Jack 'o' Lantern

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Jack 'o' Lantern

Type	Solid Block
Requirements	None
Physics	No
Transparency	No
Luminance	Yes, 15
Blast resistance	5
Tool
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No
Availability	?
First appearance	Alpha 1.2.0
Data value	dec: 91 hex: 5B bin: 01011011

Jack 'o' Lanterns (or Jack-O-Lanterns) are solid blocks that provide light. They emit light in all directions, regardless of where their faces point. They are brighter than torches, and will emit light under water.

On Halloween (October 31st), all undead mobs (Zombies, Zombie Villagers, Zombie Pigmen, Skeletons, Skeletons on Spiders and Wither Skeletons) have a chance of spawning with either a Jack 'o' Lantern or an ordinary pumpkin equipped as headgear. However, the worn Jack 'o' Lanterns do not glow or emit light.

1 Properties
2 Uses
3 Crafting
4 Video
5 History
6 Issues
7 Trivia
8 Gallery
9 See also

[edit] Properties

Jack-o-lanterns share many properties with glowstone and beacons, with a luminance of 15 (as compared to torches at 14) and the ability to provide light when submerged under water. Of the three, jack-o-lanterns are arguably the easiest to acquire, as their constituent ingredients can be grown (pumpkins, wood) or easily collected in the overworld (coal, wood). Like all non-sunlight light sources, they will cause nearby snow and ice to melt.

As with pumpkins, Jack 'o' Lanterns can be placed anywhere as long as the blocks directly beneath them are solid and opaque (except TNT); However, they will remain in place if the blocks below them are removed after placement. Jack 'o' Lanterns cannot be placed on transparent blocks, including Fences, Glass, Flowers, Mushrooms, Pressure Plates, Sugar Cane, Torches, Redstone Torches, Redstone, Signs, Glowstone, Ice, Pistons, any Stairs, Iron Bars, Slabs or Sticky Pistons.

Attempting to push a Jack 'o' Lantern with a piston will break it, causing it to drop as a resource. In SMP, Jack 'o' Lanterns appear green on a map.

[edit] Uses

Jack 'o' lanterns have a higher light level than torches (15 as opposed to 14). Because it is a block, players can replace wall or floor/ground blocks with them for aesthetically pleasing and versatile embedded light sources, which can be especially attractive for lit paths.

Their ability to be submerged in water affords the ability for docks or harbors to be lit from under water for a pleasing and functional effect that is useful to players in boats that need to see where to stop. They can also be used during underwater exploration, such as in lakes and oceans, to make underwater navigation significantly easier. Jack 'o' lanterns can be used as light sources for growing crops at night, and can be placed under irrigation paths to provide an aesthetic ambient glow for crops.

The jack-o-lantern is one of few directional blocks, having a face image on one side and none on the other three lateral sides. The direction this images faces can be controlled via the direction the player is facing when placing the block: a jack-o-lantern will face toward the player placing it. This can be used as a directional indicator.

Jack 'o' Lanterns are useful as 'breadcrumbs' in The Nether, as unlike torches, they will stay in place even if the netherrack beneath it has been destroyed; and unless it is directly hit, it can often resist Ghast bombs, unlike glowstone. It also stands out more than glowstone, because it cannot be found naturally in The Nether.

A Jack 'o' Lantern can be used to make a Snow Golem or Iron Golem, although golems made this way are no different, aesthetically or functionally, from golems made with regular pumpkins.

Iron Golem build configuration

Snow Golem build configuration

[edit] Crafting

Ingredients

Input » Output

Pumpkin + Torch

[edit] Video

[edit] History

Alpha
1.2.0		Added jack 'o' lanterns.
1.2.0_02 (November 4, 2010)		All Jack 'o' Lanterns on worlds were converted back into Pumpkins in name only.
Beta
1.1_02		Jack 'o' Lanterns are labeled Pumpkins when moused over in the inventory screen.
1.2		Jack 'o' Lanterns previously had the same icon and name in the inventory as pumpkins, making it impossible to tell which is which just by looking at them. However, it isn't possible to stack Jack 'o' Lanterns with Pumpkins.
1.5_01		Jack 'o' Lanterns that already exist in-game now all appear facing the opposite way they were placed before the update. Placing a Jack 'o' Lantern will also have it placed facing away from you, as opposed to facing in your direction, as was the case before the update.
1.8		With the introduction of pumpkin farming, Jack 'o' Lanterns are now a renewable resource, provided the player makes their torches from charcoal.
Official release
1.2.1	12w08a	Iron Golems can now be made by using Jack 'o' Lanterns.
1.4.2	12w39a	There is a bug where Jack 'o' Lanterns don't emit light or emit inconsistent light values from each of their surfaces.
	12w39b	Previously, Jack 'o' Lanterns lit up blocks all around them evenly. This snapshot changed the light values that Jack 'o' Lanterns emitted, similar to how furnaces were changed in 12w39a.^[1] (images showing difference) The light value of Jack 'o' Lantern blocks as seen from their front and bottom surfaces remained 15, but the light value as seen from the top, both sides, and back was changed to 13.
	12w40a	The previous change was reverted until the new lighting system could be optimized.

[edit] Issues

Issues relating to "Jack 'o' Lantern" are maintained on Mojira. Report issues there.

[edit] Trivia

Unlike pumpkins, Jack 'o' Lanterns cannot be worn on the player's head.
Jack 'o' Lanterns can be used for a slime farm to light the room, as jack 'o' lanterns are opaque blocks, so mobs can spawn on them.

[edit] Gallery

A lit Jack 'o' Lantern.
Jack 'o' Lanterns, unlike torches, can be used as light sources underwater.
Jack 'o' Lantern used in the 12w39a snapshot image.
A zombie and a skeleton wearing a Jack 'o' Lantern and a pumpkin, respectively, on Halloween.