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How to Build a King of the Hill Mini-Game in Minecraft

King of the hill is a mini game most players will be familiar with, either through minecraft or by playing pretty much any other strategy game. The aim of king of the hill is to conquer the castle, fort or anything else in the middle of the map, usually placed on a hill due to its strategic advantage. The hill is defended by 1 team, while another team has to try to capture it. The second team can attack from any side and often has some other advantage to even out the odds.

Rules

The following rules and guidelines are simply recommendations, depending on the server plugins you use (if you use any), the rules can or will have to be changed to suit your own needs.

King of the Hill is played with 2 teams. The defending team should start in the castle, while the attacking team can start anywhere on the map, outside of the castle. Though there’s only 1 place where they can get supplies, so some time might be needed for the attacking team to gear up and get in position.

The Defending Team

We’ve set the respawn spot of the defending team outside of the battle area, so if a player on the defending team dies, it’ll be game over for that player. The attacking team will respawn in their supply spot, though they only have 15 minutes to win the battle. The attacking team will either have to kill the entire defending team or set off the TNT in the castle within those 15 minutes to win the battle.

Their main weapons are swords, bows and a stack of arrows. A single stack of arrows is often enough to kill several players, but not enough to be used purely as a spam weapon. Players have to conserve their ammo if they want to win.

We don’t give any armour as we prefer the personal aspect of custom skins. They’re a lot less visible in armour and a battle is more fun when you can easily tell which player you keep killing or which player got a lucky shot on you. It’s also fun to have every player dressed in a themed custom skin, whether it’s knights vs knights, pirates vs ninjas or cowboys vs aliens.

On top of these weapons, the defending team has also been given 2 water blocks. This is to mimic the use of oil, but without the destructive force of lava.
We used water blocks instead of buckets, as this requires a more tactical way of thinking. Using buckets just means the team can place and pick up the water wherever they want.

Water also allows the defending team to climb up the walls, but this can be used as an advantage, as the defending team will know where the enemy is coming from and going up water is very slow.

Lastly, water can be used to minimze or completely prevent the damage done by TNT, which is something the attacking team will have.

The defending team also gets a stack of steaks, 4 potions of instant health II, 2 potions of regeneration and 3 splash potions of poison per player. The steaks should be more than enough to last the player throughout the battle, even if the player is constantly running. The potions are in shorter supply, so they have to be used wisely.

The Attacking Team

The hardest thing to do when you create a king of the hill game is making sure the odds are even. Having a castle is a huge advantage, especially when it’s on top of a hill. The defending team will simply be able to shoot players with their bows from a large distance, while hiding behind their walls.

To counter this, we’ve given the attacking team several places to hideout and regain their health. They’ve also been given 4 blocks of TNT which can be used to blow up part of the castle walls. However, we’ve only given the attacking team 2 flint and steel. We’ve done this to try to encourage team work, as the death of a player could lead to the loss of a flint and steel, a piece of TNT or everything, if a player took it all.

The attacking team will also be equiped with a sword, bow and arrows of course. Like the defending team, the attacking team will have a limited amount of arrows. It’s hard to take over the castle without a bow and arrow, but not impossible. Teamwork will be important, especially if a player loses part of the arrow supply.

The attacking team will also get 12 ladder pieces, which is enough to create a full ladder on 3 spots on the castle walls. Again, without teamwork players might randomly place the ladders and make them completely useless.

There are also 10 redstone torches available, which can be used to win the battle faster, but are not required early in game, so any player who does take 1 or more of them will risk losing them early in game and harm the team’s chances of winning. The redstone torches are used to set off TNT blocks.

Each player will also get a stack of steaks, 6 potions of instant health II, 3 potions of regeneration, 2 splash potions of harming and 3 splash potions of poison.
The food will most likely barely be needed at all, though should a player survive long enough, starvation won’t be a problem. However, if a player dies with all the steaks in inventory, those steaks could be lost if they’re not retrieved by the same player or somebody in the same team. The potions should also be used wisely. A smart tactic will have to be used, perhaps go all out straight from the start? Or maybe wait untill you’ve breached the walls?

Playing

The battle starts when all players are ready. This requires some coordination as some players might simply ignore this rule and charge in on their own.

Both teams will have to think of their own tactics on how to survive and defeat the other team. The defending team will win if there’s at least 1 person left and the TNT in their base hasn’t been blown up after 15 minutes. The attacking team will win if either the defending team has been wiped out completely or when the TNT has been set off.

The attacking team can win by placing a redstone torch next to the load of TNT. The TNT will destroy a large part of the castle, marking the loss of the defending team and the end of the round.

Once the battle is over, simply reset the area using a server plugin and play another round with different teams or different roles.
If you don’t use plugins, you could repair the damage together. You could also import the schematic using a world editor, though this would then require a server restart which is a bit annoying for people who aren’t playing this mini game.

Other Tips, Tricks and Recommendations

Try to build a few paths to the castle that offer an extra advantage, perhaps an underground path or a sewage system. This’ll make for a great place to plant TNT, Lord of the Rings style.

There are plugins available which hide the names of players. This makes the game much more exciting as you can’t simply track the player through walls and other obstacles.

To minimize the damage done to game area, try creating different ways to conquer the castle. Perhaps doors that need a redstone torch to open or secret piston entrances. Not using TNT at all will allow you to play game after game without having to rebuild anything, which is perfect for those who don’t or can’t use plugins on their server.