Minecraft is a sandbox game or a video game with a gameplay element, which provides the users with a great degree of creativity, with a goal that the players set for themselves. It was developed in the early 2010s and is the best-selling video game in history, with over 238 million copies sold and monthly nearly 140 million active players on the online version, reported as of 2021. In July 2021, the International Judo Federation entered the Minecraft experience and was the first sport federation to open its doors in Minecraft.

In the first episode, called 'The Mystery of the Budokan,’ players could celebrate the return of the Summer Olympics to Tokyo, Japan, for the first time in 57 years. It allowed them to gather in a custom-made server for free. The budokan experience is still active and has about 2.5M unique players.

The International Judo Federation then stepped into the Minecraft Education Edition, with its own educational experience. Teachers, educators and students worldwide, whom have access to this educational platform, were able to download the map for free for use in their classrooms as a social-emotional learning tool. Once again, the IJF was the first sports federation in history to work with this platform.

In October 2022, in close collaboration with the Kodokan, the IJF re-opened the doors of Minecraft to spread and promote the values of judo. The second episode, ‘The Mystery of the Kodokan,’ is a unique Minecraft experience that helps to transfer the judo story to the community. This time the IJF took it back to the most recognisable place in all of judo, the Kodokan, the place where it all began.

Today, we are happy to see that the IJF Kodokan Experience is now also available on the marketplace in Minecraft, next to the Minecraft Education experience.

In just a short time, it have passed the 300,000 unique players mark, which shows how gaming and being passionate about judo can collaborate wonderfully. So, game on!

More about the Minecraft experience - CLICK HERE

See also