Tutorials/Traps

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.

The art of trapping
Traps are devices designed to automatically slay or capture an entity (Commonly called mob traps/farms) or players, either instantaneously or over time.

Most traps on this page can be created without too much hassle, but some require MCedit or cheats for speed.

Fundamental traps
All traps in here only catch newer players, but are fundamental ideas that capture the essence of branches of trap creation.

Anti-Totem Trap
Most trap effects can be negated with a Totem of Undying, which will save the player if a fatal hit is taken. This design takes into account the possibility of the player thinking it's a trap and bringing strong armor and a totem of undying.

Self Operating Pitfall
This trap is simplicity itself. No redstone, no commands, no manual activation, just good old fall damage!

Materials: 1 Chest, 25 Gravel, 24 Carpet (Optional), and 25 2 block high Flowers. Tips:
 * 1) Dig a 5x5 hole to a desired depth, leaving one layer of dirt 3 blocks from the surface.
 * 2) Place the flowers on the layer of dirt, and the gravel/sand on top of the flowers.
 * 3) Place a chest in the center, and the carpet around the chest.
 * 4) Remove the dirt holding up the flowers. The gravel should not fall.
 * 5) Wait until a careless player opens the chest, and watch them fall to their doom!
 * Consider building a decoy house around the trap to fool players into thinking they're raiding a base, this makes the carpet much more inconspicuous.
 * Consider adding hoppers at the bottom of the trap to collect the loot.

Trick Trap-The concept of confidence
This trap may include loss of precious items, such as golden apples so use if you are rich and can only be made in creative.
 * 1) Set a chest (not trapped) and put diamonds or rich stuff in it
 * 2) Then put TNT on the walls, making your raiders think it will blow up in certain situations
 * 3) Then put another room with a iron door but don't put a pressure plate behind and put two spawners or more (with any mob and hide it!) However, spawners are only avalible in Pocket Edition and PC, and then not legitimately obtained in survival.
 * 4) Put another chest (again not trapped) and put more valuable stuff
 * 5) The raider will think they are safe and go for the chest but wait for a nasty surprise!

Noob + Pro Chest drop trap
The player may try to sneak to the edge of the chest to look down the hole. Because the chest is smaller than a regular block, the sneak function will not prevent you falling. They will die of fall damage and their items will fall into the hoppers and chests, where you can collect them.
 * 1) Dig a 2x2 hole until you reach bedrock, or a reasonable drop.
 * 2) Place 4 hoppers, one per block on the 2x2 hole, pointing into chests.
 * 3) At the top of the hole, place 4 double chests (so 8 chests in total) around the hole.

Fake chunk error
Dig a 16 by 16 hole (preferably in line with real chunks) at least 23 blocks deep and connect it to base containing a chest to store loot and possibly a furnace to smelt ores (it is recommended to wear at least iron armor and equip an iron sword, although leather and wood would do, given mostly only beginners will fall into it), and then add a bait like a sign saying "free diamonds!!" or put a 1 block thick layer of coal ore (as it is the only ore to spawn at surface height, or maybe iron as other ores are quite suspicious) to disguise it as a stone basin so when they mine the ores on top of it or when they jump in they die of fall damage, if they don't die of falling, (possibly due to feather falling enchanted boots or ender pearling down/up) then kill them with your sword. If you feel that you have more technologically advanced and you don't feel like you need this trap anymore you can make a player or mob farm using it. You can add railways leading into it or mines with a mechanism to push players down if you can afford it. it takes time to create but can be profitable if done correctly.

Digging your own grave - tricking with trust
Ask someone if they could dig down at a spot, you lost many diamonds there and they could take half. When they get far enough, you can cover them with gravel or sand!!!! You can also use lava for a more dramatic death.

Falling Sand Trap
Materials: Falling blocks(Sand, Gravel), Torches, Sticky Piston(Optional), Lever(Optional) Make sure you aren't underneath the Sand or have cover when it falls.
 * 1) Make a pit with a depth of your liking.
 * 2) Hide the pit with sand, supported by torches, like in the diagram.
 * 3) (Optional) Make a house around the Sand. If you do this, you will probably want to put in carpet.
 * 4) (Optional) Attach a Piston to the bottom block of sand. You can use this to automate the trap. If you want to retract the piston when a Pressure Plate is pressed, use a not gate.
 * 5) Wait for an unsuspecting player and break the bottom block!

Exploding Door Trap - Camouflage Concept
Materials: A lure(Chest, Diamond Block, etc.), TNT, Door, 2 Pressure Plates, (Optional) Falling block(Sand, Gravel). A player will eventually see the lure and think the Pressure Plate is for the Door. If they go in without special caution, KABOOM!
 * 1) Make a house or tunnel with a Door in front of it. If you are using an Iron Door, make a way to open from the outside.
 * 2) Dig a hole at least two blocks down right inside the Door.
 * 3) Place TNT two blocks down and cover it up with your floor(or falling block), followed by a Pressure Plate.
 * 4) (Optional) Add more TNT where it will be ignited by the first.
 * 5) Place the lure inside the house/tunnel so that it is visible through the Door.
 * 6) Carefully go somewhere else without setting off the trap.

"Harmless" Trap
Materials: Falling blocks(Sand, Gravel), a Piston, and a Lever. When a unsuspecting player sees the Sand and Piston, they may think it looks cool and try it out. The Sand will fall and press the Pressure Plate/Trip Wire blowing up the TNT. Just pulling the lever without the Pressure Plate will not ignite the TNT under the Piston because the Piston counts as a transparent block.
 * 1) Dig a hole down to a certain depth and place a Pressure Plate at the bottom. If you want to be trickier, use a Tripwire and people will be more likely to fall for it.
 * 2) Fill the area around the pit with TNT. Make sure none of it is visible.
 * 3) Either wire the TNT to the Pressure Plate, or place TNT next to the block it is on so that all the TNT blows up.
 * 4) Make a pillar of sand on one side of the hole.
 * 5) Place the Piston  and Lever so it will push the sand into the hole.

Don't pull the lever! (or push the button, etc...)
I've designed the concept of this trap - called Don't Pull the Lever! - so that it can be easily wired up to a variety of different things.

The basis of this trap is as follows: On (say) a factions smp server you have a traitor new to your faction who tries to steal the faction valuables. They go into the valuables room. They see your chest blocked by a block above it. Next to the chest is a lever and a sign saying "Pull lever to lift block above chest up" or something convincing. They flick the lever - which they THINK will let them open the chest. Instead, it activates lava coming from the ceiling/the floor retracting/ suffocating gravel or sand /a light... basically it can activate anything that can be turned on by pulling a single lever. How do you actually access the chest? Well, the "solid block" above it is actually a stair block, facing in a way so that you see a full side of a block but you can actually open a chest that has a stair block above it. So - if you're smart, and you find a seemingly locked chest, then.... Don't Pull the Lever!

Basic Tree Trap
Materials: A trigger(Wooden Pressure Plate, Observer), TNT Notes:
 * 1) Find a tree, and place your trigger under the bottom Log.
 * 2) Place TNT around the block underneath the trigger
 * 3) * If you are using an Observer be sure not to trigger it after placing the TNT.
 * 4) Wait for a unsuspecting player to go KABOOM!
 * Using an Observer is more reliable, as sometimes the player may pick up the Log before it hits the Pressure Plate.
 * You can alternatively try using a Lever, by placing it on the bottom of the tree, and using a Redstone Torch to activate the TNT when it breaks.

Basic Hallway Trap
Materials: 1 Pressure Plate, 1 Piston(Not sticky), and Redstone. When an unsuspecting player or mob hits the Pressure Plate, the Piston will push the floor up trapping the player. This trap will not work on players, as they can easily just break the floor or dig out, but it can act as a delay when in combination with another trap.
 * 1) Make a 2 block high hallway that is a length of your choice.
 * 2) Place the Pressure Plate somewhere in the middle. (Optional) You could use a Tripwire instead.
 * 3) Place a Piston underneath the floor, so that when it extends, it will trap the player.
 * 4) Run Redstone Dust underneath the floor so it will turn on the Piston when the Pressure Plate is touched.
 * 5) (Optional) Place signs or other lures to try to get a player to go into the tunnel.

Basic Pit Trap
Materials(All are optional): Hopper, Chest, Lava, Cacti, and/or Sign(s) The pit trap is a very generic and basic type of trap. It is best combined with other elements, such those as suggested.
 * 1) Dig a pit to a reasonable depth. The further the better.
 * 2) At the bottom place any of:
 * 3) * Hoppers and Chests to collect items.
 * 4) * Cacti to kill off surviving players. The Cacti may destroy some items.
 * 5) * Lava to kill off surviving players. The Lava will probably destroy most items.
 * 6) * Other things to finish off damaged players, eg. Mobs, falling Anvils, yourself, TNT.
 * 7) At the top, you will need a way to get the player/mobs into the pit:
 * 8) * Water to wash the player in.
 * 9) * A sign, tempting the player to, jump in, dig straight down, etc.

Basic Minecart Trap
Materials: Minecart, Rails, Detector Rail, TNT, Redstone
 * 1) Create a Minecart track and place a Minecart on it.
 * 2) Somewhere on the track, place the Detector Rail.
 * 3) * It might help to diguise the detector as doing something else, like switching tracks, opening a Door, etc.
 * 4) Underneath the rail, place either TNT or run Redstone to another trap, eg. Pit Trap.
 * 5) Somehow get players to ride the Minecart:
 * 6) * Place a sign saying something like, "Village this way -->", or "Private Mine Entrance; DO NOT ENTER!"
 * 7) * Make it look like a fun roller coaster.

TNT minecart bomb
If you want to add some more power to a TNT trap, try replacing the TNT with a lot of TNT Minecarts. Since you can easily condense them down into a small space, it can be good when you need to make a design more compact. You can either choose to put them on an activator rail, or to put a piston beside the rail. I prefer the second option, because disturbing a cluster of TNT Minecarts will often cause them to detonate instantly!

