Start a Capture the Flag Minecraft server

Capture the Flag on Minecraft takes two plugins: BattleArena, which runs arenas and matches, and ArenaCTF, which adds the flag mode on top of it. Teams of two to five players try to take the other team's flag back to their own base. You build the map yourself and mark where the flags go with a short in-game wizard.

Checked against ArenaCTF 2.0.0 and BattleArena 4.0.4 on Paper 26.1.2, October 2026.

What you need

• A Paper server. The ArenaCTF page asks for Paper or a derivative on 1.19.4 or newer.
• BattleArena. ArenaCTF lists it as a required dependency.
• A Minecraft version the plugins list. Modrinth shows ArenaCTF 2.0.0 for Minecraft up to 26.1.2 and BattleArena 4.0.4 up to 26.2. On a newer Paper server the store's Game version filter starts on your server's version and hides them. Choose Any version in that filter to find them, though the builds do not list your version.
• WorldEdit, only if you want dynamic maps (a fresh world each match). Static maps do not need it.

Install the plugins

1. Open the Plugins tab and stay on the Store view.
2. Select the Modrinth source button and search for ArenaCTF.
3. Press Install. A window headed Needs 1 more add-on lists BattleArena. Choose Install all (2) so both go in.
4. Restart the server from the Console tab.

Build the map

You need permission to run these commands. Making your own account an operator is the quickest way, because BattleArena lets operators run its commands: in the Players tab, open Operators, use Make operator, then join the server. The wizard asks you to stand at places in the world, so it cannot be run from the Console.

1. In game, run /ctf create to start the map wizard.
2. Type a name for the map in chat.
3. Choose a static map (one fixed place) or a dynamic one (a new world per match, which needs WorldEdit).
4. Click the blocks that mark the minimum and maximum corners of the arena.
5. Stand in the waiting room and type waitroom in chat. Stand where spectators should appear and type spectator.
6. Stand at each team spawn and type spawn, then give the team name when asked. Repeat for every spawn you want.
7. Type done to finish.

Place the flags

Run /ctf flag set <map> <team> for each team. A wizard asks for the flag's position, then for the capture region, which is the area a player must stand in to score. Repeat it for the other team. The mode places the flags when a match starts.

Join a match

Players run /ctf join <map> to enter and /ctf leave to leave. Teams are picked with /ctf team join <team> while the match is waiting.

Change how it plays

• plugins/ArenaCTF/arenas/ctf.yml holds the match rules. By default there are 2 teams of 2 to 5 players, a team wins after 3 captures, and a match ends after 10 minutes.
• plugins/ArenaCTF/config.yml has capture-time (5 seconds in the capture region to score) and drop-time (30 seconds before a dropped flag returns home).

Edit these in the File Manager, save, then restart the server from the Console tab so the plugins read the new values.

If something does not work

• ArenaCTF does not load: BattleArena is missing. Install both from the Plugins tab and restart.
• Players spawn without gear: the mode equips a class called warrior when a match starts, and classes must be in the modules list in ctf.yml. If that module is missing, or no class called warrior exists in BattleArena's classes list, nothing is equipped.
• /ctf flag set is refused: the command needs the permission battlearena.command.ctf.flag.set.
• No flag appears in the match: each team needs both points from the flag wizard, the flag position and then the capture region. Follow the instructions in chat and repeat it for every team.