How to Make a Minecraft Roller Coaster

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: October 29, 2022 Tested

One of the more fun things to do in Minecraft is to build a roller coaster. The minecraft rails and minecarts are perfect for building roller coasters and there are many unique features for you to add! This wikiHow teaches you how to build a Minecraft roller coaster.

Steps

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1
Find a nice spot for your ride. You can build your tracks around a mountain terrain, but you might also try making one in a forest, cave, or jungle temple as well.
- If your are having problems building a roller coaster on the standard Minecraft terrain, try creating a new game with a flat world. When creating a new world on the title screen, simply select More World Options (Java Edition only) and select Flat (Bedrock Edition) or Superflat (Java Edition) before starting your world.
Minecraft tracks don't allow you to do everything a real roller coaster can do. For example, you can't do loops, twists, or inversions on a Minecraft roller coaster. But you can do hills, sharp turns, powered rails, and even drops. You can also build creative scenery around your tracks. Think about what features you want your track to have and where you want your track to go.

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3
Gather the materials you need (Survival mode only). In order to build a roller coaster, you will need lots of wood, iron, gold and redstone dust. You may want to consider building a roller coaster in creative mode as you will have all the resources you need in your crafting menu. This will make it much faster to build your roller coaster. If you are playing in Survival mode, you'll need the following resources:
- Wood can be gathered from trees all over the overworld map. Simply punch trees or use chop them with an axe to get wood.
- Iron ore is found underground and mined using a stone, iron, or diamond pickaxe. It resembles stone blocks with yellow spots in it. You can then smelt iron ore in a furnace to get iron ingots.
- Redstone ore is found deep underground. It resembles stone blocks with red spots on it. Mine redstone ore with an iron or diamond pickaxe to get redstone dust.
- Gold ore can be found underground and mined using an iron or diamond pickaxe. You can smelt the iron ore in a furnace to get gold ingots.
4
Craft the parts you need. If you are building a roller coaster in survival mode, you'll need to craft the following parts for your roller coaster. There may be other items you could use, but these are the main parts.
- Crafting table. A crafting table is needed to craft most items in Minecraft. It is crafted from 4 wood blocks in the crafting menu.
- Wooden Planks: These can be used to build the frame for your roller coaster. They can be crafted using 2 wooden blocks in the crafting menu. You do not need a crafting table to craft wooden planks.
- Sticks: Sticks are one part needed to craft rails needed to construct the roller coaster tracks. They can also be used to craft fence posts that can be used as scaffolding.
- Button: A button can be used to start your roller coaster in the loading station. Buttons can be crafted from a single wooden plank block or stone block using a crafting table. You can also use a lever.
- Rails: You can craft 16 rails from 6 iron ingots and a stick using a crafting table. These are used to build your track.
- Stone Pressure Plates: You can craft a stone pressure plate from 2 stone blocks using a crafting table. These are used to build detector rails.^{[1]
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- Detector Rails: Detector rails are tracks that detect when a minecart is on top of them and activate redstone circuits. They can be used to activate powered rails on a roller coaster. 6 detector rails can be crafted from 6 iron ingots, 1 redstone dust, and 1 stone pressure using a crafting table.^{[2]
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- Powered Rails: Powered Rails can give your roller coaster a speed boost. 6 powered rails can be crafted from 6 gold ingots, a stick and some redstone using a crafting table.
- Minecart: A minecart is used to ride your roller coaster It can be crafted from 5 iron bars using a crafting table.
- Fence (Optional). Wooden fences can be used to craft the scaffolding for your roller coaster. This is purely decorative and entirely optional.
5
Build a loading station. This is the area where your roller coaster starts. You can build on a platform, or on the ground. Use the following steps to create a launcher.
- Dig a trench three blocks wide and one block deep.
- Place two powered rails in the trench. One at the back of the trench and the other in the center.
- Place a block with a button above the trench and to the side. The button should be reachable from within the trench.
- Use redstone dust to connect the button to the powered rails. Redstone dust can be placed below the block with the button and the powered rail.
