Hack Club

Build a Minecraft
minigame plugin.

Build a playable multiplayer game as a Paper server plugin in Java. Ship it, get a Raspberry Pi to host it forever.

Get started → How it works
What is PluginCraft?

Server-side mini (or not so mini) games.

Bring to life addictive multiplayer games that you can enjoy with your friends, strangers, and the world. Experience the feeling of running a server, starting with your first plugin.

How it works

Four steps to your own game server.

01

Build your plugin

Write a Paper plugin in Java that creates a playable minigame. Follow our guide to get set up.

02

Track your time

Use Hackatime in IntelliJ, or your editor of choice. It runs in the background — just code.

03

Ship it

Launch your plugin live on a server. Open source and publish it, then let people play.

04

Get your Pi

Hit a tier milestone, and we ship you a Raspberry Pi to take your server home and run it forever.

What "shipped" means

A real server people can join.

Live URL

Your own Pterodactyl panel, so your plugin is accessible to anyone by your server's public IP. Unlocked after 5 tracked hours and a functioning demo.

Open Source

Source code on GitHub with a README explaining how to set up and configure your plugin.

Published

Plugin jar published on Hangar where anyone can download, install, and play your game on their server.

Reward tiers

Ship more, earn more.

Tier 1

Raspberry Pi 4

~14 tracked hours
Pi 4 2GB
  • /join and /leave commands
  • Arena with set spawn points
  • Working game state machine
  • One custom mechanic
  • Clear win condition
Tier 2

Raspberry Pi 5

~18 tracked hours
Pi 5 2GB + case
  • Everything in Tier 1, plus:
  • Configurable game settings
  • Persistent stats & scoreboard
  • Team support
  • Immersive UI (bossbar, titles)
Tier 3

Raspberry Pi 5 4GB

~25 tracked hours
Pi 5 4GB + case + SD
  • Everything in Tier 2, plus:
  • Multi-arena with lobby GUI
  • Spectator mode
  • Global leaderboard
  • Admin commands
  • Polished, maintainable code
The Guide

From zero to a running plugin.

Never made a Paper plugin before? Follow these steps and you'll have a working minigame in no time.

1 Install JDK 21

Paper 1.21+ requires Java 21. Download and install Eclipse Temurin JDK 21 for your platform. After installing, verify it works:

$ java -version

openjdk version "21.0.10" 2026-01-21

OpenJDK Runtime Environment Temurin-21.0.10+7

OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Temurin-21.0.10+7 (build 21.0.10+7, mixed mode)

2 Install IntelliJ IDEA

Download IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition (free). Once installed, go to Plugins and install two things:

As a student you can apply for the JetBrains student pack — but for Paper plugins you won't get much out of it. Ultimate's extras are web frameworks, databases, and cloud tools that you're not likely to notice with most plugins.

3 Create your plugin project

In IntelliJ: New Project → Minecraft. Choose JDK 21, pick a name for your plugin, select Paper as the platform, and select the latest 1.21 Minecraft version. Enable Git. Click Create.

IntelliJ Minecraft Development plugin — new project dialog

You now have a working Paper plugin project with the correct dependencies, a main class, and a plugin.yml. The Minecraft Development plugin handles all the Gradle setup for you.

4 Run your local server

Run your local server from IntelliJ once.

IntelliJ Run button

You'll get a EULA warning — this is normal.

EULA warning in console

Open run/eula.txt and set eula=true.

Run directory with eula.txt

Run again. You now have a local Paper server. Your plugin will be automatically rebuilt every time you restart the server. You can connect to this server by the IP localhost.

When you want to build your plugin jar separately, switch to the build task in the top right corner. Your jar will be available in build/libs/.

build/libs directory with plugin jar

5 Write your first command

Here's the skeleton of a Paper plugin with a /join command to get you started:

Java MyMinigame.java 
package dev.codemania.myMinigame;

import java.util.Objects;

import org.bukkit.command.Command;
import org.bukkit.command.CommandExecutor;
import org.bukkit.command.CommandSender;
import org.bukkit.entity.Player;
import org.bukkit.plugin.java.JavaPlugin;
import org.jspecify.annotations.NullMarked;

@NullMarked
public class MyMinigame extends JavaPlugin implements CommandExecutor {

    @Override
    public void onEnable() {
        Objects.requireNonNull(getCommand("join")).setExecutor(this);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCommand(CommandSender sender, Command cmd,
                             String label, String[] args) {
        if (!(sender instanceof Player player)) { // means the sender is the server console
            sender.sendMessage("Only players can use this command.");
            return true;
        }
        player.sendMessage("You joined the game!");
        // here your game logic could go. tp to the arena, give the player their kit, etc.
        return true;
    }
}

Register the command in your plugin.yml:

YAML plugin.yml 
name: MyMinigame
version: '${version}'

main: dev.codemania.myMinigame.MyMinigame
api-version: '1.21.11'
load: POSTWORLD

commands:
  join:
    description: Join the minigame

From here, check the Paper documentation for events, schedulers, config files, and everything else you need to build your game.

6 Game the plugin

Now that we're done with the boilerplate, it's time to get implementing. Spend a couple minutes brainstorming (or not, it can be boring, I know) to figure out what you want your game to be.

KitPvP, Spleef, TNT Run, Parkour but with fancy abilities are all some ideas you can implement in a few hours.

If you're up for a not-so-mini-game, some ideas could be a Bedwars or Hunger Games clone with your own spice to it.

Let your imagination run wild — make something that pulls you to keep working on it. Most of all, make it yours. Implement the tiered requirements, submit, get your Pi, and hopefully, you can use it to launch your own server network, all based off your plugin.

7 Ship it

Once your plugin is demo-able, and you've got at least 5 hours tracked on Hackatime:

  • Record a video of your plugin at work
  • Push your code to a GitHub repo with a strong README, add the video
  • Publish the jar on Hangar
  • Post in #plugincraft on the Hack Club Slack to get your Pterodactyl server, hosted by us for you to use while you develop
  • Once you're totally happy with your game and match the requirements of your desired tier, submit

I'll join your server, play your game and review your code against the criteria.