A sticky situation - the concept of quirks as trap mechanics
You will need (for 1 trap, you might want more for better results): First, make a 1x3 hole in the ground. On the edge, build 3 blocks high (later you will destroy these). Now make an outline of it, but on the level you just created. If you are on a flying server, you might want to add a roof, which is an extra 3 to 12 blocks of Soul Sand. When your trap is complete, human-sized mobs - such as zombies and skeletons - or other people will walk into your trap and can't walk out. Also, if you place ice under the soul sand, mobs and people will move even slower due to the properties of ice.
 * Soul Sand- 15 blocks

Griefer Bait Trap - Temptation Concept
Materials: Wood Planks, a Sign, a Pressure Plate, a Wooden Door, TNT This trap works best on PVP/griefing servers. Using trapped chests are also good, especially if the griefers can't tell it is one.
 * 1) Make a box home from planks, with a door and a pressure plate outside.
 * 2) Under the pressure plate, put as much TNT as you wish, just like in the exploding door.
 * 3) Place a sign outside that says something like "please don't grief my home thx."
 * 4) * Griefers or robbers can't stand not griefing a house like this. They will likely walk through the door, trigger the TNT, and blow themselves to the moon!

Painting Trap
Materials: A Painting, 2 Signs, (Optional) Hopper, (Optional) Chest This is a very easy to make trap which plays on the old secret passage behind the painting trick. Instead of a fall, you could use lava or some other form of death.
 * 1) Make a pit off of the side of your house.
 * 2) Place the two signs at the end of the hallway leading to the hole.
 * 3) Place paintings on the signs, so when someone walks through the painting, they fall to their death.
 * 4) At the bottom you could have some means of collecting items.

Evil Clay
This is one of the simplest traps. Materials: Bait(Clay, Ore, etc.), Wooden Pressure Plate, Dispenser, Redstone, Projectile(s)(TNT, Arrows, etc.) This trap is placed inside the bottom of a wall. Clay works best for the bait as it drops 4 items and is easy to obtain. This is a useful trap on adventure maps, especially when clay is a chosen breakable block. (An example of this trap on an adventure map would be in the Tunnels of Insane Trickery in the map Eitharpius.) This trap is activated when the clay is broken. Instead of a pressure plate, you could use an observer, such as in the exploding tree.
 * 1) Dig back 2 blocks into a wall.
 * 2) Dig out the floor under where the wall was and 1 block further.
 * 3) Place a wooden pressure plate under where the wall was.
 * 4) Place a Dispenser facing towards the hole. Load it with a projectile:
 * 5) * Potion Of Harming (II), Spawn Egg(the inventor of this trap uses Blazes), etc.
 * 6) Connect the pressure plate and the block under the Dispenser with Redstone.
 * 7) Finally, the time comes for the bait! Place the bait in the last remaining spot in the hole, on top of the pressure plate.

Facebreaker trap - the concept of obscure damage
What you need: Five blocks of any kind, and as many gravel blocks as possible.

This is one of the most simple traps in Minecraft history, although it would be easily noticed by intelligent players. Works more effectively on new players. First, make a tower that is five blocks high. It doesn't matter which kind of block you use. Then, on the very surrounding area on the tower you made, dig holes three blocks deep and three blocks wide to make a pit surrounding your tower. Dig another hole close to your tower, just one block deep for you to hide in. When an unsuspecting target comes too close to the tower, he would fall in the pit. After that place several Gravel blocks beside the 5th block on your tower, aiming downwards on the target. If done correctly, the gravel blocks should fall on your target's head, thus trapping or killing him. Hence the name facebreaker.

Note: You will need to use atleast two blocks of gravel to kill a player, and this can actually be used as a convenient elevator. Placing more gravel blocks is advised, and it is also advised that you place them quickly. Otherwise, if you take too long, the player may jump up from the first gravel block (their feet will be in it), and not be suffocated by the second.

Burning tree trap - the concept of desperation
This is a simple trap that can be made without too much work.


 * 1) Build a large wooden rectangle resting on its side. The rectangle must be at least 10 blocks tall or the trap will not be effective.


 * 1) At the top of the rectangle build a large cobblestone box.


 * 1) Break a hole in the bottom of box.


 * 1) Fill this hole with gravel and then build the gravel down to the floor of the wooden box.


 * 1) Place a chest under the gravel.


 * 1) Fill the cobblestone box completely with lava.


 * 1) Add some leaves. make sure it looks just enough like a tree to blend with the forest, but not so much that people will not notice it.

The person will be fascinated with the tree and will enter. The person will see the chest, and, thinking there is loot in it, will break the gravel blocks in order to open the chest. As he breaks the gravel blocks, the hole in the box of lava is unplugged, causing lava to flow onto the victim. This will definitely NOT work on experienced players. A diagram of this would be helpful, as it is rather poorly explained.

Obvious "defuse me" landmine - the concept of hiding in plain sight
You need: A desert and cheats/McEdit To build, place a pressure plate on a large area of sand. Then, edit away a good bit of the stuff under it. On the bottom, place your weapon of choice (such as lava, the Void, an array of standard landmines as shown below, a Charged Creeper dungeon, an End Portal, a jail cell, some other trap, or just a plain floor if the pit is deep enough) and remember where you put it.

This trap is obviously quite impossible to create without help. A player wandering around will see a random pressure plate. If they realize that it's a landmine, they'll destroy the plate or a block near it and trigger the pitfall. If not, they might step on it and trigger the pitfall. Or maybe somebody will decide to build a house on your trap, once again setting it off.

NOTE: This trap can be done without World Edit If you know the right method- the fact that lilypads can help place sand/gravel in midair if you know how. Also, you could use torches and multiple layers of sand and wooden pressure plates to cause a 'sinkhole' effect that is similar (although much slower).

Spring trap
Requires: 1 pressure plate 1 slime block 1 piston

This trap relies on fall damage to damage the enemy. and must be remade every use. NOTE. does not work on Chickens Ocelots or Magma cubes.

P=Piston S= Slime Block PP=Pressure plate

PP

S

P

Don't run - The concept of curiosity killing the cat
This is a very easy trap to build. Go into a cave and dig at least 36 blocks down. Dig a 4 block deep pit and put water in its second topmost layer. Have blue wool, signs/ladders, a pickaxe and a chest ready. Also build what looks like an entrance to a base at the bottom of the trap. Now get a player and tell him that he's found someone's secret base. Jump into the water and quickly submerge yourself in the pit. Put the signs/ladders to give you air bubbles to breathe. Tell the player on top that you'll put water on top of the pit so he and you can escape. Instead of water, use the blue wool to cover up the pit. Signal the player to jump and when you see his death-message, dig your way out and collect all the loot.

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

"Villagers giving you the Finger"

Find a blacksmith villager house. Replace the chest with a trapped chest. Put lots of tnt underneath so that they cannot outrun the explosion. When they open the chest, the sound of TNT will make them run. The TNT will completely destroy the blacksmith house, and mostly everything around it for at least 20 more blocks. This will either kill or greatly injure them. '''If you want to sacrifice most or some of a village for this, then do it. Take all items out of the chest first.'''

DIAMONDS!!
(May not work on experienced players; they might know the difference between trapped chests and chests) Make a wood house, and put 2 signs outside saying DIAMONDS INSIDE! COME IN! Then put water 4 blocks deep. Make chest full of diamonds if you make this on creative. If you make this on survival, and make a door that leads to another room with a chest. Put a sign above the first chest saying MORE AHEAD! Then put a trapped chest down in the other room and place a few TNT in the corner of the room. Make sure it is not too far away so the victim still blows up. Dig 1 block underneath the trapped chest and make a 1 block high path to the TNT(you might need to dig some more blocks to do this). Put another sign saying: DONT TOUCH THE TNT JUST GET THE DIAMONDS AND LEAVE. When they open the chest, they'll blow up! A single sign that says "Don't touch my diamonds!" above a trapped chest or comparator trap works too. Note: You can vary with other expensive items.

A better way to get them to open the chest would be to NOT imply the TNT as this gives them the idea of a trap. Use a simpler way by stating that nothing valuable is in the chest igniting their curiosity.

The house of death
This is a very simple trap, but is very effective. It requires redstone dust, redstone torches, glass, redstone repeaters, a trapped chest, lots of cobblestone, and lava. First dig a 5x5, 4 block hole in the ground and fill it with lava. Cover the next layer with glass. Put pressure plates everywhere connected to dispensers filled with lava buckets. on the top layer, cover it in cobblestone. Build a cobblestone house around it. In the middle, put a trapped chest. Put some pistons under the floor and wire them to pull back the floor when the chest is opened. Put a sign above the chest saying "Diamonds/Emeralds in there-if you take them I will kill you!!!!". Make an entrance with an iron door with a pressure plate outside, and ONLY on the outside. Then the trap is set. How it works: the players will see the chest and get curious. They walk in the one way entrance and open the chest. The chest makes them fall into the underground lava area. They fall on the pressure plates and cause the dispensers to unload the lava-they'll be dead in the snap of a finger. Note: You will not be able to collect your loot as it will incinerate in the lava. EDIT: If you place signs under the lava. then they will fall through the lava, but unless they are quick thinking and have a water bucket, they'll still burn to death, but you can keep their stuff.

Greedy man's grave
Requires: Diamond Armor (all), Diamond Block, Shovel (any), Pickaxe (any), Diamond Sword, Netherrack, Flint and Steel, Torches, Gravel, Pressure plate Optional: More Diamond Blocks

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.

Optional: Put more diamond blocks below the visible diamond block, so your victims think it is not a trap.

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

Another way is to put the diamond block over one and put down two. On the bottom one, put a torch and put a block of gravel on top of the torch. On the bottom of the hole, put a pressure plate so the gravel gets destroyed.

Greedy man's latch
Requires: Optional: Use blocks instead of rare ore, because ore looks natural. Build a straight line and put TNT behind glass and some redstone so people think they've activated the TNT. They'll see a redstone repeater and go activate it, so it locks and stops it. The trick is to put a fake redstone line and make a new line behind stone before the redstone repeater so it actually doesn't go off. It sets off without them knowing and the whole cavern blows up! If you want to keep it, I suggest hiding it under the redstone repeater latch activation switch so a bit blows up, but the contraption is safe.
 * pressure plate or tripwire
 * Redstone Repeaters
 * TNT
 * Redstone
 * Glass
 * rare ore like Diamond Ore or Emerald Ore
 * Torches

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.

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 him from using their own lever or pressure plate to escape, place TNT underneath him or behind the walls or use glass on the wall. To stop him from destroying the iron door, place lava above that too.

Advanced Version: Since it is somewhat obvious if you can see through the door or if you look in through the open door before entering the chamber (say chamber instead of room so it's more ominous sounding), there is a better version. Build the trap, but with another iron door. When you place the second door, make sure you place it with the alignment so the door is naturally open and the pressure plate or button visible. Then, place a lever outside next to the door and flip it so that the door closes. If a powered door receives a second signal, it has no effect. This will trick even the smartest players, thinking the other door openable and that if TNT lies under the floor linked to the "exit" door, they can run out and if they step on the entry door plate and don't enter to test if it links to that one. Optionally, you can make a "Blast Chamber" version by placing one or more TNT blocks beneath the floor that would be set off by the "exit" door's plate.

