Block of the Month: Froglight

Frogs love to eat small slimy things. In most situations, that means Minecraft’s slime mobs – which frogs will attack by using their sticky tongue to pull them into their mouth. Once the digestive process takes its course, the result is slimeballs. 

But there’s something else that comes out of the business end of a frog. No, not that. I’m talking about the froglight! Which by a mysterious coincidence just so happens to be our block of the month?

Froglights were added to Minecraft not all that long ago. They became a part of the game alongside mud, goat horns, and mangroves when we released the Wild Update in June 2022. These new discoveries are still being investigated by Mojang’s top scientists, but here’s what we know so far.

First, how to get a froglight. You might have noticed, while wandering around the Nether trying to find your portal again, hopping beasts known as Magma Cubes that look a bit like slimes but on fire. That’s pretty much what they are. Here’s former Mojang Studios developer Alexander Östman explaining what happened next.

That’s neat, but it turns out that wasn’t the original plan:

There are different kinds of frogs in Minecraft, which have different digestive processes. This creates different froglights. You can get a pinkish “pearlescent” one from frogs found in warm biomes, a yellow “ochre” one from those found in temperate biomes, and a green “verdant” one from frogs found in cold biomes.

Each one emits a light level of 15, which is the highest possible – and the same as the light emitted from glowstone, jack o’lanterns, beacons, redstone lamps and sea lanterns. They’ll drop as an item when broken using any tool or by hand, so don’t worry about accidentally smashing them.

Any last tips, Alexander?

You heard the man. Go forth and gather frogs!