Sponge

Sponge

Renewable	No
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	0.6
Hardness	0.6
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	No
Catches fire from lava	No
Map color	18 COLOR_YELLOW
Note block instrument	Default (Harp)
Sulfur cube archetype	Fast Flat

{
    "title": "Sponge",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Renewable resource article, displayed as Renewable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Yes (64)",
            "label": "Stackable"
        },
        {
            "field": "<span class=\"sprite-file\" style=\"height:32px;width:32px;--vertical-align:middle\">(link to File:SlotSprite Hoe Required.png article, displayed as 32x32px|link=|alt=SlotSprite Hoe Required.png: Sprite image for Hoe Required in Minecraft|class=pixel-image|This block can be broken with any tool, but a hoe is the quickest)</span>",
            "label": "Tool"
        },
        {
            "field": "0.6",
            "label": "(link to Explosion#Blast resistance article, displayed as Blast resistance)"
        },
        {
            "field": "0.6",
            "label": "(link to Breaking#Blocks by hardness article, displayed as Hardness)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Light article, displayed as Luminous)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Opacity article, displayed as Transparent)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "(link to Fire#Flammable blocks article, displayed as Flammable)"
        },
        {
            "field": "No",
            "label": "Catches fire<br>from (link to lava article, displayed as lava)"
        },
        {
            "field": "<span style=\"white-space: nowrap;\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 51); border: 1px solid #888; border-radius: 0.3em; color: transparent; width: 1em; height: 1em; vertical-align: -0.36em; margin-right: -0.1em\"><br></span> 18 COLOR<wbr/>_YELLOW</span>",
            "label": "(link to Map item format#Color table article, displayed as Map color)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Default (Harp)",
            "label": "(link to Note Block#Instruments article, displayed as Note block instrument)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Fast Flat",
            "label": "(link to Sulfur Cube#Archetypes article, displayed as Sulfur cube archetype)"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Sponge",
        "Wet Sponge"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Sponge JE3 BE3.png",
        "Wet Sponge JE2 BE2.png"
    ]
}

A sponge is a block that can be placed to remove water in an area around itself. This turns it into a wet sponge, which can be smelted or placed in the Nether to dry it to be reused. Sponges can only be found in ocean monuments.

Obtaining

Breaking

Either type of sponge can be mined by hand, or with any tool, dropping itself as an item; however, hoes break sponges the fastest compared to other tools.

Block	Sponge Wet Sponge
Hardness	0.6
Tool
Breaking time (sec)
Default	10.9 (JE) 0.9 (BE)
Wooden	10.45 (JE) 0.45 (BE)
Stone	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)
Copper	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)
Iron	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Diamond	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Netherite	10.15 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Golden	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Ocean monuments can have "sponge rooms". Each room contains an average of 30 wet sponges. See Ocean Monument § Structure for details.

Mob loot

Java Edition:

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Mob		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)

Drops		1
Mob		Expected Number of Kills
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00

Bedrock Edition:

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Mob		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)

Drops		1
Mob		Expected Number of Kills
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Elder Guardian	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00

Drying

A wet sponge placed in the Nether dries out instantly with a puff of steam and turns into a normal sponge.

In Bedrock Edition, a wet sponge placed in any dry biome in the Overworld dries out after a few minutes and turns into a normal sponge. If a normal sponge sucks up water in a dry biome, it immediately dries out with a puff of steam.

Smelting

A wet sponge can be dried in a furnace, making the sponge reusable.

Ingredients	Smelting recipe	Notes
Wet Sponge + Any Fuel	0.15	If a bucket is in the fuel slot at the time the sponge completes its drying, the water drains into the bucket, leaving a bucket of water in the fuel slot. Otherwise, the water just evaporates.

Usage

A sponge absorbing water in a pond.

Water absorption

A sponge can be used to turn water into air by "absorbing" the water. A sponge instantly absorbs nearby water when it is placed next to water or when water comes into contact with it. Sponges immediately turn wet upon absorption and do not absorb any more water afterward. Wet sponges drip small water particles. Sponges in item form do not absorb water or become wet.

A sponge absorbs both flowing and source blocks of water up to 6 blocks away (taken as a taxicab distance) in all six directions around itself. Instead of a cube or a sphere, this effectively encloses the volume of an octahedron with vertices placed 4 units away from the center in each direction due to the game's extensive use of taxicab distance. A sponge does not absorb more than 118 blocks of water however, and water closest to the sponge is absorbed first. The absorption propagates only between adjacent water blocks and does not "jump over" non-water blocks, including air.

