Parkour Nomenclature
Ticks and Controls
Term | Alias | Definition |
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Tick | t | The standard unit of time in Minecraft, equal to 50ms.
Minecraft's physics and inputs are updated once every tick. |
WASD | The default movement controls (W=Forward, A=Left, S=Backward, D=Right) | |
Sprint | ctrl | An action that makes the player move 30% faster.
Activated by pressing the Sprint key (default: Ctrl), or by double-tapping W. |
Sneak | shift | An action that makes the player move 70% slower, and prevents the player from falling off.
Activated by pressing the Sneak key (default: Shift). |
Strafe | The action of moving sideways (with A or D), which can be combined with W or S. | |
Timing | A simple sequence of inputs used to gain momentum.
Basic timings include jam (0t), headhitter (1t)... See Timings for a list. | |
Tap | Technique which involves moving in small intervals (1 or 2 ticks, usually while sneaking).
Used to set the player in an optimal position. |
Position, Facing, and Measurements
Term | Alias | Definition |
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Coordinates | coords | The player's coordinates, which can be seen using F3.
This term usually refers to a set of coordinates used to setup for a jump. |
Facing | The angle the player is looking at, in degrees.
In contrast, Direction is the angle the player is moving towards. | |
X Facing | x | Refers to an object facing towards the X axis (East / West).
X-facing Obstacles are harder to avoid. (X Facing can be seen with F3) |
Z Facing | z | Refers to an object facing towards the Z axis (North / South).
Z-facing Obstacles are easier to avoid. (Z Facing can be seen with F3) |
Block | b | The standard unit of distance in Minecraft.
This unit represents visual distance (in terms of blocks) but not necessarily the physical distance. |
Pixel | px | A sub-unit of distance.
A pixel is 1/16th of a block, which is equal to 0.0625b |
Meter | m | A meta-unit of distance, that represents distances more accurately.
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Jump Distance
Term | Alias | Definition |
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Distance | The distance of a jump, which is either given in...
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Length | # b | The length of a jump (i.e. the longest side), in blocks. |
Width | x # | The width of a jump (i.e. the shortest side), in blocks. |
Height | + # | The height of a jump, in blocks.
In 1.8, the player can jump up at most 1.249b. In 1.9+, it's increased to 1.252b. |
Jump format | # x # + # | The conventional notation for simple jumps. In order:
If the width and height are both zero, the convention is to add "b" after the length. Examples: 3b , 4x1 , 5-1 , 4+0.5 , 3x3+0.4375 |
Ceilings
# Block Ceiling | # bc | Designates the height of a ceiling (in blocks).
The player is 1.8m tall. |
Headhitter | hh | A synonym for 2bc. |
Trapdoor Headhitter | tdhh | A 2bc which is further lowered with a trapdoor (1.8125bc)
This ceiling height only leaves 0.0125b of room for the player to fit under, which makes it the lowest ceiling a player can walk through in 1.8. |
Momentum
Momentum | mm | 1) The speed gained and conserved by moving.
2) The space given to gain enough speed for a jump. |
# Block Momentum | # bm | Designates the distance given to gain momentum.
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Flat Momentum | flat mm | The "standard" momentum setup, where the momentum space is flat ground (12 tick cycle). |
Elevation Momentum | A more efficient momentum setup, where the momentum space is elevated at each step.
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Headhitter Momentum | hh mm | A very efficient momentum setup (3 tick cycle). |
Trapdoor-Headhitter Momentum | tdhh mm | The most efficient momentum setup (2 tick cycle). |
Backwalled | An adjective which indicates that a momentum has a wall at its back, which reduces the momentum space. | |
Sidestep | Technique which involves jumping sideways when gaining momentum.
This has two advantages: it utilises 45° strafe, and makes the turning more consistent. It is commonly used for 1bm butterfly neos, but it can be useful for any kind of neo. | |
Backward Momentum | bwmm | Technique which involves moving backward to "increase momentum space" before jumping.
This is useful on a short momentum, and is even necessary for some jumps (e.g., 2bm triple neo). |
Jump names
Term | Alias | Definition |
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Linear Jump | A jump with no obstacles, that can be completed without turning (apart from using 45° Strafe). | |
Neo | #b neo | A jump that involves jumping around a wall.
"#" is the length of the wall Example: 2b neo (commonly referred to as "double neo") |
Winged Neo | A neo that has its wall extended outwards. | |
Nix Neo | A neo which has its wall and landing extended outwards. | |
Reverse Nix Neo | A neo which has its wall and momentum extended outwards. | |
Butterfly Neo | A neo with panes on its side. | |
Cross Neo | A jump that involves jumping around a corner. | |
Squeeze Jump | A jump that involves jumping through a small gap. |
Movement mechanics and glitches
Term | Alias | Definition |
---|---|---|
Strafe | A | D | The action of "strafing" left or right while moving forward.
This changes the player's direction without turning the mouse. |
45° Strafe | 45° | The action of turning 45°, while strafing accordingly.
This technique allows the player to move further (up to 2%) but is hard to do consistently. |
Stepping | step-assist | A mechanic that assists the player in stepping up low obstacles (slabs, stairs...).
The player can step up at most 0.6b without jumping. |
Blip | A glitch which involves landing between two blocks of different height. Caused by stepping.
This can result in the player "landing mid-air", making them able to jump with initial height. | |
Jump Cancel | A mechanic/glitch that involves jumping into a ceiling or step. Caused by stepping.
This can cancel the player's upward momentum, making them able to jump again sooner. | |
Grinding | The process of chaining multiple Jump Cancels to gain momentum.
There are two types:
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Technical parkour terms
Term | Alias | Definition |
---|---|---|
Duration | The duration of a jump is the number of ticks between jumping and landing.
The duration depends on the jump's height. For example: A flat jump has a duration of 12 ticks, a +1 jump is 9 ticks, and a 2bc jump is 3 ticks. | |
Tier | A more intuitive representation of jump duration
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Bounding Box | An axis-aligned cuboid, represented by a minimum and maximum value for the X, Y, and Z axes.
Most blocks are simple enough that they consist of a single bounding box, but they might use more (e.g., stairs). Entities have a single bounding box (the player's bounding box is 0.6×1.8×0.6). | |
Collision Box | A volume of space that the player can physically collide with, specific to blocks though some entities also have one (e.g., boats).
A collision box consists of one or multiple bounding boxes; The player's bounding box is not meant to intersect those. | |
Significant angle | Minecraft works with a limited number of angles for calculations. There are precisely 65536 significant angles.
The player's rotation is stored as floats (of which there are much more than 65536). A significant angle covers approximately 0.0055°. | |
Half angle | An extremely precise glitch that exploits the trigonometric functions as defined in Minecraft.
Involves looking at a precise angle between two significant angles (e.g. 135.0055°) to (very slightly) increase movement speed. |
Parkour map terminology
Term | Alias | Definition |
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Checkpoint | cp | A position the player can teleport back to. |
Failsafe | fs | A loose type of checkpoint, which only allows partial recovery. |
Life or Death | l/d | Decribes a section that is not failsafed.
If the player fails it, they will lose some progress. |
Room # | r # | A common term for referring to a specific subsection in a course. |
Transition # - # | t #-# | A transition between two rooms, which is sometimes l/d. |