Conway’s Game of Life

Conway’s Game of Life is a cellular automaton. That means that there is an area in which “cells” live, and each step the simulation takes, the cells change state based on rules. In the game of life, cells can either be alive or dead, and they follow 4 simple rules:

1. Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.
2. Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies, as if by overcrowding.
3. Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives, unchanged, to the next generation.
4. Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors comes to life.

So, you decide where the cells start, then you play the simulation.

Play the Game of Life » (Doesn’t work in Internet Explorer, sorry folks!)

(Here are some clever starting patterns you can use)

(Here’s a more rigorous definition of Cellular Automata)

Read More:

1. Life as a Geoboard
2. The Post That Will Change Your Life