You and your vindicators have robbed a bank and got 1b emeralds. However, the golem noticed what you were doing, so it got mad at you and your vindicators.

In normal mode, you need to get as many popularity points as possible by giving emeralds to villagers. Your popularity score IS your score, meaning you can get highscores in the game.

In challenge mode, you need to get to your goal before the golem catches all players.

HOW TO PLAY?
It depends on whether you're playing in normal or challenge mode. In normal mode, you need to score as high as possible while avoiding the golem and getting as many emeralds as you can to villagers. In challenge mode, you need to get to your set goal. Don't worry if you see vindicators, they won't hurt you. They actually help players by getting emeralds for them and killing the golem.

If you're playing in challenge mode, you need to get to your goal before the golem catches all players. You can either reach a popularity point threshold, use a certain amount of bookshelf power, or collect the required stashed emeralds.
  - There are five difficulties; choose the one that best suits you or your friends.
  - The boss bar will show you the progression to your goal.
  - Do the objective to fill up the boss bar. If it is full, you win!
  - Avoid the golem at all costs; if all players are caught, you all fail.

You start with 10 vindicators when the game starts. Vindicators will pick up nearby emeralds, but rather than keeping them they put these emeralds in the emerald stash. The emerald stash is where emeralds picked up by vindicators are stored, and at any time they can be picked up. Additionally, vindicators can instakill the golem. When the golem is hit, it's killed, and (in normal mode) 4 popularity books get added to the popularity book storage. HOWEVER, it'll respawn after a few seconds.

If vindicators are killed, you can spawn more of them using spawn eggs. Note that they cost 50 books to buy one spawn egg, and you cannot spawn vindicators if there are already 10 of them.

Emeralds will spawn frequently in the game, and they spawn faster whenever the golem gets killed and it hasn't yet respawned. If you pick them up, you need to talk to a villager that sells popularity tickets to redeem the emeralds you collected. One emerald is worth one ticket, and then you can turn these tickets in to get popularity POINTS. These points count towards your score. You also get one popularity book that's stored afterward, but you can withdraw them when you need to use them. If you're in multiplayer, you can deposit books or store items you don't need, as your inventory will get wiped after you are caught by the golem.

Note that you cannot drop popularity tickets; attempting to do so puts the ticket(s) back in your inventory.

Popularity books can be used to buy items from villagers further away from your spawn. You can see a list of items they sell, and more are expected to be added in the future. Each item has a certain cost; you need to give them the required amount in order to get the item. Additionally, you can convert 32 popularity books into 1 popularity bookshelf, used to buy powerful items and bookshelf power items. Such items are "team upgrade items", and unlike regular items, they can be used infinitely (scrolls and apples are one-time items). Most merchants are librarians, which sell items to help players get more popularity score and avoid being caught by the golem. However, some are clerics, which sell splash potions to help vindicators.

Team upgrade items cost bookshelf power. Bookshelf power can be obtained from golem deaths or using bookshelf power scrolls/apples. Team upgrade items require a certain amount of power; if you have insufficient power, the item won't work. You can check the cost from the item description. You will always get more than 1 power at the same time by using bookshelf power items than for every golem death.

Items villagers can sell to help you get higher scores:
  - Vindicator spawn eggs: spawns more vindicators, useful when some are killed.
  - Ender pearls: these can be useful when running from the golem.
  - Invisibility potions: they can help you sneak past the golem, although it doesn't 100% work.
  - Bells: when in a sticky situation, call the nearest vindicator.
  - Golem anvils: stun the golem when within 8 blocks from it.

Splash potions to help vindicators:
  - Healing potions: heal vindicators. There are three variants.
  - Resistance potions: reduce damage taken for vindicators.
  - Regeneration potions: regenerate vindicators' health.

Team upgrade items:
  - Golem detectors: shows the distance to the golem for all players.
  - Emerald wands: pickup emeralds from 4x the normal range for a random player. Only lasts 1 tick.
  - Vindicator orbs: teleport you to the furthest vindicator and send all others to your initial location. Useful when running from the golem, because the vindicators sent can have a chance to kill the golem.
  - Bank robber power beacons: buff players and vindicators for 20 seconds with effects.

If you see a building with a diamond block, a cartographer and toolsmith are present. Cartographers give players more information on how the game works and toolsmiths can buy a player's items in exchange for popularity books. Cartographers even give players tips for a higher popularity score. Talking to a toolsmith can be useful if you want to sell items you don't want, although you only get 1/2 back, rounded down. All items sold to a toolsmith can't be bought back, so choose your items wisely.

If you're caught by the golem, it's game over. DO NOT GET FOUND BY THE GOLEM AT ALL COSTS. It can detect you if you're within 16 blocks from it and it has a direct line of sight from you.

You can always check your highscore by checking the player list. Besides the player's name shows the highscore.

And if players are still in the game yet you're out, you can spectate, but you can't start another game until all players die.