Dispensers in disguise
This is a very fun trap. It will require: Build a long hallway, preferably 20 blocks long. Replace the sides of the wall with dispensers, and fill them up ( should be done in creative mode ). Then, make a curtain of lava to hide the dispensers. Add a chest with valuables. Then, place obvious tripwire hooks. The enemy player should disable the tripwires, but forget that the floor is pressure-plated. Arrows, set afire by the lava, should start impaling the player. Even if they turn back, they'd get hit by flaming arrows and burned to death.
 * Dispensers
 * Arrows
 * Tripwire hooks
 * Stone pressure plate
 * Lava

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 "(your name)'s diamond cave, do not enter".

Building the track Make a long track uphill with a drop-off at the top. Where the minecart drops, 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 of water 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. Also, because of the lava, you won't be able to collect the victim's drops.

Another way is to make a long tunnel down, with regular rails, and when the rails turn a corner, put lava. Best if you have torches all along the tunnel so the person doesn't get wind of what is about to happen. You could also have a vertical tunnel straight down and have the minecart drop the victim there. That way, you could be able to collect the drops.

Failed mine
This simple yet effective trap requires an ore (any kind will do), and at least 2 blocks of sand or a stream of lava above it. You may want stone around the ore for a natural look. Just hide the sand. Now set the ore where you want it above the victim. It HAS to be above the victim. Otherwise this is useless. Now climb up above the ore and put your sand or lava. Cover it with dirt, or even better, stone. Now remember to NEVER mine the ore. This also has to be on a server (mobs don't mine). Beware! Creepers can blow it up! This also works on any version of Minecraft. An alternate version would be to use anvils rather than sand to deal massive amounts of damage to the player before suffocating him.

Simple ore trap
A very easy, cheap, but effective trap. Put iron or other ore anywhere. Place a redstone torch on back. Now, place another redstone torch, on the side of a block. Put wires connecting the torch to the top of that block. Make it activate any kind of killing mechanism, such as retracting pistons.

There is another trap that you put water 4x4 three blocks down then lilypads on top ,place sand on the lilypads and string on the sand then place any block where the water is so it is being replaced by the block then break the replaced block and vōila when a player walks on the string or breaks the string they fall end of story.

Fiery floor trap
This is a somewhat expensive trap with varying success rates. The larger the trap, the higher the success rate. First, dig a hole two blocks deep (size doesn't matter but does affect price). Next, cover the bottom of the hole with Dispensers, leaving a one block area on each edge to be filled with two blocks of your choice. Place a chest or Diamond Block on top of one of these stacks. This will serve as bait. Leave the other space filled, but do nothing else to it. Fill each Dispenser with Fire Charges and cover with Wood Planks or Stone and then cover the solid block with a Wood or Stone Pressure Plate depending on which block you used. Next, build a wall around the now-covered hole and place an Iron Door opposite from the bait with a Wooden Pressure Plate in front of it. Leave the block behind the door uncovered. A roof is recommended but not required. When an enemy enters the trap, they will go for the bait and walk on the Pressure Plates, activating the dispensers underneath, which will launch Fire Charges at them. The victim will be unable to leave due to the absence of a pressure plate to open the door from inside. You can also, with this same concept, create an extremely effective mob trap. place a 3 by 3 square of pressure plates. Connect these via redstone to three dispensers filled with fire charges. Then all you have to do is build a shelter and watch the fun. Note: this trap relies on huge amounts of luck and is very expensive. Also, take care when retrieving the mob drops, as it is easy to fall victim to your own trap.

Pond of death
You will need: wood pressure plates, water buckets and TNT.

First, dig a 9x9 hole (size varies) that is 4 blocks deep. Then, place TNT on the bottom, place some blocks on top of the TNT, place the pressure plates and apply water. Voila!

Execution of trap: 1. Victim will see trap. 2. Victim will fish, causing the plates to be triggered. 3. Victim will be blown up.

The exploding diamond
Yes, this trap is the mother lode. Once they break the diamond, it will explode almost instantly, unlike any other TNT trap (when TNT ignites, it will have a 4 second cooldown timer). This will guaranteed it will grief players and see their bloody guts splattered on the walls of the crater. You will need:
 * A lever
 * 9 Minecarts with TNT
 * A piece of redstone
 * A diamond block
 * A Dispenser
 * Flint and steel
 * A redstone torch
 * A rail

Here's what the trap will look like on the side:

First, dig a hole three blocks deep and 6x1 blocks wide. Look at the picture above to help you see what it is look like. Place a diamond block on top of the hole so it is covering it, but sticking out. You must place the lever underneath the diamond block and switch it on. Place a block 1 block below the lever and place redstone on top of the block. Place a redstone torch on the side of the block. It should turn off when placed. After that, place a dispenser facing the direction of the torch and put flint and steel inside it. Then, place a rail next to the face of the dispenser and place 9 Minecarts with TNT onto the rail. Carefully break the rail and your trap is done! When someone tries to mine the diamond block, they will get an explosive surprise!

Explosive traps

 * A good idea when testing Explosive Traps is to use a block such as a Redstone Lamp, which, like TNT, triggers with Redstone Power, but has less explosive results, so you don't lose an intricate trap due to careless TNT ignition.

Anti-Tunnel Mine
People are coming through a tunnel below you. They are equipped with enchanted weapons, and you're alone, so you don't want to dig down and ambush them. Instead, run quickly to a farther ahead section and set up the trap. Dig into the tunnel. Two blocks high, make a tripwire going into the walls. Remove any torches and replace with redstone torches to render the tripwire string almost invisible. About 5-10 blocks ahead, go back to the surface and stand right above the tunnel. (Or if the tunnel is deep down, dig down to it and stand right above it there.) Make sure the ceiling of the tunnel is dirt, not stone. Place 8/18 TNT blocks on the ceiling dirt in a square pattern that's TWO BLOCKS HIGH, and connect the TOP-SIDE BLOCKS to the tripwire. Cover the TNT with stone so that it doesn't fly away when it ignites. People reach the tripwire and trigger it. They run a few blocks ahead, and suddenly, boom, the ceiling dirt is cut through and TNT with a fuse of 1 slams down on the unfortunate people. Even if they are armored, instant death guaranteed UNLESS they have iron/diamond blast protected armor. For more chance of success, use 18 blocks of TNT instead of 8.

BUDed TNT Traps
The trick here is to make the TNT BUD-powered, meaning the TNT is being activated by redstone, but the TNT does not realize that it is being powered. You could also create BUD-powered powered rails and create deadly instant explosion traps using TNT minecarts.

Here is another BUD-powered TNT trap, which uses the "instant explode TNT minecart" concept mentiones in the above text.

TNT cannon tree trap (for the rich)
This trap is guaranteed to catch any Minecrafter unawares. Placing this trap in a very dense forest/jungle will guarantee success. Build a HUGE tripwire (around 25 string wide) and at either end add 2 TNT cannons with 4 charge TNT, 6 repeaters with full delay in repeater terms and a level surface for firing the 'bullet' TNT compared to the charge TNT. Place one TNT cannon right next to the tripwire hook facing in the way of the tripwire, and place the other approx. 7 blocks away from the tripwire hook and optionally add another TNT cannon with the same attributes as the other 2 cannons in the other direction as the one that isn't next to the hook 7 blocks away from this tripwire hooks. Camouflage them all, make sure they have a direct line of fire and you're set to obliterate any griefers that come near your base (if you decide to place it near your base). Finish them off if they survive (60% guarantee they won't!)

SCR-Break Trap
This trap blows to bits any griefer who tries to destroy your house. Create an SCR and make a line of redstone dust from it to the wall of a room. On the other side of the wall from the redstone, put a redstone torch. (If the redstone torch stays lit for more than 1/10 second, you did it wrong.) Now pack the rest of the room full of TNT, and make sure at least one block of that TNT is touching the torch from the side or top.

If a griefer walks up to your house, he/she may destroy the SCR, turning on the torch and igniting one block of TNT. This turns into a chain reaction, and unless the griefer has amazing speed, there is no way he/she will get away from the blast radius of the TNT.

Guerrilla Mine
This is undoubtedly the simplest TNT trap in existence. It requires very little time, and effort, but is obvious to the relatively keen eye. Dig a hole 2 blocks deep into whatever environment you choose, put TNT on the bottom and place a random block on the top. Simply place a pressure plate, and you have an instant land mine. More intricate traps are good for better success ratios, but you can greedily render entire environments inhospitable, or use it as a very cheap mob defense for home security. Remember to always note which planes of land you have laid mines on, or you may fall victim when hunting or exploring. A bunch of fakes can create a false sense of security -- or an ultimatum to leave you alone, if the first ones they trigger are real!

Explosive Furnace trap
Normally people would expect chests to explode, so this trap will surprise them as soon as they loot your furnace. To make an explosive furnace, fill a furnace with coal, iron and food (you decide) and place a comparator leading away from the furnace. If its off, you did it wrong. Place a repeater in front of the comparator and then put any block in front of that. Place a redstone torch on the side of the block (not the back) and place a redstone line leading as close to the wall as possible (One block away will do) and put TNT everywhere! The victim will loot the furnace, causing the comparator to deactivate, along with the repeater, then causing the 'NOT gate' to turn the redstone line on, which will activate the TNT, blowing the victim to bits!!!

C4 Trap
Dubbed so by Bannablarg, the first to use this with success, this "C4" is a vertical or horizontal stack of TNT with a dispenser wired to a button with a fire charge in it. The dispenser is placed one block above or below the stack (vertical) or one block next to the stack (horizontal). This usually works better for demolition than for a trap, if you want that, you can wire a pressure plate to the dispenser. This works similar to a flaming arrow hitting a stack of TNT from above. This is another way to remotely detonate the TNT, via flaming arrow. This works better than a dispenser shooting TNT, because the "C4" stays in one place. Also, if only two TNT blocks are used, it works well as a disposable cannon, even better on obsidian blocks, but not in a tube. All evidence of the trap is usually destroyed. Note: C4 trap from below does not work very well.

TNT Double Trouble
Place a TNT block on any surface 1 block and cover with natural blocks from the biome the trap is set. Underneath the TNT the victim will suppose to find some redstone from a trap and will mine the TNT as bounty. But it turns out the "TNT landmmine" was a fake, and that underneath the landmine was the actual trap! The victim falls onto a pressure plate and notices the real horror, a 3x3x3 room full of TNT connected to the pressure plate he's standing on!