Sounds

Generic

Sponge

Java Edition:

v t e sponge sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.sponge.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.sponge.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.sponge.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.2	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.sponge.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.sponge.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

v t e sponge sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​ ?	Blocks	Once the block has broken	break.sponge	​ ?	0.7	0.8–1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.sponge	​ ?	0.8	0.8–1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.sponge	​ ?	0.3	0.5
	​ ?	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.sponge	​ ?	0.4	1.0
	​ ?	Players	Walking on the block	step.sponge	​ ?	0.3	1.0

Wet sponge

Java Edition:

v t e wet_sponge sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.wet_sponge.break	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block placed​[until: JE 26.4]	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.wet_sponge.place	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8	16
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.wet_sponge.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.25	0.5	16
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.wet_sponge.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.wet_sponge.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

v t e wet_sponge sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​ ?	Blocks	Once the block has broken	break.wet_sponge	​ ?	1.0	0.8
	​ ?	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.wet_sponge	​ ?	1.0	0.8
	​ ?	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.wet_sponge	​ ?	0.3	0.5
	​ ?	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	step.wet_sponge	​ ?	1.0	1.0
	​ ?	Players	Walking on the block	step.wet_sponge	​ ?	0.2	1.0
	​ ?	Blocks	Jumping from the block	step.wet_sponge	​ ?	0.12	1.1
	​ ?	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	step.wet_sponge	​ ?	0.4	1.0

Unique

Java Edition

Sounds
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Sponge dries	Blocks	When a wet sponge is dried in the Nether	block.wet_sponge.dries	subtitles.block.wet_sponge.dries​	1.0	0.7–0.84	16
	​Sponge sucks	Blocks	When a sponge sucks up water	block.sponge.absorb	subtitles.block.sponge.absorb​	0.8	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sounds
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​ ?	Blocks	When a wet sponge is dried in the Nether or dry biome	random.fizz	​ ?	1.0[verify]	0.6–0.8[verify]
	​ ?	Blocks	When a sponge sucks up water	block.sponge.absorb	​ ?	1.0[verify]	0.8–1.0[verify]

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Sponge	sponge	Block & Item	mineable/hoe	block.minecraft.sponge
Wet Sponge	wet_sponge	Block & Item	mineable/hoe	block.minecraft.wet_sponge

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Alias ID	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	Translation key
Sponge	sponge	sponge / 0	19	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.sponge.dry.name
Wet Sponge	wet_sponge	sponge / 1	1239	Block & Giveable Item	Identical (Numeric: -984)	tile.sponge.wet.name

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Dry Spell	Dry a sponge in a furnace	—	15	Bronze

History

Development

May 24, 2009							Sponge was suggested on the TIGSource forums. Notch later approved this suggestion.
June 16, 2009							Sponges were tested by Notch.
June 8, 2014							Jeb tweeted that the ability to erase water blocks would be returned to the sponge. The linked video revealed that the sponge would become wet once it absorbs water.

