How to play RuneScape in Minecraft
Free to play, no mods to install. Add the address, accept the pack on your way in, and pick a game from the lobby.
play.gameslabs.net Java and Bedrock, one world
Both editions connect to the same server, so a PC player, a console player and somebody on a phone are all standing in the same Lumbridge. Link a Bedrock account to a Java one and it plays on your Java stats.
Six steps to standing in Lumbridge
-
Add the server
Multiplayer → Add Server. Address: play.gameslabs.net. That is the whole setup; there is nothing to install.
play.gameslabs.net -
Accept the resource pack
On your first join you get a welcome prompt: click "proceed" to install the custom resource pack. It is required, the custom items, 3D models and HUD are all pack-side. If the download fails, the pack is also downloadable by hand from the link the server prints.
-
Pick your pack variant
Two variants ship: default and oldschool, the latter swapping in a retro texture layer. You can change variant from the in-game resource pack selector at any time.
-
Land in the lobby
You arrive in the hub: "Welcome to the GamesLabs Network, use the Game Selector to join a game!" The lobby has parkour, a wardrobe, a candy shop and daily free candies while you decide.
-
Talk to a Game Selector NPC
The Java selector lists Minescape, Zombies, Board Games, Party Games and Arcade, with Survival in closed beta and RuneTale Season II still to come. The Minescape NPC opens the Minescape family: main, Leagues and Ironman.
-
Start on Tutorial Island
New Minescape accounts begin on Tutorial Island, which walks you through the interface and the social features and now always plays the main theme as you arrive.
Linking a Bedrock account
Bedrock is not a cut-down version here. Every interface has a native Bedrock form, and a linked account plays on your Java Edition stats.
-
Confirm the Bedrock address
Cross-play is fully implemented, but the Bedrock connect address is issued per region rather than being one fixed host. Take the current details from the Discord or the in-game server list before you add the server.
-
Meet your Java account in the lobby
Linking happens in the lobby with both clients connected: the Bedrock account and the Java account it is being attached to stand next to each other.
-
Confirm on both sides
Each side confirms, and the Bedrock account is attached to the Java account through the network’s better-together service. From then on the linked account uses your Java Edition stats.
-
Read the warning before you confirm
The server states it plainly: "ALL MINECRAFT BEDROCK PROGRESS WILL BE RESET." Link a fresh Bedrock account, or one whose progress you are willing to lose.
-
Switch clients
After linking, the server tells you to "disconnect from your java client to connect with Bedrock". Then join from your Bedrock device.
-
Accept the pack and pick a game
The Bedrock selector offers Minescape, Minescape Ironman, Party Games, Arcade and Survival. Zombies and Board Games are disabled on Bedrock. Every interface you meet, quests, skills, slayer, magic, shops, the Grand Exchange, is a native Bedrock form rather than a chest menu.
Four ways to play
Pick one when you first join. Almost everybody should start on the main game.
CraftScape (main)
Anyone starting out. The full game with nothing switched off.
- Everything switched on, and where almost everybody plays
Ironman
Players who want everything they own to be something they got themselves.
- No Grand Exchange, no trading, no booster shop and no vote parties
- Drops, skills and quests all work exactly as they do on the main game
Hardcore Ironman
Ironman players who want the stakes.
- Every ironman restriction, plus a single life
Ultimate Ironman
The inventory-management crowd.
- Every ironman restriction, and no bank at all: your inventory is your storage
What to actually do once you are in
-
Finish Tutorial Island properly
It is not just a movement tutorial, it walks you through the social features and points you at the wiki, the map and the Discord. The main theme plays the whole way through.
-
Do not panic about the two names
You will see both Minescape and CraftScape. They are the same game; type /craftscape for the story, or /rebrand to switch which name your client shows you.
-
Set your resource pack variant
Try the oldschool variant if you want the retro look. It changes textures only, the models, HUD and items are the same.
-
Type /map
It prints a deep link to the live browser world map centred on wherever you are standing, which is a lot faster than learning 222 regions the hard way.
-
Start with Cook’s Assistant in Lumbridge
Lumbridge is the starting city and the hub of the early quest chain. Quest points also gate later content, the Cave of the Ordeals needs 18 of them.