Cheaper version
Instead of a cave, you can make a 1x24x1 (x y z) tunnel with TNT at the bottom and a block above a pressure plate on cobblestone. This version has the disadvantage of a player having a bucket of water being able to escape and reset the trap/change the layout to kill you!

Fake Mine TNT Trap
Dig a hole about four blocks down (one block wide)so it looks like a mine but really isn't. Cover the hole with a trap door and place a sign above that says "Diamond (or gold) mine" Put a metal pressure plate in front of the hole with a block of TNT beneath. A player will think that the pressure plate will open the trap door to the mine, and instead they explode.

The Hidden House
This trap is the opposite of a TNT door trap: The TNT is obvious, while the house is hidden. Make a field of TNT extending about 5 blocks into the ground. Place signs all over the field saying: "Find my hidden house." It lures people in dually: the TNT danger, and the hidden house challenge. The problem is that there is no house! Beneath the field are pressure plates which fire the TNT, leaving no time to escape, as you are in a field of TNT 6 blocks under. Once it's activated, not even flying can help. The only way to survive? Creative.

House of Obliteration
This trap is obvious... too obvious. It's a house of TNT. It obliterates everything near it: blocks, buildings, mobs, players, you name it. People will go around it and within it because they think it's only activated when someone goes in. To build it, you need to build a cleared out standard house. Then cover the outside with as many layers of TNT as you want. The more layers, the more obliteration and the larger range. Now follow one of these versions:

Suicide: Least expensive, least efficient. You activate it from the inside by flipping a lever in a hole on the wall. Everything within the range is obliterated, including you.

Murder: Most expensive, most efficient. Get far away from the house, at least to the point where it's hard to see. Use a redstone circuit to activate it from a distance, obliterating everything within range, but you will live.

Genocide: Get at least 5 layers of TNT. Go very, very far away. Activate it. Wait for mass obliteration. Return. See the new [Name of Biome] Obliteration Memorial Park. WARNING: Do at a MAXIMUM of once a month to avoid crashes.

The Man: Build a Player-Sized copy of the character. Surround it in TNT "armor" completely. Attach a redstone circuit to the TNT. Blow it up. Notice: for inconspicuous explosions. Optional: turn it into Mega-Man by repeating the TNT layer many times.

Auto-versions (triggered by the victim not the builder): Try putting a metal door on the TNT house. If the player is new or just distracted they'll hit the button to open the metal door, igniting the house.

Floor triggers are the most popular trigger ever (due to the land mine being the most well known minecraft trap), but the tradeoff is that more people know to watch out for them than any other trigger. Try putting one on the other side of the front door (hoping the door itself blocks the player's sight of it) or around a blind corner in a thin hallway.

Variation: the "where's the trigger" model. This version counts on the victim carefully looking for a trigger, getting bolder when they find nothing. No "metal door trick", no "easy to see if you're looking for them" triggers on the ground. When they run out of ideas for what to look out for and conclude that it's safe they'll probably loot the house, including the coal from the furnace and the food from the "fridge" (small box beside the furnace). As they pass the table and chairs they hear a click and have 4 seconds to think about how commonplace those makeshift tables have become...to the point that we forget that the top half is a TRIGGER! Note: it can't power downwards through the fence piece but can power sideways. And yes, people do actually fall for this. So many people have grown a blind spot to those tables.

Door of Doom
Place an iron door and dig down 2 blocks,make a large cave,fill it with tnt and cap it off with a pressure plate. When the victim walks into the room he will be blown sky high! (If he dies, then put less tnt).

Exploding bed BUD trap
VERY simple trap: place a bed next to a BUD switch, connect the output to some TNT, and cover the whole thing in cobblestone, or something like that. then just wait for someone to sleep in it, and watch him/her get blasted sky-high!

Ocelot Assassin
Build a medium-sized room (about 10 blocks long and 5 wide) with TNT underneath the floor. Put a pressure plate connected to a dispenser right by the entrance, with an ocelot spawn egg inside. Then put another pressure plate at the far end of the room, connected to the TNT. When the ocelot spawns, it will run away from the player, right on to the pressure plate (hopefully), springing the trap. Note: The downside is you may also kill the poor little ocelot.

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. If you want to reuse the land mine, or if you just don't want to clean up the mess made by the TNT, dig an extra block down and fill it with water. Primed TNT in water does not explode but does deal damage.

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.

In addition, mines in the desert can take advantage of sand's natural ability to fall. By having one or two empty spaces below the TNT as described above, the TNT will dislodge and drop, bringing the sand above it and, hopefully, the player or mob, delaying their ability to react and escape before detonation.

To increase the effectiveness of a land mine against players that are not very observant and aware of their surroundings, the pressure plate should be surrounded with tall grass to make it less visible. Placing it next to a cliff face or a tree can also make it much harder to find.

A land mine with a stone pressure plate can become almost invisible when placed in an area with gray-colored blocks such as stone.

If you have a flying house or a bridge then you can also put TNT under a spot and put gravel or sand (whichever one disguises it more) then just plop a pressure plate on top this will make the player fall and take damage and if that doesn't kill him then the TNT will.

The Chest Bomber
You will need: TNT, redstone, pressure plate, ender chest/chest/trapped chest, sign, block of grass, iron door

Dig a 4 block deep hole in the ground and put 3 stacked TNT in it. Cover it up with a grass block. Put a chest somewhere near the TNT. Place a sign near the chest saying "Diamonds and Emeralds inside!" Don't put anything inside it though. Find the spot where you placed the TNT. Then dig a 2 block deep, 3 block long hole. Put a pressure plate right next to the hole and put redstone leading from the pressure plate to the TNT's. Now build a grass house surrounding the chest and put an iron door that they will "enter." Wait for someone to come along and have them step on the pressure plate and they'll be blown up!

Capture Landmine
This is aimed for mobs more than other players. First, dig a 3x3 hole 4 blocks deep. Then place obsidian in layers 2,3,and 4. The surface layer should match to its surroundings. Add doors around the four middle blocks (the doors are there to trap a mob inside while the TNT is counting down). Finally add 2 TNT in the center, cap and a pressure plate on top. Best results are attained in a corridor with stone flooring 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 sand or gravel 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 to 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 bottom of 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
Build an underwater shelter. Put many valuable 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.

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.

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.

Mined Block Trap
Use a piston to push a TNT block into an active circuit when a block is mined. 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 1-9 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 affected 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 @

I Will Crush You
Build an empty doorway to a decoy house with an iron door. Put a lever. Put two pistons with stone. Execution: 1. Victim sees switch 2. Victim pulls switch thinking that will open iron door. 3. Victim gets smashed by pistons pushing blocks in victim's direction. 4. Victim dies.

Piston TNT Trap
This trap is for small 1x2 passage-ways, perhaps inside a friends tunnel-mine. A pressure plate is placed, and when stepped on pushes two normal pistons up, blocking the "happy" miners escape, then hidden tnt sets off causing instant death. You can also try to put this in a larger room-add TNT with a pressure plate above it on the floor in a checkerboard pattern, then put pistons on every other space. When a miner steps on the TNT, the piston will trap the player and they will not be able to hide. If the person you're trying to trap is not particularly gullible, you can try wiring the pressure plate to TNT and pistons on the ceiling or using tripwire, although it may take considerably more redstone.

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.

Piston TNT Trap 3
You will need: 36 TNT, 36 Pistons, 36 Dispensers and 36 flint and steel, 5 Pressure Plates (so the pistons don't turn off almost instantly), Lots of Redstone 1 Lever, 1 chest with nothing in it and some cobblestone. First make a 3 block high wall out of cobblestone nine blocks long and 6 blocks wide. Now place the chest at the end of the hallway the player will think there is loot in it. Next build a roof on it. Line the 2nd row with pistons, then place TNT on the Pistons. Now place the pressure plates somewhere in the hallway (they all have to be next to each other)and connect it with the pistons. Make sure to put the lever half way down the connection. Now flick the lever and turn the pistons on. Above where the TNT Blocks are now place the dispensers and connect them to the pressure plates. Now flick the lever back and turn the pistons off. Now put 1 Flint and Steel in the dispensers. Now wait or your unfortunate victim to walk into the trap.

Anti-Griefing Defense Trap
This trap consists of many different traps that you can find on the page. You will need: lots of TNT, Lots of Redstone, Lots of Stone Pressure Plates, 5 Levers, 50 Dispensers, 5 minecarts with TNT, Lots of Arrows, 45 Lava Buckets, Lots of Cacti, Lots of Netherrack, Flint and Steel. First make 5 instant landmines. If you want you can connect all the landmines with redstone for mass explosion or you can manually control them with a lever. Next make a long corridor 22x5x2. Now line the 2nd row with dispensers and fill them with arrows. Then place lava over them. Next place a pressure plate in the middle of the hallway. Now place a 3 block high cacti wall (it has to be on sand). They can't be side by side so dig a 1x1 hole and place netherrack in it and light it on fire, repeat this stage to make a large wall around your land. All these traps combined will make an awesome defense against griefers

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.

Mined Ore Trap
Note: The double door glitch only works in older versions! 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

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).

Simple version (a different author to door pitfall)
Dig a 1x1 pit in front of an iron door (at least 24 blocks deep). Place a piston (not a sticky piston) on either side of the pit and leave the other side empty. Place a block over the top of the pit and put a stone pressure plate on that block. Then build your house around it.

What happens

 * 1) Someone steps on the pressure plate. Door opens.
 * 2) The piston extends, breaking the pressure plate. Door closes instantly.
 * 3) The piston loses power, leaving a hole under the victim's feet.
 * 4) They fall and die.
 * 5) You get loot!

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.

A modified version of this trap is excellent for curing zombie villiagers. Use wooden doors, replace one door with a 1-high wall, have a block on top, and don't put in a kill mechanism. Once the zombie is trapped, you can administer the cure easily, your patient is protected from the sun, and the cured Villager can exit the trap by themselves.

If you dig down 2 blocks in the middle, dig a + shape, put water in the 4 sides, place TNT in the middle and cover it up, it'll do damage to the trapped player/mob and not do damage to the land.

There is another way to do this. You can dig down to the void, place TNT at the 2nd layer, put gravel on top and then a stone pressure plate on top. When the victim goes in, the victim will fall to the void.

