Brick Pyramid

Brick Pyramid
Generates in; existing chunks	No
Consists of	Bricks

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An official name has not been given. Please update the name if confirmed by reliable sources.

This page describes content that exists only in outdated versions of Java Edition.

This feature used to be in the game but has since been removed.

Brick pyramids were tall experimental generated structures made up exclusively of bricks, present in Java Edition Infdev.

Generation[edit | edit source]

Brick pyramids would generate in predetermined locations throughout the world. These locations were always the same regardless of the world seed, surrounding terrain, or game version and only generate in the south-east quadrant (positive X, positive Z). For every 1024x1024 block area in the south-east quadrant, exactly one pyramid generates. This results in 976,562,500 pyramids generating in the world, before being overwritten by the World boundary (Prior to Inf-20100313, this number was 1,073,741,824, only being cut off by the Far Lands).

Structure[edit | edit source]

Brick pyramids were completely solid; they had no interior rooms. A strange quality about these pyramids is that they spawned right on top of the terrain instead of being a complete pyramid with the bottom underground (like with desert pyramids); their bottom face would conform to the terrain rather than being flat. The pyramid would generate its top block at the top elevation of the map, and would expand down from there, with each consecutive layer containing the next odd square number of brick blocks. Since the height limit initially was 128^[1] and sea level and typical ground level was 64, the base of a pyramid was typically 127×127 blocks and the pyramid itself was 64 blocks high. Whenever it spawned on top of a large body of water, it would usually add to the number of bases.

History[edit | edit source]

Java Edition Infdev
20100227-1							Added brick pyramids.
							Brick pyramids have been added to test out structure generation.
							Brick pyramids generate too high, resulting in their top layers being truncated by the height limit, resulting in a "brick square frustum".
							The pyramid would also generate with a 1×1 vertical hole replacing its centermost blocks.
20100227-2							Brick pyramids now generate lower down, allowing them to generate in a "square-bottomed pyramid" shape as intended
20100227-2							As a side effect of the height change, brick pyramids no longer generate with a vertical hole in place of a tip.
20100325							Reimplemented caves, which can carve into brick pyramids.
20100327							Brick pyramids have been removed with the rewrite of world generation.

Issues[edit | edit source]

Brick pyramids were removed from the game in extremely early development and as such any issues relating to them are not considered valid for reporting.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

A full brick pyramid contained about 344,000 brick blocks, which is equivalent to about 5,249 stacks of brick blocks, though the exact number varies depending on the terrain.
During the time brick pyramids existed, there was no way to craft bricks, which lead to brick pyramids becoming the only method of naturally obtaining them. Contrary to popular belief, this was not the intention behind the brick pyramid's existence and is almost certainly a coincidence, due to items not existing for a majority of their existence.
Beginning from the spawn point, one can be found by walking forward (south) 500 blocks then turning left (facing east), and continuing on for another 500 blocks. This brick pyramid is centered at X: 502 Z: 553.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Screenshots[edit | edit source]

A naturally generated brick pyramid.
The view from the top of a brick pyramid.
The top of a pyramid in the March 13th release, showcasing a lighting bug at the height limit characteristic of that version.
A brick pyramid in the ocean.
A brick pyramid with a flat top.
A brick pyramid as seen from the minecraft webpage.
Caves carving through a brick pyramid.
A brick pyramid near the Far Lands in the March 21st release.