Nerdcrafteria History

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In 2012, Hank Green created a Nerdfighter Minecraft server. A place to play, build, grow, and create together. Nerdcrafteria is that server.

Some of the information on this page is incomplete. If you have any information regarding the history of our wonderful server, give us a shout!

Map 1

Minecraft versions: 1.*? – 1.8.9

  • September 6, 2012
  • September 16, 2012
    • The server opens! (And is instantly overwhelmed!)
    • The server opened with 5 towns.
      • The first town built was Lighthouse Point by Hank Green.
      • Then made was the spawn town for the server, Northtown aka Nerdville.
      • These were followed by Westtown (Green Hills), Southtown (Soto), and Easttown (Agloe).
        • Green Hills was a modern city with a dedicated fire department. Home to the Tesla Redstone Museum.
        • Soto was the first town with a stadium. It was built by the original Nerdfighter community that started a server together before Hank started NCT. It was eventually renamed to “Old Nerdcrafteria” sometime in 2015.
  • September 29, 2012
    • Forums are opened!
  • ???
    • Due to server demand, the towns were expanded and Watertown, later known as Otoh Gunga, was built.
  • October 2012
    • Hanacho was the very first Player Town, built in the wilderness prior to it being locked. The town was a great example of what the server can accomplish as a community.
  • October 4, 2012
  • ???
    • The first Mineworld (resource world) reset.
      • Mineworld was not originally going to be reset, but it was clear it would be stripped for resources quickly otherwise.
      • These resets would be run on a weekly basis.
      • The Edgetown buiding contest was started by Biteland. It was a weekly contest at the edge of Mineworld, with a whole host of players creating a path to get you there. Winners were picked every week by Biteland.
  • Fall 2012
    • Tiny Town was established. It was the brainchild of DrinQ and was eagerly embraced by the players. 3×3 block plot plots made it a challenge!
  • November 2012
    • Skyloft was opened! It was a highly anticipated “sky town” with Zelda, Discworld, and other influences. It had giant floating turtles, air balloons, caves, and clouds! It was one of the most popular towns on Map 1.
    • Laketown was the only town auctioned off to the players. It was guarded by the Iron Fairy.
    • Cactus Gulch started as a Wilderness build, but was so popular it was made official! Giant Cactus! Video of Hank visiting Cactus Gulch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f51v1cWHO0&list=PLlfLHAPCj1GKpIVBk_hsQy-l_ftZ3y27u&index=6
    • Craftstead was an elaborate medieval town, heavily inspired by Game of Thrones, Skyrim, and others. A castle, cathedral, caves, and the infamous sign tower were all features.
  • November 18, 2012
    • Toilet Town was founded, but never actually allowed to be built! VIVA LA TT!!!
  • December 13, 2012
    • The wilderness lock was enacted. Beforehand, players could build wherever in the map, not just by getting plots in towns.
  • January 2013
    • Blackguard Bay was a pirate-themed town with a hand-built bay. The town council had an actual mutiny, a sea monster, and The Goonies Adventure.
  • March 7, 2013
    • The Pixelmon server was started.
  • May 10, 2013
    • The first staff auction. SOLD!
  • June 2013
    • The first Feed The Beast season.
  • March 2014
    • Evenfall was a gorgeous town based on fantasy tropes and had a Quest, gryphon, dragons, and a treasure hoard! Magic and adventure abounded!
  • September 2014
    • The Lost City was a desert city with several town builds from a player contest. Arabian Nights, hanging gardens, and Egyptian myths made it a place for players to explore!
  • October 7, 2014
    • The first game of Sheep Hockey!
      • Sheep Hockey is a player-run event where players would push a sheep named Puck around an arena of ice and attempt to score goals, like actual hockey.
  • ???
    • Pizzafries was a staff town project buried deep in mountains, a dwarven cave town with dark wonders, it never saw the light of day (both figuratively and literally). Eventually it was filled in and became the Post Office.
  • July 2015
    • A Starmade server was short lived.
  • August 2015
    • VIP World opened. It was a build your own world where VIPs could claim a region and build whatever they wanted. Inventories were connected to main, and a railroad was created to connect and navigate around.
  • August 21, 2015
  • January 16, 2016
    • Nerdcrafteria Discord opens!
  • March 5, 2016
    • NERD, the player community newspaper, written for the players by the players, published its 1st edition. Many more issues were published weekly.
  • Spring 2016
    • Map 1 was reset. RIP