TNT Trick trap
This is very simple. live in the server. Start by making a house made out of Obsidian or any other TNT proof block and put dirt for the floor. under the dirt, Put TNT. On the dirt put a Lever and sign behind it saying: "Pull lever". Hopefully a Noob or someone will come and pull the lever and KABOOM!

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.

Death Chest
Ingredients: 1 chest, 2 crafting tables, 2 redstone, as much TNT as you want (preferably 10 for mass explosion!), 1 redstone, 2 redstone torches, 1 bucket of water. Place a chest, to the left of it dig down 2 and break a block beneath the chest and place water beneath it to the right. Dig down 2 to the right of that. Dig down another 2 to the right of that. Dig down 3 and place a redstone torch to the front of that. Break 3 blocks and place one redstone to the front of that. Break 2 blocks and place a redstone torch so it turns off. Break 2 to the left of that and place a redstone to the left of that brake the block beneath the top block and place some TNT next to the chest. Place 2 crafting tables, one on each side of it. Then cover all the exposed redstone.

Door Trap
Requires four iron doors, one pressure plate, and one TNT.

Place a pressure plate in front of an iron door, and surround the adjacent block with the other doors. Place one TNT with a block on top of it. The player walks, steps on the pressure plate, and traps himself in the door, with the TNT blowing up before they can escape. More TNT can be used to increase power. However, that person could break the iron doors with a pickaxe.

Chest Bomb
Requires a trapped chest or a regular chest, a hopper, a redstone comparator, a dispenser, and one or more blocks of TNT.

Place a trapped chest or a regular chest on any surface. Place a hopper underneath and a redstone capacitor right next to it so if you put something in the chest the comparator emits a redstone signal. Put a dispenser wherever the signal leads to, and as much TNT as you want inside. If someone put something inside, they blow up.

Instant Land Mine
If you are getting annoyed of wasted TNT because people run away from your landmine filled with tons of TNT, you can build a land mine that explodes instantly.

You need:
 * 1 Flint and Steel
 * 1 Dispenser
 * 1 Pressure Plate (Much better if it is made of stone.)
 * 1 Rail
 * 1 Minecart with TNT
 * 16 TNT (More or less.)

First, dig a 3x3x3 hole in the ground, jump in then stand on a corner. On the bottom center, place a block of dirt then place a rail on top of it. On the rail, place a minecart with TNT (Be careful not to accidentally push the minecart!). Destroy the block under the rail to derail the minecart. The minecart will fall one block lower, this won't really cause any damage unless you accidentally pushed the minecart. Dig the block below you then place a dispenser facing downwards which makes it face the minecart, load the dispenser with flint and steel. Surround the minecart with 8 TNT blocks, after this, surround the dispenser with 8 TNT blocks, too. You should be above ground by now, cover the TNT-filled hole with dirt, remember where the dispenser is. Finally, place a pressure plate on top of the block above the dispenser.

The explosion will instantly kill a player in an armor weaker than a full set of iron armor. If the player is wearing an armor stronger than a full set of iron armor, the explosion will damage the player enough to get killed by falling into the large crater it creates.

- Stone pressure plate - 20 TNT - 1 large chest - 1 diamond This should be done in a mine, or somewhere with lots of stone. Place some stone pressure plates in front of a large chest. Put exactly 1 diamond into the chest. Place TNT underneath the pressure plates. Do NOT put a sign. Now go away, and hide. A player may come by, step on the pressure plate(s) hear the TNT, run, and in no time BOOM! They will die.

Housed hell
make an underground 50X50X10 house. put 2 wooden doors (that door is must be flammable) so someone can enter. add any kind of thing that fishes robbers inside, like diamonds, gold, or diamond blocks and a sign. put a TNT floor then wood floor, but the ceiling and walls must be made from obsidian. make a 1 block hole so lava can enter into the house. put the another wall made from wood, so when the lava touches it will burn. make a gravel trap outside the house and three reversed sticky piston blocks(one in the lava trigger and two in the gravel trigger), that is connected to the stone pressure plate outside. the clock is 30 second long, before the lava flow trigger and 10 second before the gravel trap trigger. (so when the robber entered he thinks it is save to explore inside as he don't see any triggers inside, but when he is done stealing he will trapped in the house, either dying from the explosion, the fire, or the lava)

The back door trap
Make a wooden house. Double the wooden walls(Optional). Put double iron doors in the front. Put single iron door in the back. In the front put two stone pressure plates in front of the door. NOT IN THE INSIDE. Now put a pressure plate on the inside for back door. BACK DOOR ONLY. Now put 25 tnt(You can choose) under pressure plate for BACK DOOR. MAKE SURE IT DOES NOT TOUCH THE FRONT DOOR PRESSURE PLATES. Now exit safely by breaking the Front door and replacing it. Put some do not enter signs(Optional).

How it works 1. Player goes in the house. 2. Player exits out of back door. 3. They explode.

Pros Might explode to player when far away if built on 1 layer. You will be able to get the player's items.

Cons The player might not exit at the back door.

free (explosive) trees
All you need are fully mature trees, a lever, redstone, 4 wool, 4 redstone torches,  12 TNT, some fences, and a sign so first you dig a 2 block deep 5 block by 5 block pit (Make sure the tree is in the center) under a tree and break the bottom block. BOTTOM BLOCK ONLY! Then you place redstone under the tree then place four wool blocks around the redstone. After that place 4 redstone torches on the outside of the wool blocks and then place a lever on the under side of the tree and flick it to the on position. Then Place 3 TNT on each corner of your pit and cover it up with a block that matches the terrain and do the same thing to same few other trees. Finally make a fence around your trees and put a sign that says Free Trees.

Land mine
There are 3 main objects that contribute to making a Land Mine: Primer, Wadding, Explosive. Land Mines are used to injure, or sometimes, kill a target. A single Land Mine is very easy to build, though it usually injures and traps the target. Here's how to make it:


 * 1) Dig 2 blocks down in the location you want to place the Mine. If a setup is desired that will have a smaller area of effect from the surface, but will not destroy blocks and only damage Mobs, (And of course the player) dig one block further down from there
 * 2) Place a TNT block. If a setup is wanted that will not destroy blocks, place this TNT in the center of the pit, and a water source at the very bottom
 * 3) Place a dirt or grass block, or whatever block that would match the environment.
 * 4) Place a Pressure Plate on the block (from a distance so you don't instantly ignite it).

Redstone mine

 * 1) Dig down 2 blocks
 * 2) Place down a redstone ore (silk touch pickaxe required)
 * 3) Then place a daylight sensor under the redstone ore
 * 4) Place as much TNT as you want under the redstone ore connect it using redstone dust
 * 5) Wait for some one or something to step on the redstone and boom watch what ever set it off explode in to nothing but bone and rotten flesh not very effective on players but a good way to show those pesky creepers how it falls

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.

Chunk load trap - the concept of obscure trigger traps
Requires: Redstone, Mobs, Minecarts, and/or other mechanisms that only work when a player loads their chunk.

Note: This may not work as you would expect it to. You can use things that only work when a chunk is loaded, you can hide a bunch of TNT in a house that only blows up when a player loads the chunks!

Basic Landmine
Materials: A falling block(Sand, Gravel), a Pressure Plate, TNT. Notes:
 * 1) Dig a hole that goes down at least 2 blocks beneath the surface. 3 blocks is preferable.
 * 2) Place the TNT in the hole so there is a block of air beneath it.
 * 3) Place the falling block on top of the TNT
 * 4) Place the Pressure Plate on top of the falling block.
 * This landmine is a very inefficient type of trap, as it is easy to escape and damages the landscape.
 * If you want to protect the landscape, you can place water at the bottom of the hole. It will reduce the delt damage, however.
 * You could use this as an easy way to make a pit trap.
 * For a more dangerous landmine, see Instant Landmine

One time use
This is good if you want to escape a house and make sure nothing follows you. First, make a hidden passage with Redstone. Second, connect the Redstone to a delay circuit and a RS latch's Set input. Third, connect the delayed repeater to the RS latch Reset and connect the RS latch Output to another RS latch or a vertical (optional, for reset) repeater clock that will stay on, also connect the output of the first latch to an And gate. Fourth, connect the Clock or second latch to the and gate with a delay to prevent the And gate from triggering a large TNT charge that is worthy of a self-destruct button (optional ;). Finally, you can add a reset button connected to a piston or Reset input for the Vertical clock or RS latch, respectively. The TNT charge connected to the AND gate output may be as large as you like. For a delayed explosion, make the secret entrance trigger a BUD connected to a furnace.

Water Drop Trap
A trap, designed to trick the victims into thinking that jumping down into water is safe. Kills the victim using fall damage by removing the water source using a dispenser right before the player lands. Not guaranteed to kill if victim has feather falling boots. You can, however, combine this with other traps to guarantee the kill.

Fake Water Drop Trap
A variation of this idea is to have a 1-block drop with "water" at the bottom and a narrow corridor leading off of it, to make it less suspicious. How does it work? Well, a player sees the drop hole and thinks 'Hey, looks like someone's mine!' They fall down the pit and die, because the 'water' at the bottom is actually a lapis block. You are sneaking in the corridor, waiting for the victim to fall! (You might want to have a sword, in case they don't die)

-Written by the author of Don't Pull the Lever!- s

Carpet Trap
With the addition of carpets, it is now possible to create seamless hidden traps. You can place carpets on top of dispensers to mask them.

You can also place carpets on signs, this can be used to create an instant disappearing floor trap.

Trapped Chest Trap
Using the Trapped Chest, a BUD & a clock, it is possible to create a fully seamless chest trap to prevent nosy visitors looking in your chests!

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 blocks 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 place an iron door with a stone pressure plate on one side, and a button on the inside. Then place dispensers (1-4, make sure nonfatal) 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 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 players will attempt to charge through and end up falling through the hole, where they die.

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. Arrows shot will roughly reach from 16-24 blocks away from the dispenser.

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 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).

A subdivision of the rapid pulsar is the Arrow Machine Gun.

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: 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 and 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 cobblestone 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 to 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

Pit of Doom
Dig a hole that is 2x3. Place two sticky pistons at the end and cover them. Meanwhile, put a pressure plate which is connected to redstone to the pistons. Next, use the /gamemode command to go in creative, place a monster spawner at the bottom of the pit. While you're at it, spawn at least 10 zombies. Once you get out, go back to survival. Target should step on pressure plate, fall into hole, and be mobbed to death by zombies. Cheers!!

