When it comes down to it, Minecraft is a fairly simple game to play. Things are pretty intuitive in terms of crafting, especially since a recipe book allows you to go back and check all the recipes you know so far. However, there's one form of craft in the game that's only reserved for the smartest: redstone contraptions.

If redstone in Minecraft feels like a foreign language, no need to worry. Just replicating a few basic farms tends to teach the basics to a player. Redstone is worth getting into because of how much things can be automated and simplified. Less time tending to crops will be more time spent building or exploring. Without further ado, here are some redstone contraptions that are insanely useful.

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Updated on January 29, 2023, by Ben Painter: Minecraft players have turned to redstone contraptions to help bring the game to life. Making use of the game's wiring and electronic systems to make farms and other useful builds to make their visions into reality. Gamers will know of some of the basic builds such as an XP or a wheat farm, but there are some more advanced one that will require little skill, using some step-by-step guides found on YouTube.

Minecraft redstone ideas are some of the best ways to make players rich in Minecraft, and they may never need to search for some resources ever again. In this update, five more redstone contraptions have been added which will showcase some insane builds to help make the Minecraft experience even more rewarding.

25 Bubble Elevator

Minecraft Automatic Bubble Elevator

Bubble elevators have been around properly since the 1.13 update for Minecraft. They're fantastic constructions for players who create tall builds and prefer to get from one location to another quickly. They're a nice space-saving alternative for minecart tracks, too.

There are now redstone versions of these bubble elevators as well which makes them a bit more automatic. One of the best an easiest Minecraft machines, available to build in the game. There's one design by TBOGGs that's great for any Bedrock Edition player. Another design is made by Shulkercraft, and is Java Edition friendly.

24 Kelp Farm

Minecraft Automatic Kelp Farm

Some players might wonder what the point of farming kelp is, and the answer is simple: fuel. Kelp is incredibly useful in Minecraft and has since its introduction in 1.13 been a fantastic alternative fuel to coal and coal blocks. The best part is that it's renewable and easy to grow, in the form of an automatic farm.

This kelp farm is one of the many examples of Minecraft redstone contraptions that gamers can build in the game. The design is created by Sirius Bluu and still works well in the 1.19 Java edition. For Bedrock players, JC Playz has an even simpler zero-tick design that's nice and compact if space is an issue.

23 Xray Machine

Minecraft XRay Machine

Xray is a controversial thing in Minecraft, and anyone playing on a multiplayer survival server shouldn't be trying to use it to cheat. However, players just having fun with friends can use this simple trick to build an Xray machine that only requires very minimal redstone.

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There are a few designs floating out there, but the most notable ones are from docm77 and Shulkercraft. The idea behind these Minecraft machines is usually roughly the same, where the player gets pushed by a piston inside a composter, which allows them to see through the ground.

22 Armor Wardrobe

Minecraft Automatic Armor Equipper

Equipping armor is such a bore in Minecraft, isn't it? It might only take a few moments, but saving time and being efficient is everything, especially in endgame Minecraft gameplay. And so, a lot of builders have come up with ways to create a sort of armor wardrobe that automatically equips gear to the player when they step into it. A useful Minecraft redstone idea.

This design usually involves a bunch of dispensers, which can be a little bit expensive to make. A notable one was created by cubfan135, and although the design is almost a decade old, it still holds up as long as players add in a repeater. A more modern design was made by Shulkercraft.

21 Micro-Crop Farm

Minecraft Micro Bonemeal Farm

Bigger isn't always better, and that definitely is true to a lot of things players can make in Minecraft. Crop farms especially don't need to be massive in order to work well or to yield a lot of produce. In fact, a micro-crop farm is all that most players will need on a solo survival adventure.

The downside with these microfarms that use observers is that they rely on players having a ton of bonemeal on hand. It helps if the player's Nether spawn is a Soul Sand valley, where they can mine a bunch of bone blocks. For a fantastic design on this concept, check out T2 Studio's tutorial.

20 Vending Machine

Although this Minecraft redstone contraption is perhaps not a necessity in survival mode, building an entire vending machine on a server where players are often expected to open up stores and other businesses might be a great idea to rake in some extra diamonds or emeralds. It's a little standalone shop, which automatically dispenses the wanted item.