Map 2

Minecraft versions: 1.8.9 – 1.12.2

  • February 28, 2016
    • Map 2 was started!
    • Map 2 opened with 3 towns: Nerdtropolis, Solara, and Thistledown.
      • Nerdtropolis was the spawn town for the second map. It had 3 separate districts with distinct themes: Oldtown, Youtubulous, and Gamington!
      • Solara was a town themed on Greco-Roman architecture and featured beautiful white temples and canals.
      • Thistledown was a town within a giant tree with magical floating islands around it, and lovely swan ponds.
      • A few apartment buildings were also opened that honoured some of the towns from Map 1, such as the Eldergleam Sanctuary (Evenfall), Howl’s Moving Castle (Skyloft), and Pirate’s Cove (Blackguard Bay)
    • Mineworlds moved from a weekly reset to a monthly reset.
  • August 26, 2016
    • Emerald Falls was opened. This was a giant jungle-themed town and featured massive boats, trees, animals, temples, and more!
  • April 15, 2017
    • Viridian Isles was established as this map’s VIP town. It featured a wide range of build styles, from modern to magical.
  • June 24, 2017
    • Scythian Peaks opened. This town had 2 parts: port town and caves. They were separated by an ice wall. The cave portion had futuristic technology. The fishing port had a rustic building style.
  • August 15, 2017
    • Nouveau Batiment was founded. It was an art deco-styled town, the skyline lined with tall skyscrapers. The various town builds anchored the town’s districts, which were linked with rolling roads and a very detailed subway system.
  • February 3, 2018
    • Drakerberg was opened. It had lovingly handcrafted isles and towering mountain peaks. Vikings! Dragons! This town was dedicated to that fantastical pair. It was full of adventure for every fantasy fan!
  • February 17 – March 17, 2018
    • The first Nerdcrafteria Olympics event! It featured events at different towns across the map: Bow Spleef at Solara, Scythian Peaks Relay Race, and Drakerberg Elytra Race.
  • October 28, 2018
    • Map 2 ends, and all worlds close. RIP 2 Electric Boogaloo

Map 3

Map 3 was a time for Nerdcrafteria to try out new ways of running towns and the server as a whole. It focused heavily on space-themed builds and player freedom in building. This map ran on 1.13.2. It had just three worlds: main, explore, and asteroid (similar to skyblock).

Mineworld was renamed to explore to keep with the science theme of the map. In the asteroid world, each player had a personal asteroid, a place to call your very own in the void of space.

Another new thing, each player could join a guild. There were Farming, Fishing, Mining, and Monsters. Guild members could sell certain items to their guild, like salmon and pufferfish to the Fisherman.

  • October 29, 2018
    • Map 3 opened.
    • This map featured one town on opening, the spawn town: New Horizons, a space-themed frontier town with an open build plan.
  • May 23, 2020
    • NCT Graduation and Prom. An event celebrating seniors who graduated during this season.
  • June 13, 2020
    • Map 3’s last day. RIP 3 Return of the Jedi

Map 4

Map 4 was a return to the general server format from Maps 1 and 2. It featured a custom-made main world with a variety of biomes, explore, a creative mode world with plots, seasonal Skyblock and Survival worlds, and a minigame world.