Corridor trap
The following Trap uses pistons to suffocate and trap the player. Once the player dies, he cannot get his items back, and if the player does set the trap off, but doesn't get killed by it, he 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 area where they can spawn but cannot 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 piston 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:

Water-Ceiling Shulker Trap
The following trap is based on the new shulker mobs introduced in 1.9. Shulkers make you levitate when they hit you with their projectiles. That mechanic is what this trap relies on. The way you make this trap is that you build a large but nooby-looking house. Then, place a hidden shulker turret inside the wall(a shulker that gets pushed out of the wall when it is triggered by something such as tripwire). After that, place water on the ceiling and place signs below so that the house doesn't flood. Finally, put a tempting sign at the entrance so that players will walk in. If a player walks in, the player will be hit by the shulker, levitate into the ceiling and eventually drown. It is better to use lava instead of water if you are trying to defend a factions base. NOTE: If you use lava, you may risk burning the roof.

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.

"Is It Sand?" Trap
Construct a hallway with a sand, or gravel, floor for an unsuspecting player to walk through. A diagonal hallway works best. Place fence posts underneath the path and drop the material for the floor on the fences. Below the fences, you can have a pit.

This works because when a gravity-affected block falls on a fence post, the block stays as an entity. As a result, a player walking between the fence posts will fall through the sand entities, causing them to plummet. Diagonal hallways make it more likely to fall through the sand without landing safely on a fence post. Keep in mind that the sand is going to look half a block higher than a normal block, but this can easily be covered up. The best part: it does not need to be reset!

TNT player pitfall trap
Dig a 1×7×1 (2×7×2 recommended) hole, put water on the bottom 2 layers, then put TNT on the second top layer, and sand/gravel on the top layer. Then put a stone pressure plate above, it should look like this:

The player will be stuck in the water until the TNT explodes and kills them. The TNT will also not damage any of the terrain due to the water.

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 fewer 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 him and making him fall to his 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 arrows 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. Want to make a cacti trap for greedy greifers? Dig a 4 block deep hole (so he can't escape!), place a cacti at the bottom of the pit, place a trapdoor on the pit with a sign above it saying, "Free Diamonds Down This Hole!"

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.

Sand Pit
Dig a 3x3x3 hole. Cover the bottom of the pit with torches. Place a tnt on the middle torch. Place signs all around the tnt, careful not to accidentally set it off. Place sand on top of the signs. Place a pressure plate over the tnt. When the mob or player steps on the pressure plate, the signs break, the sand falls and breaks on the torch, and the tnt is set off. The player can only escape if they can fly or dig really fast.

Fake Water Pitfall Trap
Dig a hole (2x2 works best) at least 30 blocks deep, the deeper the better. At the bottom place lapis lazuli blocks/water source blocks covered with blue stained glass. Add a 'corridor' - a 2 block long hollow to one side of the bottom of the hole - to look as if the hole leads somewhere, and a torch somewhere in the 'corridor', and you're done. When an unsuspecting player comes across the hole, they will think that there is water at the bottom, jump down and die when they hit the lapis lazuli blocks/blue stained glass. Experienced players are less likely to fall for this particular trap but it generally works quite well.

NOTE: If the target is wearing armor enchanted with feather falling, or has some sort of status effect that reduces damage taken, this trap becomes more or less obsolete unless you include a second trap, such as lava or arrow dispensers released or activated by concealed tripwire.

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.

Pitfall with Bait Block w/o Pressure Plate
Beside the classic pressure plate activated pit fall trap, you can also trigger the mechanism with a block - when removed the block will cause the pit to collapse.

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.

Fake Water Elevator
You will need 1 bucket of water and 30+ signs.

Make a 1x1x1 hole on the ground and empty the bucket in the hole. Break the block under the block of water then place a sign. Dig deeper until the hole is 30-40 which is enough to kill a player, make sure you place signs 1 block far from each other to make it look like as if it was a real elevator. You may need to place a sign near the 'elevator' saying something like "Do not enter!" or "Elevator to my base! Don't jump in!".

You can also make the signs' text something like a floor countdown like "35", "34", "33", etc. so players are more likely to fall for the trap.

Real Water Elevator:



Fake Water Elevator Trap:



If you want, you can place hoppers and with chests so you can gather the loot from the victims, but if you really want the drops, you need a secret passage to the bottom of the pit for collection.

Sand Update Trap
You can cause sand to float mid air until it receives a block update by using any two block tall plant. First, clear out a 3x3x3 area, ideally in a desert or on a beach. Then at the bottom center of the area, break the block and put a dirt block in it's place. Place a two block tall plant on the dirt, and place the sand on top. It should then look like this:

Now refill the 3x3x3 area surrounding the sand in plant, but make sure you can still reach the dirt and bottom block of the plant from one side (place a sign there):

Now make some way to update the sand block when a player or mob walks nearby. The simplest and least visible method of doing this is placing a string on top:

When a player or entity steps on the string, it will update the sand, causing them to fall.

Now carefully break the bottom part of the plant. This should leave the sand floating with no blocks below it. Remove the dirt, and you have a sand update trap.

TNT pitfall trap (hard)
This is an easier trap, since you can no longer create the sand update trap. Also, sign can be placed on top of signs.

You will need:


 * Lava


 * Signs


 * ONE TNT.


 * Sand/gravel (sand works best in desert and gravel works best for stone stuff and other stuff.)

Side view

Make a hole as wide as you want BUT, the hole must be 3 blocks deep. First, add lava on top of the signs. Then at the 2nd layer, add the TNT anywhere and then place the signs on it. Keep on going until you had filled the hole with 1 TNT and lot's of signs. Then fill the layer with gravel. The sign can hold the gravel. Lastly, add a STONE pressure plate on top of the block with TNT underneath. Voila! You have created the pitfall trap! When a player lands on it, they will fall and die in lava!

Proximity Trap
A proximity trap is a player detector paired with an output.

False-floor trap
A false-floor trap is a variation of a pitfall trap. It works by creating a concealed safe route through the pitfall (which is usually very big) to allow authorised players to pass, while catching unauthorised players or mobs and killing them. It generally works best when there is no way around, forcing the player to pass through the trap.

Dig a seven-layer deep hole. The trap works best if the sides of the hole are very long, but this also makes it more tedious (and more dangerous). Fill in the bottom two layers with water. Fill the second from the top layer with TNT, except for the squares that form the safe route. Fill in the safe squares with stone. Now, cover the whole thing with gravel or sand. Finally, place stone pressure plates on top of every square (if you use wooden ones, the player can just shoot them to find the safe ones). If you walk along the safe route, nothing will happen. If you hit one of the false squares, it will drop you into the water then detonate the TNT. To make it more effective, dig a deeper pit and/or use lava or cactus at the bottom. Make sure that you remember the safe route!

Liquid 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. It also can be used to create an explosion that will not damage the environment. 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 that are partially reliant on water.

Lily pad trap
Dig a 2x2 hole at least 8 blocks deep and fill it with water. Place a chest at the bottom. When someone goes in to get items from the chest put lily pads on the water and soon they will drown.

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.(Note:Only dig deeper if the target is wearing boots enchanted with feather falling as fall damage ignores 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 unfortunate 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 an ender pearl to teleport to the bottom, so it is recommended that you place another method of killing the person at the bottom (i.e. land mine, lava or a crushing piston that is triggered with a pressure plate).

Slime Trap
This simple trap targets slimes. All you need is some water buckets. Dig a 4x4 hole three blocks deep. Fill the bottom layer with water, so that it is all still water on the bottom. When any sized slime wanders around, it may fall into the hole. Since slimes cannot jump in water, it will not be able to escape. You can come by later and kill all the slimes, however, you must jump in then get the drops. If you are not interested in the drops, just leave them in to lower slime population. This trap is recommended on Superflat survival worlds where you can get water from village farms and easily make the hole and slimes spawn a lot.

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.

Another way to drown a player and collect their items is to make a trap shower. All you need is 4 useless blocks, 1 stone pickaxe, 4 iron doors, 1 any type of slab except weak slabs, a water bucket, a 3x3 space, and lastly a pressure plate. First plan the 3x3 space and place a pressure plate in the middle, next you must be very careful, place the iron doors carefully so when the player steps on the pressure plate the iron doors will "open" making the player trapped inside because of the pressure plate. When it is done it should look like this: I=Iron Door P=Pressure Plate O=No Block @=Player

OIO IPI OIO

When the player inside it should look like this:

OIO I@I OIO

Then use the 4 useless blocks to place the slab on top so it is only 2 blocks high, then place the water bucket above. When the player gets inside then it will get trapped, to collect his loot, get inside, collect the items then destroy the slab, get out then replace it. Best in multiplayer.

Deep water

You'll need: 2 buckets of water, an ocean, 8 ladders, 5 torches, 4 signs, 4 hoppers(optional), any pickaxe, and any shovel. This trap depends on a player's curiosity. It is highly suggested that you put all your other stuff away because the chance of you drowning while your in the trap is very high, and you use stone tools.

First, dig a 2-by-2 1 block deep pit. Then, place signs. The signs will block the water from going into the trap. Dig one block deeper. Then, place 4 torches in the pit, directly under the signs so players will see it. Mine 2 more blocks deeper, then place 8 ladders. Mine 3 blocks from the ladders. Then, place your buckets so an infinite source block is created. Dig down, and use your last torch to prevent you from drowning. Make it really deep, so players have a hard time getting out. Then, your done. If you don't want to go through the treble of getting the stuff, then place some hoppers.

The Pool Of Death
This trap is simple and may not work on experienced players. First, dig a 2x2 hole 5 blocks deep. Fill the bottom two with lava, the middle with signs, and the top two with water. You can drop items in the hole at your own risk. When a player or mob swims in the pool, they will fall down through the water and into the lava!

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 disc 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.

Trapped Chest Lava Pitfall Trap
You will need: Sticky Pitons, Trapped Chest, Redstone, Blocks, Lava Buckets, Redstone Repeater Build the 2 rows sticky pistons such that are facing each other and the rows are 4 blocks apart. Attach solid blocks to the rows of sticky pistons. Link the rows of pistons to redstone torches. Attach the trapped chest to the redstone torhces that is connected to the sticky pistons. Dig a hole below the sticky pistons and fill it with lava. Decorate the area around the trapped chest to attract players!