There's a variety of designs out there, from very complex ones that involve writing a number down on a piece of paper to simpler ones that simply ask the player to rotate an arrow. For the vending machine pictured above, check out this showcase by CR3WProductionz, and for an easy tutorial check out Twiistz video.

19 Trash Bin

Not only is storage important for a smooth survival experience, but as the chests start to get fuller and fuller, it's usually a sign that something needs to be tossed. While just finding a puddle of lava is simple enough to dump everything in one's inventory, there are fancier and more convenient ways.

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Many of the more sophisticated redstone trash cans actually involve placing the items into a chest which acts as the bin, from which the items then move through hoppers, into a dispenser, and finally into a safe block of lava either underground or behind a block. The good thing about these designs is that safety comes first, meaning lava won't cause any issues by burning down half a house or the player. Adult Only Minecraft has a really nice and simple design for this Minecraft redstone machine in particular.

18 Elytra Launcher

Once the player has their hands on that highly coveted Elytra, there's no other way to travel around than by flying at high speed. It's simply the best way to move in the game, but the firework-launching option isn't always super reliable and can be potentially dangerous.

That's why many players have come up with designs on a launcher pad of sorts, which uses either TNT or other game mechanics to launch the player forward with this redstone contraption. For a super-safe design that's guaranteed to work, check out Fox Team's launcher which uses boats as the primary launch tool.

17 Bedtime Alarm

Everyone has done this at least once in their Minecraft career: stood in front of their bed with the sun setting in the background, hopelessly spamming until their character hops into the bed. Thankfully, this time spent spamming the bed interaction can be spent better with an alarm in use to indicate the time of the day.

It might seem like a useless Minecraft contraption, but it will save players a few minutes of extra time around sunset to do their final routines in their base. Mumbo Jumbo showcases this super easy and basic bedtime alarm in his video and even shows how to build it.

16 XP Bank

With the introduction of bamboo, players have finally been able to come up with a way to farm XP that's ridiculously easy. It doesn't involve fighting mobs or building complicated mob grinders. Instead, all one needs is bamboo and cacti to make this XP bank work.

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This contraption might take some time to build, but it will serve the player for a long time. In fact, it's self-sufficient thanks to the observer blocks which will tell the pistons to harvest the cacti and bamboo when they grow, which are then smelted in the ovens and stored into chests. The XP from these ovens is stored within them, and there's no maximum cap to this, which means everything that goes through a single oven stays there until something is taken out of it. A must build Minecraft redstone machine. Check out Avomance's tutorial on this to never have issues farming XP ever again.

15 Wheat Farm

Wheat is one of the most important crops in Minecraft because it's used to breed passive mobs like cows and sheep, which provide resources like wool and leather. Leather especially is vital in order to have a fully functional enchantment table setup.

With that in mind, making an automatic wheat farm is one of the best ways to start learning redstone. The designs are pretty simple, so even years later, the basic idea behind these useful redstone contraptions hasn't changed much despite updates. We recommend this design by Danny Ashworth to get players started.

14 Micro Animal Farms

In order to secure a good source of food, it's generally best to have at least one animal farm. The best choices tend to be cows and chickens, or sheep if wool is something the player envisions building a lot with. Otherwise, cows are definitely the most valuable source due to leather.

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These compact micro-farms became a trend in Minecraft in recent years. These redstone contraptions are easy to build, with their only downside is they might make a low-end PC not run the game properly. Basically, these farms cram a maximum amount of mobs into one square and automatically kill extra ones off. This design by wattles is excellent.

13 Zero Loss Sugarcane Farm

When it comes to other valuable crops, sugar cane is a must-have. Since paper is used in so many ways to make maps, enchanted books, and eventually bookshelves for an enchantment setup, sugar cane is insanely valuable and useful early on in the game.

With observer blocks, it's now possible to make a pretty simple sugar cane farm. Every time the crop grows past a certain point, pistons will cut the crop, and a stream of water or a minecart underneath will transport it to a hopper and eventually to a chest. Gamers need a large supply of sugarcane, and with this Minecraft redstone idea, there will be chests full of the farmable item. There are a few different designs, but Vidargavia's one works wonders.