Minecraft versions: 1.15.2 – 1.20.4

  • June 20, 2020
    • Map 4 opened! Minecraft version 1.15!
    • The spawn town of Map 4 is Nerdtopia which had plots available at launch.
      • ARM region lore: A plot in our very first town!
    • JadeBreese Apartments hosted apartments players could rent aboard a pirate ship.
      • ARM region lore: A place to stash your stuff.
    • The first season of Skyblock on Map 4 launched.
  • June 22, 2020
    • LemonHall Apartments opens by the popular demand for more apartments. Made in-style of a dormitory and named in memory of Hank’s dog Lemon.
      • ARM region lore: A dorm room to hang out in.
  • July 3, 2020
    • The first Survival season of Map 4 goes live.
  • July 20 – July 31, 2020
    • The first Secret Llama event of Map 4, Summer Secret Llama!
  • July 25, 2020
  • August 2020
    • Summer Carnival took place. It was built by players and staff in Explore; it had lots of festivities and games, including parkour, fishing, board games, spleef, and the first sheep hockey matches of the map, the NT Pioneers versus the GK Guardians.
  • August 21-23, 2020
    • The first Market Weekend in the Village of Lighthouse Point! A selection of villagers gather in the marketplace at Lighthouse Point, to trade their wares for items and emeralds. Hephaestus, the blacksmith, is also available to repair tools, weapons, and armour for a price.
  • October 10-30 2020
    • Players built the NCT Botanical Gardens. They hosted multiple competitions and events over the course of the month, including tree-top parkour, flower arranging, maze races, hedge art, and a costume contest, with tokens and prizes galore!
  • October 10, 2020
    • The Creative world reopens!
  • October 24 – 31, 2020
    • The first Halloween events on Map 4! They included The Great Spawn Pumpkin Count, Trick-or-Treat Hide ‘N Seek in a haunted mansion and spooky village, Haunted Mansion Scavenger Hunt, and a Costume Contest Fashion Show.
  • November 7, 2020
    • Nerdfighteria Island goes live! This town is the ultimate destination for Nerdfighters, including a history museum, tons of photo opportunities, a marina, and more! Spend your days relaxing poolside, taking selfies with the many attractions, or shopping for your gifts for friends back home. Plots were available all over the archipelago, on both the inner and outer islands. The inner island plots were tiny as a homage to Tiny Town in Map 1. The Green Resort was also available for more temporary accomodations. https://www.nerdcrafteria.com/announcements/introducing-nerdfighteria-island/
      • ARM region lore
        • Green Resort: Enjoy your stay!
        • Nerdfighteria Island Center: Your very own slice of paradise.
        • Nerdfighteria Island Outer: A peaceful island home.
  • January 3, 2021
    • The server is updated to 1.16.4.
  • January 16-31, 2021
    • Winter Carnival was built and run by staff and a team of players, winter festivities included ice boat racing, ice carving, sledding down the Hill of Yeeting, snowball fights, snowman building competition, and more!
  • February 7-14, 2021
    • This map’s first Llamatines event: Llamatine’s Friendship Week. Celebrating all of the love and appreciation for each other through writing nice messages to friends and sending Llama-grams.
  • June 5, 2021
    • Sola Vallis opens! An abandoned ancient city hidden away in a desert mesa, clinging to the cliffs and caves of a canyon, high above a river. Its disrepair patched and rebuild via current, less elegant, means. A music playlist was also made to play along with first exploring the town. https://www.nerdcrafteria.com/announcements/welcome-to-sola-vallis/
      • ARM region lore: The lonely valley.
  • January 3, 2022
    • The server is upgraded to 1.17.1!
  • February 10, 2022
    • The server’s introduction to Yeet Hockey! A wild and fast-paced version of sheep hockey.
      • In Yeet Hockey, players hit a forcefield-protected Puck around an expanded rink with knockback-enchanted sticks, plus a walk speed buff to make for lots of chaos and Puck yeeting. 
  • February 19-25, 2022
    • Players and staff create a to-scale replica of Plough Lane, the stadium of AFC Wimbledon.
  • February 26, 2022 at 2:00AM EST
    • Nerdcrafteria’s first Project for Awesome stream slot! There was a tour of the server, as well as spleef and yeet hockey. Hank Green also made a surprise visit!
  • April 27, 2022
    • Hank visits the server! Festivities included a tour and yeet hockey at Plough Lane.
  • July 1, 2022
    • Forums archive sun-setted. RIP the forums.
  • September 16, 2022
  • January 23, 2023
    • The first VIP plots of the map start selection. The plots are all across the map outside of any towns.
      • ARM region lore: Land in the greater NCT wilderness.
  • February 25, 2023
  • February 10, 2024
    • The server hosts a Defend the Village event, colloquially known as a Mob Brawl! Where players fight waves of monsters. Mob brawl events have also been featured during the server’s P4A segments.
  • April 1, 2024
  • May 10, 2024
  • May 26, 2024
  • October 7, 2024
    • The Nerdcrafteria Sheep Hockey League turns 10! An exhibition game was held in celebration.
  • November 24, 2024
  • February 14, 2025
    • During NCT’s P4A timeslot, due to a verbal slip up when discussing a “Dr. Project for Awesome” Dr. Pepper parody build, the Dr. Doctor Canhole meme was born! And a record number of 67 players were hosted on the server and $10,456 was raised, the most during our P4A segments.
  • August 17-23, 2025
    • Map Death Party
      • The final week of Map 4, events and games across the map were held. A maze in Sola Vallis, parkour in Gryphon’s Keep, sardines in Beanburg’s park, Block Party in Hecc, spleef in Yeti Valley’s arena (including impromptu Elytra spleef), a boat race around the Nerdfighteria Islands, Yeet Hockey in Plough Lane (NT Pioneers vs GK Guardians), impromptu regular sheep hockey in the Summer Carnival 2020 arena, and concluded with a fireworks show at spawn.
    • The final period for Memory Lane build entries, an area with builds of folks’ favorite memories from Map 4 and other maps.
  • August 23, 2025.
    • Map 4 shut down. Ripperoni.

Map 5 (Present)

Minecraft versions: 1.21.4

Map 5 continues the classic NCT formula with a new custom-made main world: more height and different biomes.

  • August 30, 2025
    • Map 5 opens with 1.21.4!
    • The spawn town is Nerdburg, hosting a tech-forward spawn building, markets, and affordable plots throughout.
      • ARM region lore: The Burbs of Beanburg.
    • Across a river, Beanburg returns with preserved player builds from the previous map, available plots, and Plough Lane!
      • ARM region lore: Hometown of Beanie Sandfurbs.
    • Book Tower in Beanburg hosts many apartments overlooking the park and skyline of the city.
      • ARM region lore: Bookish suites overlooking the city.