Pyramid Chain
A Pyramid Chain is a special type of Chain that grows/shrinks in a triagonal format, thus being shaped like a 2D pyramid.
Due to their nature of involving lots of people and dependent on prior videos to move forward, they tend to be non-sanctioned tennis events and rarely seen in tournaments or casual play.
Format
The "vanilla" form of a pyramid chain goes as follows:
- The first player serves.
- Two players volley off of that serve. This inherently creates a triangle (letters represent players):
1:=A=
2:A=B
Next, 3-4 players will volley off of one, two, or both of those round two's, depending on where they are in the chain.
1:==A==
2:=A=B=
3:A=B=C
Player 3A (bottom layer, left) volleys player 2A's video. Player 3C volleys player 2B's video. Player 3B volleys both.
OR
1:===A===
2:==A=B==
3:=AB=CD==
Players 3A and 3B volley 2A, while players 3C and 3D volley 2B.
This format extends as far as you wish. Players can repeat if you want, but generally each round is by a different person.
Variants
Almost all pyramid chains after the first use a variant of the format where the match will "close" (go back to one round per layer). This is visualized loosely as follows:
1:===A===
2:==A=B==
3:=AB=CD==
4:==A=B==
5:===A===
History
The very first Pyramid Chain was originally known as the "YTP Pyramid Chain Collab", hosted by MycroProcessor and ran from July 20th to September 23rd, 2008. [1] The second collab released in 2009, and the third began in 2010 but never had an official ending. The format was not attempted again until 2024 when a new one was hosted by mrdoognoog. This began a revival of the format which includes a "modified" pyramid chain by HanabiTenns, a 3D pyramid chain by Yottifferent, and NESfanboi's "Tile Tennis", both starting in 2025 and going into the present day.