Java Edition

Java Edition Classic
0.0.19a							Added sponges.
							The sponge is a temporary fix to stop infinite water from flooding until finite water is implemented. This was a response to players griefing servers by flooding them.
							Sponges soak up water in a 5×5×5 volume around it, and would decay.
0.0.19a_01							Sponges no longer decay.
June 20, 2009							Notch says "Sponges won’t vanish randomly now", and "Sponges will NOT work like this once finite water is implemented. They’re a temporary hack to let people clean up flooding."
Java Edition Indev
0.31			20100201-2227				Sponges now soak up infinite water sources and infinite lava sources. This is despite the fact that they do not delete normal lava.
Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1414							Due to Notch reworking many parts of the game to allow for infinite terrain generation, the whole liquid system from Indev including sponges becomes non-functional. A new system for liquids was added in a later version of Infdev, though sponges weren't touched as they were no longer necessary.
Java Edition Beta
1.8			Pre-release				Sponges have now become available in Creative mode.
Java Edition
1.2.1			12w07a				Prior to this version, sponges could be used in redstone builds for updating blocks, in conjunction with BUDs (block update detectors): if a sponge was placed and then removed, all blocks within a 7×7×7 range would be updated. The cause of this was some remaining code for the sponge's water removing property.
1.8			14w25a				Added wet sponges. Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
							The texture of sponge has been changed.
							Sponges have now become obtainable in Survival mode.
			14w25b				A wet sponge, when smelted, fills an empty bucket in the fuel slot with water.
1.9			15w43a				Elder guardians now drop dry sponges instead of wet ones.
1.11			16w33a				Elder guardians now drop wet sponges on player kills, rather than dry sponges.
1.14			18w43a				The textures of sponges have been changed.
1.15			19w36a				Wet Sponges now dry out when placed in the Nether.
1.16			20w12a				Sponges and wet sponges can now be broken faster using hoes.
1.20.2			23w33a				Added unique sounds for dry and wet sponges, and sponges absorbing water.
1.20.5			24w09a				Added sound event block.wet_sponge.dries, replacing block.fire.extinguish when a wet sponge dries out in the Nether.
26.2			snap1				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb sponge and wet sponge, providing the golf ball/fast flat effect to the mob.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
October 15, 2013							Johan Bernhardsson announces sponges for 0.8.0 on Twitter.
v0.8.0			build 1				Added sponges.
							Sponges are currently purely decorative and only available in Creative mode.
v0.16.0			build 1				Added wet sponges. Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
							The texture of sponge has been changed.
							Sponges have now become obtainable in Survival mode.
							A wet sponge, when smelted, fills an empty bucket in the fuel slot with water.
Unknown
?							Sponges dry out in hot biomes.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.13			beta 1.2.13.8				Added drowned, which rarely drop sponges.
1.4.0			beta 1.2.20.1				Drowned no longer drop sponge.
1.6.0			beta 1.6.0.5				Elder guardians now drop wet sponges rather than dry.
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				Sponges now immediately dry out when placed in the Nether.
							The textures of sponges have been changed.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.57				Sponges and wet sponges can now be broken faster using hoes.
1.20.30			Preview 1.20.20.22				Sponges no longer make a sound when absorbing water.
1.21.50			Preview 1.21.50.20				Sponges and wet sponges now make the same sounds as Java Edition.
							Sponges now make a sound when absorbing water again.
26.20 Experiment Drop 2 of 2026			Preview 26.20.23				Added sulfur cubes, which have the ability to absorb sponge and wet sponge, providing the golf ball/fast flat effect to the mob.
26.30			Preview 26.30.20				Implemented all features from the "Drop 2 of 2026" experiment in vanilla gameplay.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added sponges.
							Sponges are currently unobtainable.
TU5							Sponges have now become available in Creative mode.
TU28	CU16	1.23	1.19	1.19			The texture of sponge has been changed.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Sponges are now obtainable in Survival mode.
							Added wet sponges. Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
							Sponges have been removed from the custom superflat block selection menu.
TU43	CU33	1.36	1.36	1.36	Patch 13		Elder guardians now drop dry sponges instead of wet ones.
TU54	CU44	1.52	1.52	1.52	Patch 24	1.0.4	Elder guardians now drop wet sponges again.
TU56	CU48	1.55	1.55	1.55	Patch 26	1.0.6	Elder guardians now drop dry sponges again.
TU69		1.76	1.76	1.76	Patch 38		Elder guardians now drop wet sponges again.
			1.90				The textures of sponges have been changed.
							Sponges now dry out when placed in the Nether and warm biomes after some time.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added sponges.
1.3.12							Added wet sponges.
							The texture of sponge has been changed.
							Sponges have now become obtainable in Survival mode.
							Sponges now soak up contiguous water source blocks out to a taxicab distance of 7 when placed, thereupon turning into the new wet sponge.
							A wet sponge, when smelted, fills an empty bucket in the fuel slot with water.
?							Moved sponge from the Decorations tab to the Building Blocks tab in the Creative inventory.​[more information needed]

Data history

Java Edition
1.8			14w06a				Sponges now use the newly-implemented model json file models/block/cube.json; previously the geometry was defined in the game code itself.
1.13			17w47a				The two different wet block states for the sponge ID have been split up into their own IDs.
							Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 19.
Bedrock Edition
1.21.30			Preview 1.21.30.22				The different block states for the sponge ID have been split up into their own IDs.

Issues

Issues relating to "Sponge" or "Wet Sponge" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  An example of sponges keeping an area dry in Java Edition Classic
• 
  Hidden sponge in the corner of a wood-paneled room, in Java Edition Classic
• 
  Sponges in the Creative inventory in the Adventure Update
• 
  A sponge next to a wet sponge
• 
  The old sponge and gravel textures
• 
  First picture of sponge in the test version of 0.0.18a_02
• 
  Sponges drying in Bedrock Edition
• 
  Image of sponges from Jeb's instagram

External links

• Block of the Week: Sponge – Minecraft.net on March 24, 2017