conway's game of life
not really a game. no players. no score. just cells on a grid following three rules.
the rules
alive cell with 2 or 3 neighbors stays alive
alive cell with less than 2 neighbors dies from loneliness
alive cell with more than 3 neighbors dies from overcrowding
dead cell with exactly 3 neighbors comes alive
thats it. from those three rules you get patterns that move and replicate and do things that look alive but arent.
how to use
click to toggle a cell on/off
drag to paint cells
space play/pause
r random fill
c clear grid
1-6 load preset patterns
patterns
glider — the simplest moving pattern. crawls across the grid.
lwss — lightweight spaceship. moves faster.
pulsar — oscillates. blinks forever.
gosper gun — shoots gliders infinitely.
diehard — dies after 130 generations. nothing lasts.
acorn — takes 5206 generations to stabilize. chaos from simplicity.
colors
green — healthy (2-3 neighbors)
gray — lonely (1 neighbor)
red — overcrowded (4+ neighbors)
john conway made this in 1970. its turing complete. you can theoretically build a computer inside it.