⛏️ The Blockheads Game Server Script

A script for the self-hosted multiplayer server for The Blockheads

Warning

Running curl | bash scripts from the internet can be risky. Always review the script before executing it.

• 📚 Explore the Wiki
• 🌍 Other Blockheads Servers
• 🐞 Report a Bug
• ✨ Request a Feature

📖 Table of Contents

• ✅ Requirements
• ⚡ Quick Start
• 🍎 macOS Install
• 📦 Original Binaries / Manual Install
• 🤖 The Blockheads Android APK
• 🛠️ Server Management
• 🐳 Docker
• 🗺️ Roadmap
• 🤝 Contributing
• 📜 License
• 📬 Contact
• 🙏 Acknowledgments

---

🚀 Getting Started

✅ Requirements

Before installing, make sure your system has:

• A Linux distribution or macOS installation
• A terminal with bash available
• curl installed for downloading the server files
• nano, or another text editor, for editing configuration files
• An internet connection for the initial download
• A free TCP port for the Blockheads server
• Enough disk space for the server binary, world data, and backups

On Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, and similar systems, install the basic tools with:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl nano

On Arch Linux and derivatives:

sudo pacman -S --needed curl nano

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install -y curl nano

Note

The exact package manager and package names can vary between distributions.

⚡ Quick Start

Follow the instructions below to install and set up the Blockheads server on your system.

Download and inspect the server script

Rather than piping a remote script directly into bash, download it first and review it:

curl -sL [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JonCastaway/BHS/main/start.sh](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/JonCastaway/BHS/main/start.sh) -o start.sh

Review the script before running it:

less start.sh

If you are happy with it, run:

bash start.sh

Important

Only run scripts you understand. If the script changes unexpectedly, stop and review the diff before running it again.

Create your server

./blockheads_server171 -n MyFirstServer

View available options

./blockheads_server171 -h

Configure your server

You will need to replace WORLD_ID and PORT inside the run.sh script.

nano run.sh

Replace the placeholders with your WORLD_ID and PORT.

To find your WORLD_ID, run:

./blockheads_server171 -l

Save and exit nano by pressing CTRL+X, then Y, then ENTER.

Start the server in the background

nohup ./start.sh &>/dev/null &

🍎 Installation | macOS

Download the Blockheads Server App from the App Store:

• 📥 Download from the App Store

📦 Original Server Binaries | Manual Install

You can download the original server binaries from the links below:

• 📥 The Blockheads Server Binary — archive.org
• 📥 The Blockheads Server Binary — majicdave.com

After downloading, extract the archive:

tar -xzf blockheads_server171.tar.gz

Then follow the Linux configuration instructions above.

🤖 The Blockheads | Android APK

If version 1.76 does not launch, try an earlier version such as 1.75 or 1.74.

• 📥 The Original Blockheads Android APK v1.76 — Noodlecake
• 📥 The Original Blockheads Android APK v1.76 — archive.org
• 📥 The Original Blockheads Android APK v1.75 — archive.org
• 📥 The Original Blockheads Android APK v1.74 — archive.org

🛠️ 5. Server Management

Check whether the server is running

pgrep -af blockheads_server171

View running server processes

ps aux | grep -i blockheads

Stop the server

Find the process ID:

pgrep -af blockheads_server171

Then stop it, replacing PID with the process ID shown:

kill PID

If it does not stop cleanly:

kill -TERM PID

Caution

Avoid using kill -9 unless the server will not terminate normally, as it prevents a clean shutdown.

View server output

If you started the server with output redirected to a log file, view it with:

tail -f server.log

If you used the command exactly as shown earlier, output was discarded:

nohup ./start.sh &>/dev/null &

To keep logs instead, start it like this:

nohup ./start.sh > server.log 2>&1 &

Then view live logs with:

tail -f server.log

Back up your world

Before updating or making major configuration changes, stop the server and copy the server directory:

cp -a /path/to/blockheads-server /path/to/backups/blockheads-server-$(date +%Y-%m-%d)

Tip

Store backups outside the live server directory, ideally on another disk or remote storage location.

🐳 Docker

Docker support is currently in testing.

Once available, this section will include:

• A Dockerfile
• A docker-compose.yml example
• Volume mappings for world data and configuration
• Port mappings
• Container update and backup guidance

🗺️ Roadmap

        🚧 ROADMAP 🚧
 ┌───────────────────────────────┐
 │ ✅ Current Active Servers      │
 │ 🌍 World Configuration Editor  │
 │ 🖥️ Web-based User Interface    │
 │ 🐳 Docker File                 │
 └───────────────────────────────┘

Explore our progress towards significant milestones, and read the wiki roadmap.

• Current Active Servers — in test
• World Configuration Editor
• Web-based User Interface
• Docker file — in test

Review the open issues for suggested features and known issues.

🤝 Contributing

   ╭──────────────────────────────╮
   │  🎉 Contributions welcome!  │
   │   Fork → Change → PR 💪     │
   ╰──────────────────────────────╯

Contributions are welcome. Feel free to fork this repository and submit pull requests.

👥 Contributors

📜 License

This project is licensed under the GPL-3.0 License.

See the License file for details.

📬 Contact

  📮 Questions?  🐛 Problems?  💡 Ideas?
       └──── Open a GitHub issue ────┘

For questions or support, please open an issue on GitHub.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Projects we are inspired by and have obtained valuable information from:

• 🎮 Majic Jungle | Dave Frampton
• 📚 The Internet Archive
• 💬 Discord | Sapiens
• 👽 Reddit | r/blockheads
• 📖 Wiki GG | Blockheads
• 📖 Fandom | The Blockheads