty space above the sand. The only way to get through would be to unlock the redstone lock system. If someone destroyed the door, the sand would be unsupported allowing the lava to fall on them. To stop players from simply mining around the device, place lava behind the walls.

Since lava spreads slowly, it may be possible for the thief to destroy the door then quickly run to safety on the far side. To counteract this, include an airlock style sand pillar to block the path. If the thief tries to break it down, the lava will have enough time to spread and ignite him.

Griefer Lava Pit Trap
It's nearly impossible to find a SMP server without griefers who try to steal your valuable collectables. A very simple trap using paintings can be made. As most players know, hanging a painting in front of a wall can cover up corridors, but the painting can still be walked through. Most griefers know this too and if they spot a large painting, they usually try to walk through it to see if they can find a secret room. Knowing this, you can build a wall of any size, implement the standard painting-coverup, but instead of making a secret room, make a pit about 3-4 blocks deep and put some lava on the bottom. It's nearly impossible to do this without killing yourself, so don't take anything except a lava bucket. When griefers try to enter your 'secret room', they'll fall into a lava pit instead! However, some griefers will remove the painting before entering the trap, and be alerted to the ruse.

Glass Pane Trap
With the glass panes added in Beta 1.8 and the ability to fall through them when joined in a 2x2 fashion, this can be made into a good trap. Lava can work in this fashion to have drops fall into the chamber below the lava.

LL

GG

GG

EE

where L=lava G=glass pane or iron bar E=empty, used for collection.

Pitfall Lava Trap
This trap is based on the fact that, when unsupported, sand and gravel fall.

First, dig a hole that is at least 6 blocks deep. Next, at the bottom of the hole, dig out a pit that is about 3x3 and 2 blocks high. Fill the pit with lava and get back to the surface. 3 blocks down into the hole, place TNT. On top of the TNT, place either sand or gravel, and put a pressure plate on top of that.

When a player steps on this trap, the TNT will activate and the player will fall into a pit of lava, taking some lit TNT with them. To reset this trap you simply need to place the TNT, the sand, and the pressure plate back to where they started.

Lava Pit Door
Very simple, put a door on your home and right inside the door dig a 1x1 pit and fill it with lava. Make a hole in the ceiling and a ladder so that you can safely get in. Players who don't know the ruse will go in through the front/trapped door and die in lava. Remember to always use the side entrance, because falling into your own trap will be humiliating, I assure you.

One False Mine...
What you need: TNT, Redstone, Pressure plate, Iron door, Lava, and any kind of Ores.

Make a mine that leads to a dungeon. Place a trapdoor hiding sand and/or gravel connected to a stone pressure plate above and under you you every step. When you get to the dungeon, place a stone pressure plate connected to a TNT block nearby. Underneath the TNT place lava. Above all the TNT place any ore and when the victim goes toward the lava to get more ore they die. Use doors in the cavern because the victim -- if they survive -- may want to explore the cavern and place doors that he/she may want to enter and make a 1 block wide hole going really deep down and place lava at least 3 blocks tall behind each door. Above the hole make lava fall onto the victim.

Add more TNT connected to pressure plates and do the lava/ore press wire.

Proximity Detector
There is a way to detect if someone is within a certain proximity (17-20 blocks) in minecraft. This is extremely useful for traps. Here is a video tutorial on how to do that:

Mob-spawning-based: This player sensor is the smallest stable silent player detector that isn't glitch based.

This video shows another way to create a stable player detector, this time based on redstone.

Particle-based:

Netherrack and cacti wall


In the ground, alternate netherrack and sand. Ignite the netherrack and plant cactus on the sand. This very simple trap acts as a wall against hostile mobs. Passive mobs only spawn in light (They are NOT attracted to light in any way and will often wander off in the dark) and will sometimes wander into the fire. Generally the mob will then ricochet off the cactus preventing any drops from being destroyed by the fire.

Soul Sand Live Capture
Soul sand slightly sinks the player. Using this unique property, it is possible to capture a tall mob or player. The corridor to the right will trap a player that moves onto the soul sand. The top half shows the floor setup and the bottom half shows the ceiling. Note the open block above the soul sand. Players are caught until they place a block above them or destroy a block around them. Generally the rest of the trap will have triggered by the time they react. Pressure plates can be placed on soul sand to help hide them and to provide a redstone signal. '''NOTE:For a kill during this process, place lava by the soul sand. May not always work if placed wrong.'''

Repeater-based One Way Hallway
If a repeater is in a 2 block high space, like a tunnel, you will crouch automatically as you walk over it. However, you will not crouch if the repeater is blocking the entrance of a tunnel.

Make a 1x2 tunnel. On the floor of the entrance place a repeater. To punish players for destroying the repeater, have it as part of an inverter connected to TNT, such that when the repeater is destroyed, it activates nearby TNT.

Minecart Fall Damage Trap
There is a way to 'store' fall damage in a minecart and later have someone take that damage even though they don't actually fall a distance that would make them take damage. Here is a video explaining how to set the trap up and showing it in use:

Noise machine
In certain cases it may be helpful to mask the sound of TNT* or hostile mobs by creating a noisy machine. The function of the machine itself isn't important. Pistons create a fair amount of noise that doesn't travel far. Doors can be quickly toggled making a lot of noise. You can also group many animals together to make noise.


 * Note: TNT, pressure plates and levers make no sound.

One Way Door
A one way door is made by placing a pressure plate in front of an iron door to a closed room with no way to open the door from the inside. The pressure plate briefly activates the door, but will close it immediately after. This technique is useful for capturing mobs for resource harvesting. This can be expanded to create rooms or large pens for trapping monsters.

