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Blue Key
This article documents an April Fools' joke. 
For the NBT tag to lock chests added in 1.8, see Chunk format § Block entity format.
Information icon
This feature is exclusive to Java Edition. 
This page describes content that exists only in outdated versions of Minecraft. 
13w41a

The locked chest was an April Fools block.

Obtaining

When introduced, this block was indestructible except for explosions, allowing it to drop.

Natural generation

Every chunk generated between August 10 and April 5, 2011 had a 100% chance of having a locked chest in it.[1]

Usage

File:LockedChest.png

Message displayed upon attempting to open the chest.

Clicking use button on the chest would bring up a screen, and clicking on the "Go to Store" button would forward you to the "Minecraft Store". It linked to https://minecraft.net/store/loot.jsp, but now the original page was removed and an error is shown. An archived version of this page can be found here. Various items were "sold" in the Minecraft Store (see below). Clicking on the proceed to checkout button triggered a screamer in which a Velociraptor from the movie Jurassic Park growled loudly and flew across the screen.

Entering items totaling over $10,000 into the cart caused a window pop-up asking if you are prone to seizures. Entering OK made the screen start flashing. When first released, there was no seizure warning label; Notch later implemented it to avoid lawsuits and posts on the forum.

On April 2 (the day following April Fools), the store had the addition of a multicolored banner which read "♥ April Fools'! ♥"[2], accompanied by a MIDI instrumental of Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. Tobias Möllstam stated that this was "the best script he's written to date."[3]

The store page also used the font tf2build.ttf from Team Fortress 2 which is downloadable from here.

Items "sold"

Minecraft store april fool 1

The "Minecraft Store"

File:GoldKeyRecreation.png

Recreation of the key.

Twelve "items" were "available":

  • Steve Co. supply crate key ($3)
  • Steve Co. supply crate key 5-pack ($18)
  • Miner's helmet ($21)
  • Name change ($99)
  • Creeper saddle ($42)
  • Secret griefer identity ($155)
  • Enlargement pill ($2)
  • Response from support ($494)
  • Three "coming soon" items (priced at $75, $7, and $1499)
  • Regular padlock ($8)
    • Used the same image as the "coming soon" items.

Light source

Locked chests emitted a light level of 15.

Fuel

Locked chests could be used as fuel, lasting 15 seconds (or 1.5 items).

History

beta
1.4File:Locked Chest Revision 1.png Added locked chests.
1.4_01Notch planned to remove them at midnight April 2, but didn't due to illness.[4] Instead they were removed in the Beta 1.4_01 patch on April 5. They were not removed from the game entirely; instead code was added for locked chests in the world to disappear, to avoid crashes, causing them to decay in a fashion similar to leaves. If locked chests are stored in the inventory, they remain until they are placed in the world.
release
1.3.112w21aFile:Missing Texture Block Revision 1.png The original chest texture was removed, causing the locked chest's texture to change.
12w22aFile:Locked Chest Revision 2.png Texture changed with the addition of the block of emerald.
1.513w01aFile:Locked Chest Revision 3.png Texture changed with the addition of the block of redstone.
13w02aWhen the textures were put into individual files the locked chest had nothing to use, causing the game to crash if a world containing one was loaded.
13w03aFile:Missing Texture Block Revision 2.png The crash above was fixed by introducing a placeholder texture. The text on the block says “missing texture” 2 times on each side.
1.6.113w18aFile:Missing Texture Block.png The placeholder texture changed, and so the appearance of locked chest blocks did too.
1.7.213w37aRemoved locked chest as an item. It can only placed with block-placement command such as /setblock.
13w41aAdded stained glass, replacing the ID of locked chest (95).
Changed alphanumeric ID for block 95 from chest_locked_aprilfools_super_old_legacy_we_should_not_even_have_this to stained_glass

Trivia

  • Locked chests are a reference to the Mann Co. Supply Crates[5] from Team Fortress 2, where a key must be purchased for $2.49 in the in-game shop called Mann Co. Store in order to open the crate.[6]
  • This may have been what Notch was talking about in his Twitter post about a "silly secret project".[7]
  • Locked chests could generate in mid air or in the tops of trees.
  • Locked chests could be placed next to each other to form a 2 block long chest like normal chests do. These two chests are still however "locked".
  • The server console outputted "added a chest!" each time a chest was generated.
  • The 5-key pack is actually $3 more than 5 single keys.
  • The archived page is available in reduced functionality here.
  • Locked chests made lava particles when broken.
  • The locked chest's ID was named minecraft:chest_locked_aprilfools_super_old_legacy_we_should_not_even_have_this, and it is the longest named ID in Minecraft history.
  • The Bedrock Edition, Legacy Console Edition and Minecraft website each have their own "Minecraft Store". However, they are actual in-game stores used to get downloadable content, purchase Java Edition as well as Minecraft merchandise, and are completely unrelated to the April fool's joke.

Gallery

References

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