What is Conway's Game of Life?

Conway's Game of Life is a cellular automaton devised by mathematician John Conway in 1970. It's a zero-player game where an initial configuration evolves according to four simple rules: cells with fewer than 2 neighbors die (underpopulation), cells with 2-3 neighbors survive, cells with more than 3 neighbors die (overpopulation), and dead cells with exactly 3 neighbors become alive (reproduction). Despite these simple rules, complex patterns emerge including still lifes, oscillators, spaceships, and guns.

What is Evolution Mode in this Game of Life simulator?

Evolution Mode gives each cell an inherited genotype containing personal birth and survival rules, vigor, and mutability. Offspring combine parental alleles and can mutate; color represents the expressed personal rules. Aging, crowding, diversity, and vigor make this mode stochastic, so repeated cell positions are not treated as deterministic stability.

How does the leaderboard work?

Community Runs list eligible simulations by generations before an exactly detected local terminal outcome. Classic and Evolution runs are separate, custom rules are ineligible, and submitted records disclose outcome, board size, edge mode, peak population, and elapsed time. Board setups vary, so this is an informal community lab board rather than an attested competition.

What patterns are included in the pattern library?

The pattern library includes 15+ classic Game of Life patterns across four categories: Still Lifes (Block, Beehive, Loaf, Boat, Tub), Oscillators (Blinker, Toad, Beacon, Pulsar, Pentadecathlon), Spaceships (Glider, LWSS, MWSS, HWSS), and Guns (Gosper Gun, Simkin Gun). Patterns can be rotated before placement using the rotation controls or Q/E keyboard shortcuts.

What does the cell aging visualization show?

Cell aging colors indicate how long each cell has been alive. New cells appear bright green, progressing through lighter shades as they age: new (1 generation), young (2-3 generations), mature (4-8 generations), old (9-20 generations), and ancient (20+ generations). This helps visualize the stability and dynamics of your pattern.

Can I create custom rules in this Game of Life simulator?

Yes! The Custom Rules Editor lets you create your own Life-like automata using B/S notation. Toggle which neighbor counts cause cells to be born (B) or survive (S). For example, B3/S23 is Conway's classic rules, while B36/S23 creates HighLife with replicators. Custom rules stay off the Classic and Evolution community boards so different rule families are not mixed.

What is the Pattern Discovery feature?

Pattern Discovery searches configurable random, symmetric, collision, and catalyst soups under classic B3/S23. It verifies outcomes with collision-free exact state signatures, checks translating shapes across repeated periods, canonicalizes rotations and reflections for deduplication, and never labels an unresolved computation as verified. Catalog novelty is reported separately as known, not found, or unverified. Press D or click Discover to launch it on desktop or mobile.

Conway's Game of Life Simulator with Evolution

0 generation

0 population

✏️ Draw Mode

Population over Time 0

0 0 gen

Board Size ?

100×100

Speed ?

10 fps

Rules

B3/S23

Birth

Survive

⚠️ Custom rules: No leaderboard eligibility

🔒 Rules locked during simulation

Zoom

100%

Wrap edges (toroidal) Show cell trails Cell aging colors

Evolution ⓘ

B3/S23

Conway

Pressure balanced

Mutations 0

Base Mutation Rate 2%

Newborns add inherited mutability to this base chance.

Patterns

0°

Welcome to LIFE

Press Play

Explore Patterns

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