Five official Minecraft mob votes ran from 2017 through 2023. The winners were the Phantom, Glow Squid, Allay, Sniffer, and Armadillo. Mojang retired the mob vote on 9 September 2024. One 2021 nominee, the Copper Golem, later shipped in The Copper Age in September 2025.
The Minecraft Wiki community vote page is the clean roster. Each year Mojang showed a short film per candidate, then added the winner in a later update. Other names went back to an ideas library.
Quick roster
| Year | Event | Winner | Added in | Other nominees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | MINECON Earth | Phantom | Java 1.13, Bedrock 1.6 | Barnacle, Great Hunger, Wildfire |
| 2020 | Minecraft Live | Glow Squid | 1.17 | Iceologer, Moobloom |
| 2021 | Minecraft Live | Allay | 1.19 | Copper Golem, Glare |
| 2022 | Minecraft Live | Sniffer | 1.20 | Rascal, Tuff Golem |
| 2023 | Minecraft Live | Armadillo | Java 1.20.5, Bedrock 1.20.80 | Crab, Penguin |
2018 and 2019 ran biome votes, covered after the mob years.
2023: Armadillo
The armadillo won Minecraft Live 2023. Official social results put it at about 2,115,000 votes (42.3%). The crab landed at 32.5 percent. Penguin sat at 25.2.
It shipped in the Armored Paws drop: Java 1.20.5 and Bedrock 1.20.80. Armadillos spawn in savannas and badlands. A brush collects scutes, and those scutes craft wolf armor. They also nibble spider eyes if you want to breed a pair. Our armadillo food and breeding guide covers feeding and breeding.
Other 2023 nominees
- Crab: mangrove swamps. A dropped claw would have extended block reach. Builders wanted that one.
- Penguin: stony shores. Nearby boats would have gained speed.
2022: Sniffer
Trails & Tales (1.20) is where the Sniffer landed after Minecraft Live 2022, on both editions. You find its eggs in warm ocean ruins, hatch them, then let the adult sniff out torchflower seeds and pitcher pods.
Other 2022 nominees
- Rascal: a cave kid who played hide-and-seek and handed over loot after a few finds.
- Tuff Golem: a walking statue that held an item, then froze in place again.
2021: Allay
Allays entered The Wild Update (1.19) on both editions after Minecraft Live 2021. You free them from woodland mansion cages or pillager outpost cages. Hand one a copy of an item and it gathers matching drops, then returns them to a nearby note block.
Other 2021 nominees
- Copper Golem: the vote pitch had it pressing copper buttons and oxidizing into a statue.
- Glare: a mossy flyer that pointed at spots dark enough for monsters.
2020: Glow Squid
Glow Squid entered with Caves & Cliffs: Part I (1.17) after Minecraft Live 2020. It spawns in dark underwater air pockets and drops glow ink sacs. Those sacs make glowing item frames and glowing text on signs.
Other 2020 nominees
- Iceologer (Chillager): a mountain illager that summoned ice clouds. It already existed in Minecraft Dungeons (Creeping Winter).
- Moobloom: a buttercup-covered cow from Minecraft Earth that would have worked with bees.
2017: Phantom
The first vote happened at MINECON Earth 2017 with four candidates. The Phantom (then “Monster of the Night Skies”) won and shipped in Update Aquatic: Java 1.13 and Bedrock 1.6. After three in-game days awake, phantoms spawn at night and dive at the sleepless player. They drop phantom membranes for slow falling potions and for repairing elytra.
Other 2017 nominees
- Great Hunger: would have eaten enchantments on items. The grindstone later handled disenchanting.
- Wildfire (Hovering Inferno): a shielded blaze-like mob. Mojang later added a Wildfire to Minecraft Dungeons (Meet the Wildfire).
- Barnacle (Monster of the Ocean Depths): a sea grabber. Bubble columns later gave the ocean a downward pull of their own.
2018 and 2019: biome votes
MINECON Earth 2018 asked players to pick a biome to refresh. Taiga won. Desert and savanna were the other options. That work landed with Village & Pillage, including foxes and sweet berries.
MINECON Live 2019 asked again. Mountains won. Swamp and badlands were the other options, and that mountain work fed the Caves & Cliffs peak set. The swamp idea returned in The Wild Update in 2022 as mangrove swamps and frogs.
A separate 2018 cat contest added the Jellie skin, GoodTimesWithScar’s cat.
The Copper Golem after the vote
The 2021 film showed a golem that mashed copper buttons. Java 1.21.9 and Bedrock 1.21.111 shipped the Copper Golem as a storage sorter. Place a carved pumpkin or jack o’lantern on a copper block. You get a copper golem plus a copper chest. The golem pulls items out of copper chests and files them into nearby regular chests.
It oxidizes like copper blocks. Wax locks the stage. Full oxidation turns an unwaxed golem into a statue. An iron golem sometimes plants a flower on its head.
That path matches what Agnes Larsson and other developers said for years: nominees stay in the library, and a later drop can revive one when the theme fits.
After 2023
Ryan Cooper’s future-of-development post (8 September 2024 on the page, widely dated 9 September) said Minecraft Live would run twice a year and the mob vote would end. Minecraft Live 2023 was the last show with a vote. Game drops now arrive several times a year on a studio schedule.
Java players who want older nominee concepts can look for community mods. The in-game Copper Golem is already in vanilla on current 26.x builds.
A small group can run those mods, or a vanilla 26.x world, on Minecraft server hosting. The Minecraft server guides explain Java loaders and first-world setup.
FAQ
Will there be a 2026 mob vote?
Mojang closed the format in 2024. New mobs now arrive inside regular game drops.
Which vote nominees are in vanilla today?
The Copper Golem, with new rules, as of The Copper Age. The 2019 swamp biome work also arrived later in 1.19. Wildfire and Iceologer live in Minecraft Dungeons.
When did each winner ship?
Phantom in 1.13 / Bedrock 1.6. Glow Squid in 1.17. Allay in 1.19. Sniffer in 1.20. Armadillo in Java 1.20.5 and Bedrock 1.20.80.
How did voting work in the later years?
From 2022 on, votes ran through a Bedrock event server and the Minecraft Launcher. Minecraft.net accepted votes too. You signed in with a Microsoft account. 2023 also counted the China Edition launcher. Earlier votes ran on Twitter during the live show.