Minecraft wiki entry for Version_formats, associated text: Pre-release versions between 1.2.1 and 1.7.4 took the form of full releases, which then incremented the minor version number for a new version. For example, 1.7 was a pre-release for 1.7.2. From 1.7.6 until 1.13.2, pre-releases were named as their full release counterparts followed by "-pre" and a revision counter. For example, 1.12-pre7 is the seventh pre-release for 1.12. From 1.14, the word "pre-release" was spelt out in full. For example, 1.14 Pre-Release 3 is the third pre-release for 1.14. Release candidates were reintroduced during 1.16 with 1.16 Release Candidate 1 and in 1.18 experimental snapshots were released before snapshots with 1.18 Experimental Snapshot 1[more information needed].