Pumpkin



A Pumpkin is an uncommon block that appears on grass in a similar manner to mushrooms but does not spread. They are found most commonly in forest and plain biomes, but can also appear in sandy, snow covered, and mountainous regions, albeit rarely. They can appear in swamp biomes since Beta 1.8. They are found alone or in groups. Since Beta 1.8, pumpkins are a renewable resource.

Since Beta version 1.8 it is possible to farm pumpkins in the same way as Melons do; planted pumpkin seeds grow into a central stem that grows until it reaches its maximum size, at which point pumpkins will randomly spawn in vacant farmland (or dirt/grass as of a weekly build) next to the stem. Seeds can be found in Abandoned Mine Shafts or, since 1.0, crafted from a pumpkin.

Pumpkins can currently only be found with a carved face. It was originally stated by Notch that they were to be found and then subsequently carved by crafting. Instead, pumpkins can be crafted into Jack-O-Lanterns (see below). Jeb has stated that pumpkins may eventually spawn uncarved.

Harvested pumpkins can be equipped as a helmet without any actual armor value. It is unique in that it limits the player's view of the world as if it were seen from inside the pumpkin. The pumpkin helmet can be removed and placed into the player's inventory. Although it has no armor value, it can be a serious help during nighttime expeditions: When worn as a helmet, the player may look directly at Endermen without consequences, making it useful for going outside at night. However, due to the limited visibility that the pumpkin mask has, it can be a serious drawback to your ability to effectively spot and engage other mobs that might have the urge to ambush you. The limited visibility may be modified or removed by the use of Texture Packs or third person.

Pumpkins cannot be placed without a block under them. However, you can place them and remove the block directly beneath and it will remain in place. This reveals that the bottom texture is the same as the top. When placed, pumpkins automatically face the player.

Farming
Pumpkins will have a central stem that slowly grows until it reaches its maximum size, at which point the pumpkin will randomly spawn a fruit next to it on an adjacent farmland block (or dirt/grass block as of second 1.0.0 weekly release) if there is air above the stem. Before the specified version there needed to be a fertile farmland block adjacent to a fully grown central stem (with air above it). Pumpkin stems take around 10 to 30 minutes to fully develop. Pumpkins will grow facing South and will revert farmland under the fruit to dirt when it grows. Pumpkin stems will only grow a single Pumpkin at a time, and Pumpkins that grow adjacent to a fully developed stem will cause that stem to connect to it. Bonemeal will cause a pumpkin stem to become fully-grown, but will not produce a pumpkin immediately.

For best results the farm should look like this:

% % % % % % % % %           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            % % % % % % % % %             . . . . . . . . .            % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %            . . . . . . . . . . % % . = . % % .     OR. % % . = . % % . % % % % % % % % %           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            % % % % % % % % % . . . . . . . . .            % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % %            . . . . . . . . .   '.' = farmland; '=' = water; '%' = pumpkin stem

All Farmland and seed blocks will become hydrated using the above methods. These methods are equally efficient at 40%. The highest efficiency a pumpkin farm could reach is 50%, because it takes two blocks to farm one pumpkin.

Alternatively, a player with plenty of space could use the following farm design:

Although this does not utilize space efficiently, it gives each seed 2-4 potential places to spawn a pumpkin, encouraging quicker initial growth at the cost of a clumsier design and less long term yield.

Obtaining Seeds
Pumpkin seeds can be obtained in three ways in since Beta 1.9 prereleases:
 * Finding chests in Abandoned Mine Shaft.
 * Harvesting mature stems (0-3).
 * Crafting pumpkins into seeds.

Since the Beta 1.9 prereleases, the Player can now obtain seeds from spawned pumpkins by collecting the pumpkin block, and then crafting the block into seeds.

Some, but not all, of the chests found in abandoned mineshafts contain pumpkin seeds. Because chests are so rare, and because the probability of a given chest containing pumpkin seeds is low, it may take a great deal of exploration to find the seeds. One may also find melon seeds, another rare seed, in dungeon chests.

Once a pumpkin farm has been started, it becomes much easier to obtain more seeds. When the stems are fully mature, they can be harvested for more seeds. Each stem drops between zero and three seeds. The average number of seeds dropped per stem is greater than one. Thus, if mature stems are always harvested, the total number of stems in one's garden grows exponentially, albeit at a very slow pace early on.

History
From Beta 1.2, pumpkin helmets appeared as if worn backwards. Despite the incorrect texture, they appeared to be facing the right way from the player's perspective. Similarly, pumpkins appeared flipped in the inventory. This was fixed in Beta 1.5_01.

In Minecraft 1.0 (and prior Beta 1.9 Prereleases), the ability to craft pumpkins into Pumpkin Seeds was added, making pumpkin farming much easier to start.

Before Beta 1.9, seeds could not be obtained from pumpkins themselves, which meant the pumpkins found growing naturally were not a source of seeds.

Since the Beta 1.9 pre-release, a Snow Golem can be crafted by stacking two snow blocks on top of each other, then placing a pumpkin on top of the snow.

Trivia

 * The seed "gimmeabreak" will result in a naturally floating pumpkin at coordinates X=154, Z=354
 * If it were more realistic, the player's view should be unobstructed when wearing the pumpkin, due to eye convergence.