Forcefield Trap
This trap is based on the forcefield, that the mine carts create when stacked together in a small ammount of space. It is possible to hide this design behind walls to push players off and kill them from fall damage / lava damage. However, this trap is very iron-costly, for it to be efficient you will need around 250 iron, and the number increases, depending on how powerful you want the forcefield to be. This does NOT work with Modloader in Minecraft or Bukkit MP servers.

Arrow fall trap
Have an underground tunnel built with another tunnel coming straight down midway to intersect it

Key: t=tunnel, d=dirt, r=room, x=TNT t    t     t     t  ttttttttttttt

At the top of the intersecting tunnel build a room like so:

rrrrrrrr rrrrrrrr rrrrrrrr t   t    t    t  tttttttttttt

At the top of this, just in-between the tunnel and room, build a dirt patch to block it up and then place one tnt block over the center piece of dirt.

rrrrrrrrrr r       r   r   x    r   rrdddddrrr ttttttt ttttttt ttttttt ttttttt ttttttt tttttttttttt tttttttttttt tttttttttttt

Next fire a ton of arrows at the dirt and tnt and build a staircase from the room to the tunnel hide the stairwell with plain stone but dig one space below the hidden doorwayand one behind that into the starwell. place a pressure plate next to the hidden door and run redstone from it to the tnt in the top room. Now, when a player sets off this plate it causes the tnt to explode with the dirt, (not blasting the arrows away becauuse of a patch) with the dirt no longer there to hold the arrows they will free-fall down at the intruder at the same power as a fully charged arrow. P.S. It helps to have the intersecting tunnel wider then the hole itself as to reduce chance of arrows sticking into walls.

Tripwire Traps
This video is an example of several traps you could make with tripwires. There are many more ways you could sneak tripwire in to kill your victim, just think of the basic actions you would do in Minecraft, and try to sneak a tripwire somewhere in it.

Disarming Traps
When faced with a trap, the safest course of action is often to disarm the trigger by destroying the trap's components. Note that disarming a trap could be griefing, but if they are trying to kill you, you should defend yourself


 * Destroy pressure plates. Pressure plates send the same message whether they are inactive or destroyed. Destroying a pressure plate will seldom trigger a trap.


 * Be wary of active redstone. Inactive redstone is safe, but destroying active redstone dust can trigger traps, as it is usually connected to an inverter. Remember that redstone can be removed with water.

X = torch Y = redstone wire B= Any block Front view: XYX BBB Top view: Layer 1: B B  BBB Layer 2: X X  YYY And then destroy the center redstone: X X  Y Y It will keep the positive input for both ends, but cutting the two ends off, keeping the current on forever. '''-- Note: Some traps make use of the 15-block redstone signal limit. Trying to dispatch active redstone wire this way may trigger traps that use this concept.'''
 * You can dispatch active redstone wires with the use of two redstone torches:


 * Never alter a clock generator! It may be connected to another one by a logic gate that checks if they tick together. This way the breaking or altering one may trigger a massive TNT charge or other anti-defuse mechanisms.


 * Consider the fact that the creator may be nearby. Oftentimes, the builder of a trap will be near the trap, waiting to collect his victim's possessions.  If you encounter a trap, be ready for a fight.


 * Remove the trap's dangerous components. If you can reach the dangerous bits of a trap, destroy them.  Take the arrows out of a dispenser, and pocket the dispenser while you're at it.  Take any cacti you see as well. TNT should not be a problem, since the 1.7 update TNT blocks can be broken and collected


 * Some texture packs may make traps easier to disarm than others. While you might accidentally walk across a pressure plate and activate a trap while using one texture pack, you may spot it instantly with a different one. It may also help to use an x-ray texture pack to spot parts of the trap that you may not have been able to see before, which should help you better understand how the trap works.


 * If all else fails, try to safely trigger the trap. Either step on the trigger and run, or use redstone to trigger it from a distance.  It is best to have a good understanding of the nature of the trap before attempting to trigger it, as one can easily underestimate its size.


 * You can also trigger the trap, log off, and log back on after a moment has passed. However this may be dangerous as nearby TNT could have been detonated (even revealing a pit), so when you log back on, you may take damage from the hole the TNT made, possibly resulting in death.


 * To fool the person who laid the trap in SMP, try burning out the torches, but make sure you know the wiring. Therefore, if you want revenge unto the person who tricked you into the trap, you can leave a trace and then the person will want to fix it. Kill him once that happens. Keep in mind, tinkering with circuits might not only trigger the trap you know; it can catch you in another.


 * If you've seen the kind of trap laid for you before, you can always trick the person who laid it.

=Pocket Edition Traps= Build a hole 3 blocks down of whatever size suits you. Build a glass roof over it 3 blocks up, and make it several blocks wide with glass. Dig out tunnels that connect to the original hole, and be sure that the top of the tunnels are glass. At night, when zombies spawn in the tunnels, walk on the glass paths and the zombies will follow you when you are near them. You do not need to worry about attacks, as they are separated from you by glass. Lead them to your roof. When you reach your roof, lead them to its center, and they'll fall into the hole. At daytime, the zombies will burn and die. If you want, you can replace the glass roof with a brick roof. If you do this, the zombies wont die or escape, so you can walk right up to the edge and see them gathered around in the hole and they can't hurt you.

(This trap is meant for Minecraft Pocket Edition, it may or may not work in the classic version. You will only need glass for this mob trap.)

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