Falling Pickaxe and Minecraft: Five Games, One Name
In short: Five different things are called Falling Pickaxe. Four of them are played for nothing, including an open-source livestream game on GitHub since , and one is the Pixmove gambling title released on .
If you came here from a short video of a pickaxe smashing through blocks, you are probably looking for one of the other four. Only one of the five takes a stake.
The paid version, with the same block vocabulary and the same pixel shaft the free games of this name use. Source: our own screenshot.
Falling Pickaxe by Pixmove vs Alternatives
Version
What it is
Takes a stake
First public date
Falling Pickaxe by Pixmove
Instant-win gambling game, one reel and a falling pickaxe
Yes
Falling Pickaxe on GitHub
Chat-controlled livestream game, GPL-3.0
No
Falling Pickaxe: Idle Miner
Idle mining app by Neurotock
No
Listed on Google Play
BlockCraft: Falling Pickaxe
Free browser arcade on games portals
No
Listed on playhop and playgama
Roblox, where it is a card game
Card-collection idle game about mining ores
No
Listed on Roblox
Alternatives in Detail
Why look for a replacement: You searched for the Minecraft stream game and landed on a casino title that takes real money.
You wanted to download it, and the Pixmove release has no download at all: it runs in a browser and nothing else.
You watched a clip of a pickaxe tearing through ore and cannot tell which of the five you were looking at.
You found an APK with the name and assumed it was the game from the video, which it is not.
You are being shown adverts for a gambling game under the name of something you remember as free.
The GitHub Original: Falling Pickaxe
An open-source, chat-controlled livestream game where viewers type commands such as tnt, fast, big or diamond to change a falling pickaxe, built for streamers and free to run.
Better than Falling Pickaxe by Pixmove
better at being the original: it has been public since , carries the GPL-3.0 licence, and 72 people have starred it and 44 have forked it
Weaker
worse if you want something that runs by itself, because it is a project you set up with a YouTube API key rather than a page you open
Falling Pickaxe: Idle Miner on Google Play
A mobile mining game published by Neurotock, which Spanish-language results also show as Minero, and the first result many searches return.
Better than Falling Pickaxe by Pixmove
better if you actually want an app on your phone, since it installs and plays offline
Weaker
worse as a comparison, because it is a different developer's idle miner and shares nothing with the casino title except the words in its name
BlockCraft, Free in a Browser
A free browser game hosted on games portals, playable in one click with no account.
Better than Falling Pickaxe by Pixmove
better for a quick free go with nothing at stake
Weaker
worse if you want the streamer format, because it is a casual browser arcade rather than a chat-driven stream
Roblox, Where It Is a Card Game
A Roblox title where you mine ores, buy packs and upgrade cards to raise your income over time.
Better than Falling Pickaxe by Pixmove
better for anybody under eighteen, for the simple reason that it is not gambling
Weaker
worse as a like-for-like swap, since it is a card-collection idle game about buying packs and upgrading ore cards
Which One Came First
The open-source one, by nearly fifteen months. The repository vycdev/falling-pickaxe was created on . It describes itself as a "Falling Pickaxe Game inspired from YouTube shorts livestreams", runs under the GPL-3.0 licence, and has 72 stars and 44 forks. Its readme asks streamers to credit the author.
One vertical reel of pickaxe icons, a stake of 30.00 and a CASH line: the newest game of the name, and the only one with a bet on screen. Source: our own screenshot.
What the open-source project records
Value
Repository
vycdev/falling-pickaxe
Created
Licence
GPL-3.0
Stars and forks
72 and 44
How viewers steer it
Chat words, among them tnt, fast, slow, big, wood, stone, iron, gold, diamond and netherite
Months it predates the Pixmove release
Just under fifteen
Read on ; the maker can change a screen without saying so.
The Pixmove release came out on , according to the maker's own catalogue data. So the name, the format and the Minecraft look were all in public circulation first, as free software, and the gambling version is the newest arrival under the name.
What the Maker Says About the Resemblance
The maker says the resemblance is the point, and does not hide it. Its release announcement sells "the viral appeal of streamer mechanics" and a "legendary pixel-art style". The audience it names for that style is 18 to 35, which is the generation that grew up with the game the style recalls.
The block vocabulary makes the same point without any need for interpretation. Dirt, stone, copper, redstone, gold, diamond, emerald, TNT, a workbench, and pickaxes that climb from wooden to stone to iron to diamond: that is the Minecraft progression, named in Minecraft's own words.
We are describing a resemblance and a running order, not making a legal claim. Whether any of this infringes anything is a question for lawyers and courts, and neither we nor anyone else has published an answer to it.
Why the Minecraft Mix-Up Costs Something
The mix-up costs money because four of the five games take no stake and the fifth does. Searches show it happening in real time. The phrase pairing this game with Minecraft draws around 150 searches a month worldwide. In Venezuela, where interest in the name runs highest, the first page is led by a different game's Google Play listing, and the short videos on it ask where to play and whether you can win money.
The screen that separates this one from the other four: three doors priced at 89.70, 169.50 and 253.20 against a 30.00 stake. Source: our own screenshot.
That is a particular problem for one of the five, and only one. Four of them are played without a stake, and one of those carries ads and in-app purchases of its own. The fifth takes deposits, and it is the one with the marketing budget.
Which Falling Pickaxe You Probably Want
If you saw a stream where chat was steering the pickaxe, you want the GitHub project, and it costs nothing to run. If you want something on your phone, the Google Play listing is a different studio's idle game, and it takes no stake either.
We do not recommend going looking for an APK of the Pixmove title, because there is not one. That game runs in a browser from the maker's own page, and anything offering it as a download is something else wearing the name.
Key Terms Used on This Page
GPL-3.0
The free-software licence the original GitHub project uses, which requires that derived work stay open under the same terms.
Fork
A copy of an open-source project taken by another developer, and this one has 44 of them.
Instant-win game
The category Pixmove files its version under, meaning a round resolves on its own rather than through reels of symbols.
Not sure yet? Learn the round with play money before any deposit.
