Minecraft advances all gameplay based on a unit of time called a game tick. There are 20 game ticks in a second which means that 1 game tick occurs every 0.05 seconds in real life.
20 game ticks = 1 second
When you are waiting for the time of day to change, fireworks rockets to explode, monster spawners to spawn the next round of mobs, a chicken to lay an egg, or baby animals to become adults, these advancements all occur in a certain number of game ticks.
How Long is an In-Game Day?
One full day in Minecraft takes 20 minutes which is 24000 game ticks (calculated as 20 mins x 60 sec/min x 20 ticks/sec).
When you first start a Minecraft world, the age of the world will start at 0 game ticks. As the number of game ticks increases, the time of day changes. For example:
Day 1
| Game Ticks | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | Start of Day 1 |
| 1000 | Day |
| 6000 | Noon |
| 12000 | Sunset |
| 13000 | Night |
| 18000 | Midnight |
| 23000 | Sunrise |
| 23999 | End of Day 1 |
Day 2
| Game Ticks | Description |
|---|---|
| 24000 | Start of Day 2 |
| 25000 | Day |
| 30000 | Noon |
| 36000 | Sunset |
| 37000 | Night |
| 42000 | Midnight |
| 47000 | Sunrise |
| 47999 | End of Day 2 |
Day 3
| Game Ticks | Description |
|---|---|
| 48000 | Start of Day 3 |
| 49000 | Day |
| 54000 | Noon |
| 60000 | Sunset |
| 61000 | Night |
| 66000 | Midnight |
| 71000 | Sunrise |
| 71999 | End of Day 3 |
And so on…
Congratulations, you just learned about game ticks in Minecraft.