🌱 What is Conway's Game of Life?
Conway's Game of Life is a cellular automaton devised by British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. Despite being called a "game," it requires no players—you simply set an initial configuration and watch it evolve according to four elegantly simple rules.
The Game of Life is a prime example of emergent complexity—how intricate, unpredictable behavior can arise from simple rules. It has fascinated mathematicians, computer scientists, and philosophers for over 50 years, demonstrating concepts fundamental to artificial life, complexity theory, and even the nature of computation itself (it's Turing complete!).
The Four Rules
- Underpopulation: A living cell with fewer than 2 neighbors dies from loneliness
- Survival: A living cell with 2 or 3 neighbors lives on to the next generation
- Overpopulation: A living cell with more than 3 neighbors dies from overcrowding
- Reproduction: A dead cell with exactly 3 neighbors springs to life
🧬 What Makes This Simulator Special?
This isn't just another Game of Life implementation. We've created the most feature-rich, visually stunning, and scientifically interesting cellular automaton simulator available online—completely free and running entirely in your browser.
Custom Rules Editor
Create your own Life-like automata! Toggle birth and survival conditions to explore thousands of possible rulesets.
Evolution Mode
Watch the rules themselves mutate and evolve based on fitness scoring. Discover new Life-like automata.
Cell Aging
Visual age indicators show how long each cell has survived, from bright green newborns to ancient survivors.
Global Leaderboards
Compete worldwide! See how many generations your simulation runs before reaching stability.
Pattern Library
15+ classic patterns including gliders, spaceships, oscillators, and guns—with rotation support.
Share States
Generate shareable URLs to send your exact board configuration to friends.
🔬 Evolution Mode Explained
Our unique Evolution Mode takes the Game of Life to an entirely new level. Instead of fixed rules (B3/S23), the rules themselves become subject to mutation and natural selection.
The system evaluates each ruleset using a fitness function that considers population density, stability, and dynamic behavior. When certain conditions are met, the rules mutate—adding or removing birth/survival conditions. Poor mutations that cause extinction or explosive growth are automatically reverted.
This creates a meta-evolution where you can watch the discovery of entirely new cellular automata in real-time. You might see your simulation evolve from Conway's Life (B3/S23) to HighLife (B36/S23) to completely novel rulesets that sustain interesting behavior.
🏅 The Leaderboard Challenge
How long can your simulation run before reaching stability? The leaderboard tracks the number of generations before your pattern becomes static, extinct, or enters a repeating cycle.
There are two separate leaderboards:
- Classic Mode: Standard Conway's rules (B3/S23)—pure skill in initial pattern design
- Evolution Mode: Adaptive rules—can you find initial conditions that evolve into long-running rulesets?
When your simulation stabilizes, enter your initials arcade-style and see where you rank globally!
🎮 Ready to Play?
Experience the most advanced Game of Life simulator online. Draw patterns, enable Evolution Mode, and compete on the global leaderboard.
Launch Simulator →🚀 Built By
Moon Sherpa Labs
Technology partner for high-growth teams. We build custom software and automation systems that help teams respond faster, close more, and scale without adding headcount.
📖 Learn More
Interested in cellular automata and the Game of Life? Here are some concepts worth exploring:
- Turing Completeness: The Game of Life can simulate any computer program
- Garden of Eden: Patterns that cannot arise from any predecessor
- Methuselahs: Small patterns that take a very long time to stabilize
- Replicators: Patterns that create copies of themselves
- Life-like Automata: Other rulesets (like HighLife, Day & Night) with similar properties