Game of Life
An interactive implementation of Conway's Game of Life, the famous cellular automaton that demonstrates how complex patterns can emerge from simple rules.
Overview
The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input.
Live Demo
Play Online: life.austen.info
The Rules
Conway's Game of Life follows four simple rules:
- Underpopulation - Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbors dies
- Survival - Any live cell with two or three live neighbors lives on to the next generation
- Overpopulation - Any live cell with more than three live neighbors dies
- Reproduction - Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbors becomes a live cell
Despite these simple rules, the Game of Life can produce incredibly complex and beautiful patterns.
Source Code
GitHub Repository: github.com/austenstone/game-of-life
Historical Context
The Game of Life was created by John Conway in 1970 and popularized in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American. It has since become one of the most famous examples of cellular automata and has inspired countless variations and research.