Conway’s Game of Life
A hands-on sandbox for Conway’s Game of Life, the famous cellular automaton (not the family board game). Paint some cells, press Play and watch simple rules grow gliders, blinkers and whole little machines.
How to play Conway’s Game of Life
- The board is a grid of cells that are either alive (filled) or dead (empty). Each tick of the clock is a new generation.
- A live cell with two or three live neighbours survives. With fewer it dies of loneliness, with more it dies of overcrowding.
- An empty cell with exactly three live neighbours comes to life. Neighbours are the eight cells around it, diagonals included.
- Tap or drag on the board to draw cells, and tap a live cell to erase it. Pick a pattern such as the glider or pulsar, then tap to stamp it in.
- Press Play to run, Step to advance one generation at a time, and change the speed, grid size or edges from the toolbar.
Controls
- Tap / click a cell — draw or erase; drag to paint several
- Space — play / pause
- N or → — step one generation
- R — random fill, C — clear
Tips
- Try the R-pentomino: just five cells that keep changing for over a thousand generations.
- With Edges wrap on, anything that leaves one side comes back on the other, so gliders fly forever. With walls, they crash and settle into still blocks.
- Use Step to see exactly how a blinker flips or how a glider shifts one cell diagonally every four generations.
- Turn the speed down to 1 or 2 generations per second to follow a pattern by eye.
FAQ
What is Conway’s Game of Life?
It is a “zero-player game” invented by mathematician John Conway in 1970. You only set up the starting cells; after that, three simple rules decide what lives, dies and is born in each generation.
What are the rules of Conway’s Game of Life?
Every generation, each cell looks at its eight neighbours. A live cell with two or three live neighbours survives, any other live cell dies, and an empty cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes alive. All cells update at the same time.
Is this the Game of Life board game?
No. This page is the cellular automaton of the same name — there are no spinners, careers or money, just a grid of cells following the birth and survival rules.
What does the glider gun do?
The glider gun is a pattern that never stops: every 30 generations it fires a new glider that travels diagonally across the board. It famously showed that a pattern can grow forever.
Why did my pattern stop changing?
Many patterns settle into still lifes such as blocks and beehives, or into oscillators that repeat. The simulation pauses on its own when the board stops changing or every cell has died.
Is my drawing saved?
Yes. The board, generation count and your settings are kept on this device, so you can close the page and carry on later.