- Place a minecart on the first powered rail.
Use wooden plank blocks to build the frame that your roller coaster tracks will sit on. The frame should lead out of the loading station. Lay your rails on top of the wooden plank blocks. Minecraft tracks can go North, South, East and West and make sharp 90 degree turns when you place a rail as a corner piece between two rails that are at a right-angle to each other.
In addition to north, south, east and west, you can build tracks that go in diagonal directions (i.e. Southeast, Northwest) by placing tracks in a zig-zag fashion. The track may look like one sharp turn after another, but when riding it, the minecart will travel in a smooth, diagonal direction.
8
Build speed boosters using powered rails. To build a speed booster, place a detector rail on the frame immediately followed by a powered rail. The detector rail will activate the powered rail and give your minecart a speed boost. You can place 2 power rails after the detector rail to get a faster boost.
- Speed boosters require straight, flat tracks to work. They do not work on inclines or diagonal tracks.
- When powered rails are not powered by redstone, they slow down and stop the minecart. Placing more than 2 powered rails after the detector rail will slow down the minecart.
9
Build a hill. Minecraft tracks can go up and down hills at a 45-degree angle. Stack the blocks of your frame in a staircase-like fashion, and then lay the rails on top of the frame. The track will form a straight 45-degree incline over the frame. Make sure your roller coaster has enough speed to get over the top of the hill.
- If your roller coaster does not have enough speed to get over the top of a hill, you can add more speed booster rails before the hill, or you can make the previous hill taller so that you get more momentum on the downward slope.
- To make the "sky hills" more believable, add supports to your track.
To build a drop, build an elevated track above the ground that cuts off suddenly. Build a second track below the elevated track and extends out. This track will catch the minecart when it flies off the elevated track.
11
Test your track. Be sure to test your track frequently to see how it behaves and make corrections to your design as needed. Make sure it is exciting. If it bores you, you may not complete it. Make sure to end with a flourish, and make the track curvy and steep, not angular and shallow.
- Use the natural terrain to your full advantage. Try making the track go into a cave, or dip down into a ravine, or soar over a mountain. It makes the ride a lot more interesting.
12
Decorate the outside. If you chose a specific theme for the roller coaster, decorate it accordingly. A Halloween roller coaster may have Jack-o-lanterns and caged skeletons along the track. An underwater roller coaster would be decorated using marine-themed blocks, such as sea-lanterns and prismarine.
- Make sure you place enough lighting around the track, so mobs can't come too close to the roller coaster.
13
Complete the track. Make sure the roller coaster loops around and connects to the track in the loading station. The powered rails in the loading station should stop the minecart when it reaches the loading point. Press the power button to go again.
- You don't need just one loading station. You can build multiple loading stations throughout your map and have a roller coaster rail system that makes for a fun way to get to different points on your map.

Community Q&A

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Question

Can you build a roller coaster with all powered rails?

Everly Clark

Community Answer

As a matter of fact you can. However, you cannot have any turns in your roller coaster; you must go completely straight, or use drops to "turn" the roller coaster. Powered rails cannot turn, you must replace them with normal rails or your coaster will not work.

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Question

How do you get in the roller coaster?

Everly Clark

Community Answer

When using a minecart, all you must do is face it and select it to hop in! Then, to move forward and start the roller coaster, face forward and press W (on computer), tapping the "up" arrow (for PE), and moving the left analog stick for console editions. If you want to go backwards simply face backwards and using the forward option.

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Question

What is a extra thing to add to the roller coaster? I've run out of ideas!

Community Answer

Make it go to the sky then fall to the ground. You can add a nether or end portal, You can also make ones that are themed. You can make a birthday one!

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Tips

Get a friend to test out the track. That way they can give you feedback and help you improve your roller coaster.

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Make an awesome station.

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Include a queuing area.

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