Lava mob farm (works for PE)
you will need: lava buckets, water buckets, ladders, pickaxe dig a huge cavern with no lighting and water streams pointing to a hole in the middle make sure the water ends just next to the hole but doesn't fall in at the bottom of the hole make a cave 3 by 9 blocks and place water in 2 adjacent corners. on the blocks where there is no water dig down three blocks and place water in one of them in the second block of the hole place ladders. on the top block of the hole place lava. when the mobs spawn they flow into the stream, fall through the hole and get killed by lava and the stuff flows out the stream where you can collect it

NOTE: This trap does not work well on spiders, endermen, or witches (they will drink fire resistance potions)

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 or 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 below.



Side View

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. Also, lava spreads more quickly in the Nether.

Glass Pane Trap
With the glass panes 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 your 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.

Lava Sticky Piston Trap
What you need: Redstone, Pressure plate, Lava, and a Sticky piston

Make a lava pit. It is recommended you do this trap in a mine with a lava pit; it will blend in better. Place a stone pressure plate down and connect it to redstone wire behind a wall so it cannot be seen. Make the redstone wire connect to a sticky piston with a stone block on the plunger so the stone block is pushed when the pressure plate is activated. Put the piston two blocks above ground level, where the pressure plate is, so that when the pressure plate is activated, it activates the sticky piston, pushing the player. Make a lava pit next to the pressure plate so the player is pushed into lava.

Lava Zombie Trap
What you need: Lava, Door

Make a 3x3x3 pit, but leave the middle blocks. Fill the bottom of the pit with lava and place a door atop the central pillar of blocks. The zombies can't resist the need to break the door and will die. Using netherrack and fire in place of lava also works.

Final Resting Place
Possibly the most evil trap ever made is a bed based one. After sleeping in a bed you appear in one of the blocks immediately next to the bed (including diagonal). Sometimes though it's through a wall. If you can't imagine how that would happen, imagine a bed in the corner of a simple 3x3 house in which the corners of the exterior of the house are missing. The blocks beside the left of the bed and top of the bed are blocked because of the walls but the corner one (to the left and up at the same time) isn't blocked it's just outside. Someone sleeping here could find themselves standing in that missing outside corner in the morning. Now imagine an underground house with a lava chamber hidden behind the corner of the room like that and half slabs everywhere beside the bed on the safe side. Lava doesn't count as an obstruction but slabs do, so as far as the game is concerned that lava block is the only spot available. It looks harmless enough since you can't see the lava hidden behind the corner of the room. But after their sleep finishes they wake up in flames. The worst part is that upon dying they will respawn back at this bed...in the only block beside the bed that is open. Yes, the lava again. They're stuck. They need either water, creative mode, op's help, or to go find another server to play on.

Greed is your DOWNFALL
Dig a 9x9, 3 block deep area in a desert, and replace the 4th layer with Dirt. Put down Grass and grow it to Double Tallgrass. Put Sand on top of the Double Tallgrass, except for the middle. Put a Trapped Chest there. Then break the Double Tallgrass. (Make sure to have an escape tunnel or you could be in trouble!) Finally, replace the Dirt with Lava. When some griefer opens the Trapped Chest, they will fall into the Lava and die! You can replace the Lava with TNT and Pressure Plates for an even more damaging, but more destructive trap.

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.

Lava Filling Trap
Make a room out of STONE, not cobble. Place a stone pressure plate connected to a hidden redstone trail leading to a dispenser in the ceiling with a lava bucket inside. The rest works out for itself.

Noob Traps
These traps work best on noobs. This is because they stand out the most.

4 Doors
This noob trap has 2 forms, basic and advanced. All you need is 4 iron doors, a pressure plate, and bedrock. If you choose the advanced form, also use a command block. To make the basic form, put a pressure plate down in the center, put iron doors on the rim (make sure they close when powered), and place bedrock above the pressure plate, high enough so the victim can go in, but not high enough for the victim to jump. When the victim goes in, he will trigger the pressure plate, which closes the doors. The bedrock is there to stop the victim from jumping. If the victim jumps, the pressure plate will deactivate. For the advanced form, do the same as above, but place a command block under the pressure plate, far enough to be unseen, but close enough to be triggered. Set the command to "/gamemode 2 @p[r=4]", which will change the game mode of the closest player that is within 4 blocks to adventure. The player is always the victim, unless the trap is triggered by a mob. If a mob triggers the trap, then the game mode of the closest player within 4 blocks is still changed. You can also use a redstone repeater to set off another command block. The second command block should have this command: "/effect @p[r=4] minecraft:slowness 60 100000", which will give the victim the "Slowness" status effect at level 60, which will completely immobilize the victim, for 100000 ticks, which will give the effect permanently, unless the victim has some milk, or has access to the "/effect" or "/gamemode" command. Also, the victim will need access to the "/gamemode" command to escape the trap, because the victim's game mode will be set to "Adventure", which will stop the victim from placing or breaking blocks. This will stop the victim from ever escaping, unless he has access to the "/gamemode", "/give", or "/tp", and "/kill", "/effect", or, if the server has the mod, "/punish". The punishment must be a one which moves the player. (Note: If the victim sprints, he can escape this trap, unless you use the advanced form with the slowness effect)

The Cake Is A Lie
You need pressure plates, a cake you are willing to lose, sticky pistons, stone, obsidian, and redstone. Dig 2 blocks down in a flat area, place a sticky piston facing up, put a stone block on the sticky piston, put a ring of pressure plates around it, dig 2 blocks down and put sticky pistons facing up in a ring just outside the pressure plates, connect the pressure plates to the sticky pistons, put obsidian on the third block above the ground over the outer sticky pistons, put cake in the center, and cover the sticky pistons with obsidian. If someone tries to get the cake, the sticky pistons trap them and destroy the cake.

House of Horror (useful for griefers)
Make a fake base with walls and an attractive outside to attract potential griefers. Trap the door so through attempted exit, the victim might die through lava. If the victim tries to get out of the house early, he will realize that a dispenser revealed by a sticky piston compartment with a released lava bucket has blocked his escape through the iron door.

If the victim blunders up the stairs, he hears a small but foreboding sound and realizes that he's standing on a pressure plate hidden from his view which sets off a TNT trap. He is forced to go further up and realizes that the stairs are very long. From here on continue torturing the victim in this manner. As soon as your test subject goes in, they will get the terror of their lives!

Note: Any person entering this trap can simply break out of the house if it is made of weak materials(dirt etc.). Use materials such as obsidian or find some other way to prevent the griefer from exiting. It is best to find some way to keep him going higher and higher up and not trying to leave.

The KILL land mine
Sick of rebuilding land mines? Not any more as the land mine NEVER explodes. Plus, it can kill a player when he/she steps on the pressure plate. You will need: Always set the command to. Dig 2 blocks down and 3x3 blocks wide. Place the command block in the middle of the hole like this:
 * 1 wooden pressure plate
 * 1 command block.
 * 17 cobblestone.

Cover the hole with cobblestone. Place the wooden pressure plate in the middle of the cobblestone square. So when a player lands on it, it will kill them!

Pros (Advantages)

 * They can kill a player in ONE hit.
 * You don't have to build a landmine again.

Cons (Disadvantages)

 * You may get killed when you are near (not on) the landmine by items flying down onto the pressure plate. (This can be avoided by using a stone pressure plate.)
 * Some servers may change the command from  to.
 * Alternately you can use the code  which teleports them into the void.

Command Block Traps
These are quite effective traps that use command blocks. 1. Proximity Mine Place a command block connected to a redstone clock, faster the better, and use this command /kill @e[r=10] ~ ~ ~ Any entity within 10 blocks will be destroyed. This is also good for preventing primed TNT from getting near or arrows from flying at you.

Entry Alarm
This is not so much as a trap but an alarm. If a person or entity walks over a pressure plate or tripwire which activates turns on a redstone wire which triggers a note block. You could use different sounding note block for different entries/exits if you have more than one.

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.

Diamond Block of DOOM
Put down a BUD switch made out of a sticky piston, slime block and redstone block. Next to the piston, put a diamond block, and above where the Noob will be standing and next to,(but on the same side as the diamond block) but above the redstone block, put a redstone line leading up to about 5 dispensers full of TNT. When the Noob tries to break the block with his iron pickaxe(silly Noob!) the BUD switch will activate, and you can come back to see a room full of broken gadgetry, dirt, and wool dye. Specifically, rose red. Please note that this will only work on the most inexperienced of people. We're talking first day levels of ignorance.

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 despawn 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 or mobs. 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 incorrectly.'''

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, however it should look like it is doing something useful. Doors can be quickly toggled making a lot of noise. You can also group many animals together to make noise. A simple BUD that uses Redstone blocks, a repeater and a sticky piston, when the normal piston is built and then removed will also constantly trigger after being updated (be warned about the lag caused by a piston that moves every 2 Redstone ticks.)

Forcefield Trap
This trap is based on the forcefield, that the mine carts create when stacked together in a small amount 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.

Anvil Player Trap
Simply set up two pressure plates in front of two large iron doors. Make this entrance as ornate as possible, to fool the victim into thinking this is the entrance to your house. Place the doors sideways and place torches under them so they appear closed but are actually locked open. By doing this the pressure plates won't work. Run redstone lines from underneath the plates onto the roof of your porch to trigger two pistons. The redstone lines should have an inverter in so the pistons are extended by default. Put an anvil on each extended piston arm, and make sure there is a hole through the porch roof down to the entrance where the player stands. When the player stands on the pressure plates, the doors won't open and while they are confused the anvils will fall on them. They will either be killed or if the anvils don't fall from high enough they get injured. This trap is useful to stop thieves from staling valuable goods, and exploits the fact that people don't look up.

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 doorway and 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 because 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.

Fire Arrow Trap
This trap will rain down flaming arrows on an unfortunate player. First, make a long hallway with lava walls which look like decoration (Leave the lava open to the hallway). Next put a pressure plate, button, lever, or whatever activation device you want. Connect it to a pulser, then to a line of dispensers filled with arrows. When the player activates the trap, they will be showered with flaming arrows coming out of the walls!

Perfect Player/Mob Trap
Dig four 1x1 holes (as shown below) into the ground and in the holes place a piston and in the middle place a pressure plate. Now all you have to do is occasionally check the trap for players and or mobs.

Key: S=piston P=pressure plate

S SPS S

The Trap of Eternal Imprisoning
If your mate activates this trap successfully, he is as good as banned, unless he has ender pearls. The trap consists of any switch (pressure plate is probably the best one) and two sticky pistons. Upon activation the pistons start to repeatedly move after one another with the victim being between them. This causes the player to move so fast that even with a diamond pickaxe he/she won't be able to break free. Make sure that the space is closed. The harder the material you use is, the better, but do note that pistons can't move obsidian.

