Bell generates naturally at the meeting points of villages — typically the central plaza around which villager workstations cluster — and acts as the village's coordination centre. The block has no crafting recipe: extra bells can be bought from apprentice-level armorer, toolsmith or weaponsmith villagers for 36 emeralds each, or found rarely in ruined portal chests (about 1.5%). Any tool breaks and drops the block, though a pickaxe works fastest.

Right-clicking the block plays a deep ringing sound that propagates outward several blocks, alerting all villagers within range. During a raid, the alert causes villagers to panic and retreat into nearby houses for safety, sometimes preventing kills that would otherwise occur. The block is also redstone-activatable — a button or pressure plate triggers the same ring without requiring direct interaction. Visually it hangs from a curved iron frame and chimes physically when struck, swinging on the frame for a few seconds after each ring. Builders use it as a centrepiece for medieval town squares and watchtower flag points.