12 Melon And Pumpkin Farm

Melons and pumpkins aren't exactly a necessity. That being said, in some situations, they make for fantastic sources of food when nothing else is really at hand. Moreover, melons can be transformed into glistening melons, which are used in a few valuable potions.

Again, there are many ways to go about building these redstone machines, but most often melon and pumpkin farms will use either observers if they're fully automatic or pistons which are activated with a button once all the crops have grown. One of the best, most basic designs is provided by Fed X Gaming.

11 Blaze Farm

Blazes are a necessity for anyone who wants to complete Minecraft's survival mode and beat the Ender Dragon. In order to access the End, the player needs to have enough Blaze Rods to craft Eyes of the Ender and find a Stronghold with a portal. Blaze Rods also provide Blaze Powder, which acts as fuel for the brewing stand. Because of this, setting up a Blaze farm in the Nether, although difficult and risky, is highly recommended.

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After entering a Nether Fortress and finding a Blaze spawner, the farm has to be built around the spawning block. Mumbo Jumbo makes a very nice and compact design that fits the needs of most players. If the task of making this redstone contraption sounds too difficult, however, a completely non-redstone version by Generikb for those in survival is a great way to start off before expanding to a redstone version.

10 Redstone Piston Door

Who wouldn't want a cool entrance to their Minecraft base? There's nothing better than graduating from the basic Minecraft doors to an actual piston door, which automatically opens up when the player steps on pressure plates. This is one of the best Minecraft redstone ideas and is a simple yet super useful luxury, and easy enough to build.

Piston doors might be a bit expensive to build due to requiring sticky pistons, which require slime balls. However, they're very simple to execute, redstone-wise, and can even be used to hide the entrance to a base when playing on a PvP server where survival is crucial. BlenDigi has a great design for a simple door.

9 Water-Removing Robot

Since 1.13 and prior to that the introduction of Ocean Monuments, the underwater world in Minecraft has become a point of interest. Whether players are interested in building underwater or draining an entire Ocean Monument for a Guardian Farm, using redstone to drain large bodies of water is very useful when sponges aren't available in mass.

These redstone water-draining robots are not easy to build by any means, but when invested in for big underwater projects, they really do pay off. They tend to require expensive resources like slime and observer blocks, but depending on the design not many are needed. An expensive but usefull minecraft redstone contraption. This machine by RichyPlays is particularly beginner-friendly.

8 Storage Sorting System

It's easy to spend a lot of time in Minecraft just sorting items into the right chests. Hours upon hours might go into simply cleaning storage rooms to make things easy to find. This is why an automatic storage system is so insanely useful, because of how much time players will save just dumping their items into one chest.

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Through hoppers, the items will all be sorted into their respective chests without the player having to worry. Altough it may take some time at first, it will return tenfold with time spent on this Minecraft redstone idea. One of the best designs out there and still relevant to this day is this storage system introduced by K1 Inc. Not only is his tutorial doable in terms of resources, but it can also be easily expanded for bigger storage.

7 Tree Farm

One of the recurring activities in Minecraft is chopping wood. No matter how far players advance in the game, wood will always be a necessity that needs to be harvested and regrown from saplings. The process can get a bit tedious over time, but luckily even this has a solution to it.

It's actually possible to build a fully automatic tree farm, that requires no attention at all. NimsTV answered the desperate calls of Minecrafters and created a wonderful design that allows for just that. While the redstone is a bit advanced, it's definitely worth attempting to make this cool redstone contraption.

6 Super Smelter

Another activity that many Minecraft players often spend far too much time on is smelting and cooking. Furnaces always take a set time to prepare whatever item is inside, and it might feel like players have no control over the process at all — well, until the arrival of super smelters.

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These builds tend to require a lot of iron, but if that's not a problem, this is a contraption that's a must-have in any survival world. The super smelter is basically an extremely quick oven that has the capacity to prepare items much faster, making one of the most useful redstone contraptions in Minecraft. One of the easiest tutorials and designs with reasonable resources is this one by Firerage.