Checkerboard

A common zone of clean land where chunks are sunk or raised by 16 blocks in a geometric pattern.

The Checkerboard is a zone type in the Overworld. The land is ordinary, but whole chunks of it sit 16 blocks higher or lower than they should.

What it looks like

• The terrain is clean vanilla land. The only error is the height of the chunks.
• Chunks picked by a pattern are moved as whole columns, 16 blocks up or 16 blocks down. The direction alternates, so raised and sunk chunks sit side by side.
• Where a moved chunk meets its neighbour there is a sheer wall 16 blocks high or more. The wall is the land's own terrain, so it shows caves, ore and dripstone.
• Chunks that are not picked stay where they are.

Each zone has one pattern across the whole zone. The patterns are the same ones the Valley of Water uses: grid, checker, diagonals, rings, stairs, wave and towers. The pattern is centred on one point in the zone.

Sunk chunks and water

A sunk chunk in lowland is a pit. If the pit goes below sea level it fills with still water up to sea level, so in flat country the sunk chunks are square ponds. The water does not flow out.

Raised chunks are plateaus. Inside the zone, the bedrock at the bottom of the world stays where it is.

Dangers

• Walls are sheer. Walking off a raised chunk is a 16 block fall, more where the land is hilly.
• Cliff faces open caves.
• A pond is as deep as the pit was.

How rare it is

The Checkerboard is a common zone, a little rarer than most: about one zone in 53. It exists in the Overworld only, and only in land generated after the 1.7.0 update. The land around spawn never gets it, so go far.

There are no other chunk errors inside the zone.

See Chunk errors for every zone type, and Exploring for how finds are logged.