NOTE: It is not confirmed if you can break free from a stone made trap with a diamond pickaxe enchanted with efficiency, however with 3 ender pearls, you can spam two, glitching you halfway through the block and using the last one, escape far away.

NOTE: The player will eventually starve to death, and if not, the trap may create extreme lag.

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.

Gravel Suffocation Trap
Probably the simplest trap in Minecraft. Dig 1x1 holes 2 blocks deep; wait for a player or mob to fall in, and then suffocate him with gravel. Get their items out of the hole. Or, make an entire redstone contraption with pistons that release to drop the gravel!

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 en masse 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 or Gravel (2),Pressure Plate (1),Iron Door (2) ,Trapdoor (1), Any redstone trigger, Ladder (at least three)

Make a 3 by 3 by 5 tower out of cobblestone. It should have a 1 block space inside, with walls that are 5 blocks high. Make a trapdoor floor for getting out of the tower later. You need to place an iron door in a doorway. Then place a pressure plate in front of the iron door. The mob will step on the pressure plate and will open the door for a time, long enough to let him in, but not long enough to let him out. Get to the top of the tower and suffocate the mob inside with your gravity-affected blocks. Make a tunnel outside with a staircase. Remember to close the trapdoor floor! You should be able to get up to the top of the tower, and drop sand or gravel on the mobs. Then dig the sand or gravel out, and go through your tunnel to the outside.

Diagram: > C = Cobblestone G = Gravity-affected block P = Pressure plate D = Door T = Trapdoor L = Ladder G       G      C   C      C   C      C   C      C   C      C   C      D   C  P D    C      C T C      C    C      C    C      C    C C C C C C C C    LC     C                                    LC      C                                    LC      C C C C C C C C C C C C

The Top of Hell
Warning: This trap works ONLY in the nether.

For noobs
Get a noob to go with you to the nether. Explode the nether portal. Go to the top of the nether (one block below void). Find an opening to the void and tell him the only way out is to use enderpearls. Give him a stack and make him teleport there. He will never be able to get back down.

For non-noobs
Dig underneath your nether portal and put a command block there. Place a pressure plate next to it. Type the command "tp @p[name=! ] ~ 130 ~". Now wait for someone to enter!

Capture Trap
This trap can be used to capture mobs like zombies, skeletons, endermen, creepers, cows, sheep, pigs, horses and other players without completely killing them. You can then hit them without getting hurt yourself. This is how it works: Dig a 5 block deep hole in the ground, then use a sticky piston and a dirt block to close the top of your trap so nobody suspects you. The sticky piston will be very visible, so place one dirt block, and grow a tree on top of it. At the base of your hole, dig a ten block long corridor. Exit your hole. Then dig a 5 block deep trench that is parallel to your corridor, and fill in the walls and floor with obsidian or bedrock (in creative). Then, place an extra layer of obsidian/bedrock so that your corridor's wall has one block missing on the top layer. When mobs or players fall into the trench, they won't be able to escape. If you want, you can put ladders on one side, to make it look like it isn't a trap, and then once a player climbs down the ladder, you can use a sticky piston to bush one block with the ladders on it out of the wall, to that nobody can come out again, or you could use a row of sticky pistons to close off the top of the hole. Once a player/mob is trapped in the trench, you can hit their feet with a sword, a bow or your fists. You may want to include a chest with a tempting reward inside the trench, or a sign saying 'Diamonds/Emeralds Below!. You could even convince a player to trap themselves, by making a redstone switch that expels the ladder, and pushes/destroys the switch so that the player cannot flick it a second time. WARNING! THIS TRAP WILL NOT WORK ON MOBS THAT ARE 1 BLOCK HIGH, for example, spiders, chickens and small slimes.

Disarming Traps
When faced with a trap, the safest course of action is often to leave the way you came, or 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. 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:
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * To fool the person who laid the trap in SMP, try subtle sabotage, but make sure you know the wiring absolutely. 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.
 * Signs, Pressure Plates, Diamond Blocks, and Chests usually mean traps. Avoid these things in the open, in houses(Except your own) and in caves.

Aside from those tips, here are the most important rules of trap disarming survival, assuming you know where the trigger is. If you follow these rules, you may not break the trap, but in your reaction to it, you will not die.


 * 1) Do not ever trigger the trap the expected way and attempt to outrun it. If that was possible, then the trap would be useless to begin with. Do not trigger it, log out and come back! You may fall in a pit or other measures designed to prevent logging out and surviving.
 * 2) In the event of suspecting a trap or finding one, the first priority is to retreat the way you came. Although efficient traps just wrap around the kill zone, some traps take huge amounts of space and so are very hard to escape.
 * 3) Never attempt to dig around a trap. There are many ways to wire redstone and any path you choose may or may not trigger fail-safes.
 * 4) Destroying pressure plates cannot trigger a trap unless there is an update block in an inactive state next to it. This is the correct way to disarm Mojang's desert temple trap (more than a few youtubers don't seem to know about this and will creep about the chamber looting the boxes without disarming the bomb first).
 * 5) Only destroy redstone that is inactive and that you safely find if you are sure there is not some kind of occasional pulse that flashes through to check that the line is functioning.
 * 6) Destroy the components of the trap designed to kill you, if they are reachable and safe to destroy.
 * 7) Most traps will not be simple pure redstone, instead having a complicated array of redstone or an obscure minecraft feature as a component. These have the downside of causing delay generally, but are hard to disarm.
 * 8) Do not mess around with anything you are not completely sure about. This basically means that unless you have found the entire trap, do not attempt to jinx it or sabotage it.
 * 9) Never attempt disarming while you are within "Danger Zone(s)" of the trap.

Lastly, keep in mind that in the real world if you were walking thru the park and you found a tripwire attached to a pipe bomb set up by some maniac you wouldn't try to disarm it yourself. You'd tell someone in authority, who would then send in a specialist wearing explosive resistant armor to disarm it. The minecraft equivalent would be informing the ops so they can send someone in full Blast Protection IV armor to deal with it. But then...where's the fun in that?...

Villager trap
A villager trap is a way to move villagers. Once they get far enough they can't go back. The villagers should walk from the right to the left:

This trap takes advantage of the feature where you can't walk through a two-high archway with soulsand in front of it.

Death on Impact
You will need these: Staple blocks, sand, cactus, signs, and a valuable block. First create a 1-block thin wall, then make a small tunnel on the wall one block higher than the ground, this is where the valuable block goes. Then create a 3x3x24 pit right in front of the wall. Then on the opposite side, dig down 3 blocks so there is enough space for a cactus to be placed inside. Then place sand and cactus in the hole you dug, and place a sign on the top of the cactus. After that, dig another tunnel directly leading to the 3x3x24 pit and place signs on the sign on the cactus so that it goes through the tunnel leading to the pit. And then place signs so that they cover the pit. Then place sand on top of the signs so that it is level with the ground. Then behind the wall, place the valuable block in the small tunnel in the wall. Then place signs on the valuable block. Then place sand on a sign, so that its shadow is beside the cactus. then cover the behind of the wall. The result is a small building with a patch of sand in front of it, the victim will see the valuable block, break it, then is surprised that sand fell in front of him, and then falls on the ground and dies of fall damage, allowing you to take the loot.

House of mobs
This is a really simple trap to make. This can work on PE LITE, or for more danger, PE (not lite, but instead the paid version). All you need to do is make a fairly large house (doesn't matter how high), and then make a pit 3 blocks deep. Now, just block up the top with the material around on the ground (or wool, if you prefer), and when someone goes to your house, it is likely that due to the dark pit below, they won't be able to sleep in their bed, or will be blown sky high by creepers.

Diamond death tower
This is another easy trap to make. Create a 3x3 tower at least 24 blocks high out of cobblestone. At the top, grab loads of diamond ore, block or it could just be some other rare and valuable material. You need to make this a 4x4 area, so that there is a little ledge for you to stand on. Then, at the bottom, make a pit 3 blocks deep and about 5 blocks from the tower. You now need to put out a chest and fill it with the dirt you just got from the pit. Then get yourself some sand/gravel and wait at the top.

The result:

Now, when your victim sees your precious diamond, he can't help but run into the pit, finding himself stuck, and will see a sign, next to the chest saying: use these blocks to get to the top. He will grab the blocks and go in, starting to hop up, and up, and up. At the top, you will then start dropping your sand/gravel down the chute, and then it will fall on him, and they will suffocate.

An alternative is to fill the chest with sand, and you stand at the bottom, and when they hop up, you destroy the sand and the pile comes down, preventing him from reaching the top, and when he runs out of material, kill him with a sword.

Simple Hole Trap: The Pocket Edition concept of imprisonment
This is the simplest trap of all time: Dig a hole 2-3 blocks down. Mobs or players will fall into the hole. Players might dig out, but you can detain and kill them while they are trying to kill them. Mobs cannot dig at all, so you can hit them from above and kill them.

Feet Hitter: Kill your enemies with impunity!
Build a structure, but with NO BOTTOM BLOCKS!! That way, when mobs try to get to you, their feet are exposed, and you can feet-hit them to death. Easy peasy. Players are more difficult, but you can still deal significant damage.

Dungeon Death
Locate a dungeon. Then stay there. when your friend finds you, they will find an empty dungeon- filled with zombies !! Your friend's death, 100% accurate.

What the [expletive]?
This is a weird trap. Build a house of TNT, and make a TNT line to some unseen distance. Put a wood block, light it on fire. ( Wood substitute redstone )> After a while, the TNT ignites, and BOOM!! TNT ignites. The person inside the house should think "____" and die. Even if they escape, the amount of TNT blows them sky-high.

Death Temple
First,make a 5x5 area made with some kind of sandstone,chiseled works well. Then,add a 3 block high wall. In the wall that is opposite to the entrance,put a diamond block. Then put a sign behind that diamond block and stack a bunch of other signs up to the top of the wall to hold up sand. (Make sure to cover most of the signs behind the Diamond Block so nobody sees it!) When the player mines the block,they will suffocate and die. This way you can get their loot AND your diamond block. Pretty good,huh? You could always use Gold or Lapis Lazuli blocks.

Tower o' Ore
ATTENTION! VALUABLE ORES WILL BE LOST. THIS IS GOOD FOR RICH PEOPLE!! First make a tower about 3 by 3 about 20 blocks high with a watchtower at the top and TNT in the middle and ladders on the side. Then you put a block of any ore at the top and say,"Go get it, I'll be up there watching you." Then you watch him go up the tower and right when he is about to mine it you light the TNT and run.