Build a spleef arena

1. Build the floor

A single /fill lays a 21×21 snow floor. A hollow barrier box one block out keeps players from wandering off the edge before they fall.

# functions/spleef/build.mcfunction
fill -10 64 -10 10 64 10 snow
fill -11 63 -11 11 63 11 barrier hollow

2. Start the match

Survival mode, empty inventory, a diamond shovel in slot 1, then teleport everyone up and /spreadplayers scatters them across the floor so nobody starts on top of anyone.

# functions/spleef/start.mcfunction
gamemode survival @a
clear @a
replaceitem entity @a slot.hotbar 0 diamond_shovel
tp @a 0 66 0
spreadplayers 0 0 3 8 @a
title @a title Spleef! Last one standing wins

3. Eliminate anyone who falls

Each tick, for every player still in Survival, if there's air under their feet they've fallen through — switch them to Spectator so they can watch the rest play out.

# functions/tick.mcfunction (via tick.json)
execute as @a[m=survival] at @s if block ~ ~-1 ~ air run function spleef/out

# functions/spleef/out.mcfunction
gamemode spectator @s
title @s title Eliminated!
playsound mob.wither.death @s

@a[m=survival] only checks players still in the game, so eliminated spectators are ignored.

Make it yours

• · Detect the winner: when only one player is left in Survival, show a win title (count with a scoreboard).
• · Speed it up with /effect @a haste so shovels dig faster.
• · Rebuild instantly between rounds — just run spleef/build again to refill the snow.
• · Use a lava layer below instead of a void for a spicier finish.

See it in Minecraft

Start the match and everyone gets a shovel on a fresh snow floor — "Spleef!" drops and the digging begins.

The snow platform in the shot is a couple of fills — run this once, then punch a few gaps:

# functions/spleef/build.mcfunction — snow floor + a few gaps
fill ~-7 ~-1 ~-7 ~7 ~1 ~7 snow
fill ~-4 ~-1 ~-3 ~-3 ~1 ~-2 air
fill ~3 ~-1 ~1 ~4 ~1 ~2 air
fill ~0 ~-1 ~4 ~1 ~1 ~5 air