{
  "id": 9172630,
  "title": "Minecraft Beat Itself After Nearly 2 Billion Simulated Years",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/minecraft-beat-itself-after-nearly-2-billion-simulated-years",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-22T16:58:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IGN",
    "slug": "ign",
    "url": "https://www.ign.com/articles/minecraft-beat-itself-after-nearly-two-billion-simulated-years"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Minecraft, a popular video game, has been put through simulations to test its capabilities. YouTuber RedLogic created a custom Minecraft simulation to determine if the game could beat itself without any player intervention, given extensive time. It took two billion years to simulate, which was compressed into a more manageable timeframe. However, the simulation's success was not merely dependent on time; it also required a specific Minecraft seed with sufficient resources and a naturally occurring ender portal. After finding the ideal world, RedLogic allowed the game to run the simulation. The endermen, a type of NPC in Minecraft, took an exceptionally long time to locate the portal to the dragon, taking approximately 35,510 years. Once they found the portal, the game had to wait for the endermen to enter the portal and start working towards destroying the dragon's End Crystals. The process was slow, relying on random behavior and chance events such as a snow golem shooting a projectile at an enderman to destroy an End Crystal. Eventually, after 3 million years, the simulation achieved its goal, with the dragon being killed after nine repeated events and creepers exploding to cause further damage. Although it would be much quicker to defeat the dragon manually, the fact that it was possible demonstrated the potential of Minecraft, even after 17 years of its existence.",
  "summary": "Minecraft is no stranger to simulations, but it turns out that under the right conditions, the game can beat itself if given billions of years.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}