The math of chunks in Minecraft is very complex. Chunks in Minecraft are 16×16 collections of blocks that extend from the bedrock layer up to the limit of the build height. Players can often abuse this mechanic to get up some chicanery with spawns and the like. Gamers can use the 16×16 distance to force certain mechanics to work in the way they want. For example, if you want to build an iron farm, you need to know that the chunk won’t unload.
Chunks are a vital part of the game’s spawn systems. Player movement and distance is based primarily on how far the player is from a loaded chunk. The PC game also seeks to save resources by unloading unused chunks.
You might also want to use this to find Slime Chunks. Slime chunks are specific chunks capable of spawning slimes below y=40, regardless of light level.
In Java Edition, the key F3 + G can be used to display chunk boundaries. Alternately, pressing the “F3” button opens the Debug screen. This screen shows up a bunch of info for players. The chunk’s borders are shown by a yellow line when you trigger via these methods. It’s also possible to manually count chunks, since the distance is 16×16. It’s not exactly precise, but some players become pretty adept at guessing distances via debug screen locations.
In Bedrock Edition, the way to do this is a lot less precise. This version of the adventure game doesn’t have a direct debug menu. You will need to change the detail settings to trigger a new load. Repeatedly toggling fancy graphics will force the world chunks to reload. If you want to see the chunk borders in Minecraft Bedrock, look at the screen when doing this. When the player changes the render distance rapidly, chunk barriers appear as a blue line.
