VIDEO: Jack, 8, puts Dudley's Black Country Living Museum on Minecraft map
An eight-year-old Dudley boy has set himself the arduous task of recreating the entire Black Country Living Museum using popular video game Minecraft.
Young Jack Probert cannot get enough of the region's premier heritage attraction and it has become his destination of choice for days out with the family.
He also has a passion for Minecraft – a virtual landscape allowing players to build anything they can imagine by placing blocks.
In the days following Christmas, with the museum closed to visitors, Jack decided it would be the perfect subject for his latest Minecraft project.
Jack's father, Alan, said: "It is fair to say we go to the Black Country Museum quite a bit – we only live 100 yards away as the crow flies.
"We took Jack there quite a few times last year and he just loves it. Everytime we say 'where do you want to go today' he says the museum.
"We had been building various things on Minecraft, but had been running out of ideas.
"I said 'what would you like to build?' and he said 'let's do the Black Country Museum'."
Jack said he chose to recreate the Tipton Road attraction using the game on his Xbox as it is his favourite museum and he likes the cake shop. Stunned by the extent of his son's ambition, Alan suggested the pair begin with building the visitor entrance before moving on to the rest of the sprawling site.
Unable to access the museum, and unwilling to delay the build, Jack created the whole thing from memory.
What they finished up with is a remarkably accurate replica, posted on video-sharing website YouTube for anyone to view.
The level of detail is extensive, with signs giving users extra details on particular rooms. Not even the toilets were beyond the scope of Jack's imagination.
The whole thing took the pair around 16 hours across four days but Alan, aged 44, admits it is Jack who is in charge of the build. "I do some of the building," said Alan. "I'm a labourer. I'm a lackey basically. But it is definitely Jack who has the final say.
"In all honesty I just do as I am told.
"I'm really impressed by him, I don't know how he has remembered it all.
Jack and Alan, who live on the Priory Estate with mum Carol, intend to visit the museum in the coming weeks and take pictures of the site to help them with the rest of the project.
