Noobslum

A picture of the Noobslum as of August 6, 2026. The main area has been destroyed with TNT and lavacasted over. Other areas have been flooded.

The Noobslum, also Noob Containment Zone, Villager Gulag, Favela or just "Slum" was a densely populated urban district located in the -,+ quadrant near spawn. It consisted of densely packed, modular housing units stacked next to and on top of each other. Later expansions of the Noobslum added farms and more specialized buildings. It began construction on January 5, 2026 and was reduced to ruins by March of 2026. As of August 2026, the Noobslum is nuked and flooded above sea level. Some remains of the former area are still underwater.

Etymology

The name "Noobslum" is a portmanteau of the words "noob" and "slum", with the word noob being a slang term referring to a new, unskilled player, and the word slum referring to high density, low-quality urban housing, which is typically inhabited by impoverished people. The term was coined by TypicalHog early on in the construction process, as the English lexicon at the time was inadequate to describe the unprecedented project.

History

Early Construction

The Noobslum's construction first began on January 5, 2026 when TypicalHog (CubeGuy420), Skyzlmt, and Nonydaq were at -,+ spawn. TypicalHog was building mounds of lime wool at spawn with emeralds hidden in them for noobs to find. Skyzlmt left, and TypicalHog and Nonydaq were left trying to think of things to build. Nonydaq built a small house out of some wood, and then built more until there was a small village. TypicalHog left Nonydaq with some materials to keep building, and he continued expanding the village. He started moving nearby villagers that were left at spawn for trading into the housing.

As time went on, construction continued, with TypicalHog primarily supplying materials, along with building, and Nonydaq primarily building. MouseGang members Chinggis and Gende also began helping in the construction of the Noobslum around this time, both of them primarily committing terrorist acts, along with doing some construction of their own.

With the Nonydaq, TypicalHog, and sometimes Chinggis building, the Noobslum soon grew to have dozens of apartments and multiple stories in height, with villagers now inhabiting the complex, using the nearby farm, and breeding. At this point, the Noobslum was even considered to be potentially recorded and used in a trailer advertising Core Journey. Soon, construction began to slow due to boredom with the project, along with the difficulty of getting the large amount of materials required to build dozens of apartments.

An image from within the Noobslum on January 6, 2026. MouseGang members Chinggis and Gende detonate an End crystal within the urban district, killing several innocent villagers and mutilating several more. Even Gende is horrified at the barbarism of this terrorist attack.

An image from within the Noobslum on January 5, 2026. There is only one level of housing so far, and remnants of an earlier build can be seen in the building on the left.

A photo from the west side of the Noobslum on January 7, 2026. The slum is multiple layers tall, populated with villagers, and complete with a tower and bathhouse.

First Grief

TypicalHog posted about the project in the community discord server in order to potentially enlist help from other players. Soon after, the Noobslum was griefed with TNT, mostly targeting the center of the complex and leaving much of the outer areas untouched. Most likely, the post was what attracted unwanted attention from the griefer, considering the usually low activity of the server at the time. After the grief, construction was at a complete halt for roughly a week-long period.

A photo from within the Noobslum on January 13, 2026. The center of the complex is severely damaged from TNT.

Post-Grief Expansion

After some time, Nonydaq returned to the project, deciding to continue expanding in spite of the grief. Due to shortage of materials, primarily cobblestone, spruce wood, and dirt would be used to build the houses, as opposed to the random blocks taken from TypicalHog's storage that were used in the earlier construction of the Noobslum. Spruce wood could easily be farmed on site using large spruce trees, and cobblestone and dirt were easy to gather nearby.

Nonydaq continued expanding the slum. TypicalHog was occupied with vibecoding, so nobody else was involved in the project at this point. Instead of building dense, stacked apartments like before, Nonydaq decided to build less dense, mostly one layer housing interspersed with farms. This setup would make the slum slightly more difficult to grief, and the farms would make it easy for villagers to breed on their own and fill the new housing.

The new slum ended up growing to cover about twice as much area as the original, albeit now with far less density. Construction was mostly constricted by the coastline of a nearby pond, so after building to the east, Nonydaq continued to the north.

A render of the Noobslum as of January 26, 2026. The slum covers a vastly larger area than before the grief. Some of the damage to the central area is still visible.

Second Grief

Sometime in February, roughly a month after the slum started construction, it was griefed again, this time by MouseGang. MouseGang had abandoned any constructive involvement in the project, and executed what is widely agreed to be the most devastating anti-testificate attack in Core Journey history. Approximately 3 kilo-tons of TNT were detonated near the slum, creating an explosion comparable in size to The Halifax Disaster. The blast triggered a tsunami that wiped out the entirety of the nearby coastal region. The remaining terrain that used to contain the Noobslum was almost unrecognizable, and soon MouseGang covered the nearby land in lavacasts towering hundreds of meters into the air. No reconstruction efforts began after this grief.

A photo of the west side of the Noobslum on August 6, 2026. Some remains of the slum are visible, but most everything is lavacasted.

Present State

As of August 6, 2026, the nearby terrain is still lavacasted and severely flooded. Some ruins of the former complex and villager remains can still be found among the lavacasts and underwater.

A photo from August 6, 2026 of some buildings in the flood zone of the Noobslum.

In Popular Culture

The Noobslum left a lasting legacy and inspired various imitations in popular culture. Most notable of which is the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. Formerly one of the most densely populated places on Earth, the Kowloon Walled City was modeled after the design of the Noobslum and held a population of approximately 33,000 Core Journey players before its demolition.

An aerial photo of Kowloon Walled City in 1989. The design is visibly similar to the Noobslum.

Gallery

• 
  The Noobslum as of August 6, 2026.
• 
  Within the Noobslum on January 5, 2026.
• 
  MouseGang terrorist attack on January 6, 2026.
• 
  The north side of the Noobslum on January 7, 2026.
• 
  The center of the Noobslum on January 13, 2026
• 
  A render of the Noobslum as of January 26, 2026.
• 
  A photo of the north side of the Noobslum on August 6, 2026.
• 
  A photo from August 6, 2026 of some buildings in the flood zone of the Noobslum.
• 
  The Noobslum in real life.