-
Pick up a daily job
The jobs board draws assignments from what the game actually contains, across crafting, fishing, smithing and monsters, so a job always points at something real. Partial completion costs a point; cancelling costs three.
-
Find your first lodestone
There are 18 exploration lodestones, and unlocking them early makes the next twenty hours much shorter. There are also 31 fairy ring codes, seven spirit trees, seven gliders, six balloons and five canoe stops once you qualify for them.
-
Learn where the Grand Exchange is
North of Varrock. Orders are matched across servers, filled orders land in an item inbox, and you can list straight from your inventory. Ironman accounts do not get it, that is the point.
-
Stay out of the wilderness until you mean it
Six banded zones run from wilderness level 10 to 60, and levels III and above are multi-combat. A ten-second PvP timer blocks teleporting and logging out once you are in combat.
-
Join the Discord and vote
Bug reports go through a Discord ticket, and voting pays four candies a time, the free currency, as opposed to the store currency.
Before you ask in Discord
Do I need Minecraft Java Edition, or can I play on Bedrock?
Both. Cross-play is not a bolt-on here: every Java interface has a proper Bedrock counterpart. Quests, skills, slayer, magic, prayer, smithing, crafting, cooking, equipment, shops, settings, the XP lamp, the jobs board, the scoreboard, Tutorial Island and all three Grand Exchange screens work natively on Bedrock. Your client is detected when you enter the world and your spawn placement adjusts to suit. Bedrock accounts link to a Java account in the lobby, and the linked account then uses your Java stats.
Do I have to install the resource pack?
Yes. Almost everything custom lives in the pack: 222 hand-made creature models, 328 skins and 2,204 item definitions compiled into it, plus both HUD layouts. Two variants ship, default and oldschool, and you can switch between them from an in-game menu. If the automatic download fails, the server prints a manual download link.
How many skills are there, and how high do they go?
Twenty-four trainable skills, the full OSRS list plus Exploration, and every one of them goes to level 120, not 99. The XP chart is built for 120 and the skill capes are relabelled to match. Behind them sit 80 crafting recipes, 75 fletching recipes, 51 spells, 34 potions, 27 prayers, 21 agility courses and 13 runecrafting altars.
What exactly does ironman mode turn off?
The Grand Exchange, player trading, the booster shop, XP potions and DXP tokens, the party room and vote parties. Ironman worlds also swap in their own stock stores, combat rules, chat format and scoreboard. Hardcore adds a single life, and on death you are demoted to a standard ironman rather than wiped. Ultimate removes banking entirely and gives you item noting instead.
Is there a real economy, or is it all NPC shops?
Both. The Grand Exchange is a genuine cross-server order book with paged buy and sell orders and an inbox that tells you when yours fill; noted items are converted back before an offer goes up. Around it sit 35 NPC shops and several parallel token economies, slayer points, boss slayer tokens, Tokkul, warriors’ guild tokens and boss pet tokens, plus 3,534 drop entries across 363 monsters feeding the whole thing.
How dangerous is the wilderness?
Six zones, numbered I to VI, carrying wilderness levels 10 through 60; levels III and up are multi-combat. Once you take or deal PvP damage a ten-second timer blocks teleporting and logging out, and pouches cannot be dropped inside. In exchange the wilderness holds the King Black Dragon, the Corporeal Beast, Venenatis, Scorpia, the Chaos Elemental, six obelisks, Larran’s big chest, the Fountain of Rune and the Mage Arena.
What is RuneTale, and do I lose my main account if I play it?
RuneTale is the seasonal mode, a separate server that inherits the main game and then changes the rules. Season I ran league tasks across six tiers with Runepoints and boosted drop rates. Season II is in development and not yet released. It runs alongside the main game rather than instead of it, so you can play both and switch between them whenever you like. A season resets when it ends; your main account is separate and unaffected.
Why does the game call itself both Minescape and CraftScape?
Minescape launched in 2012. As it grew, a third party copied its work, including using its map as the base for theirs, and trademarked the name in several countries, which blocks the team from marketing under their own name. The dispute is ongoing, so CraftScape exists as an alternate name streamers and content creators can use without risking strikes. It is a per-player display toggle: /craftscape explains it, /rebrand switches it. The team’s own line is that you can call it whatever you like.