Minecraft is a sandbox video game made by Mojang that's focus is around mining into the ground to find various metals, ores and materials, crafting and smelting them into different objects and building all sorts of fantastic buildings, structures and elaborate contraptions. Enemies, called mobs, come out at night and spawn in dark areas, so you'll need to keep yourself armed with bows, arrows, and swords, along with armor and you'll need to light dark areas as you mine down into the ground with torches. Markus Persson is the creator of Minecraft and goes by "Notch" on forums, in news and posts.

So What's Up With The Green Monster Thing?The most iconic mob in Minecraft is the Creeper, a strange green quadruped and will hiss and self-destruct, blowing a huge hole in the ground and any sort of awesome project you were working on. Creepers have worked their way into Minecraft lore, finding themselves even in the logo of the game and spreading everywhere online.

What's The Point of the Game?While many games have a strong focus on completing a storyline, fighting against other people in multiplayer or winning a race, Minecraft is unique in that it doesn't have a definitive end goal. The point of Minecraft is to survive in the world, cut out a little section of land for yourself and build up your home and structures, all the while making different contraptions like elevators, staircases, even electrical circuits with the use of redstone. Part of the fun of Minecraft is showing others what you have made. Much of Minecraft's success is based upon people uploading videos of their own personal creations to YouTube and showing them off. Think of the game like a first-person SimCity sort of game.

There are multiplayer Minecraft Servers where you can play with other friends and people so you have someone else to play with as well.

What Systems is Minecraft On?Right now, Minecraft is on PC, Mac, and Xperia Play Phones. There are plans for Minecraft to come out on the Xbox 360 as well as all Android devices and the iOS devices (iPhone, iPad). Minecraft is sure to be slightly different on the different devices, so don't expect the game to be completely the same on every different platform.

Why is Minecraft So Popular?That's hard to say. Part of it has to do with the video game industry right now. There aren't a lot of games that offer the type of gaming experience Minecraft offers. The First Person Shooter genre is completely over-saturated right now and most video games are geared toward this "hard core" crowd of gamers. Minecraft offers a different experience, so players can build things, work together and the only limit is your creativity. Seriously. People have built actual computers and calculators in Minecraft... you could build whatever you want with enough time and ingenuity.

Another part of what makes Minecraft so popular is the great community surrounding the game and the Mods, Texture Packs and various other aspects of the game that let you customize the game and add a lot to how it's played.  Overall, Minecraft is a great indie game that has limitless potential and loads of replay and fun.