Conways' Game of Life

(1) The Game

The Game of Life is a 'cellular automaton', and was invented by Cambridge mathematician John Conway. He first published his results in 1968.

It became widely known when it was mentioned in an article published by Scientific American in October 1970.

The game consists of a collection of cells which, can live, die or multiply and depending on initial conditions form various patterns throughout the game.

   
(2) The Rules

For 'populated' space:
1. Each cell with two or three neighbors survives. 2. Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by loneliness.  3. Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation. 

For 'unpopulated' space:
1. Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated. 


(3) The Controls

Choose a figure from the central pull-down menu or make one yourself by clicking on the cells with a mouse.

A new generation of cells is initiated by the 'Run' button and continues until the 'Escape' key is pressed.

Game speed is regulated by the Slow-Medium-Fast-Hyper pull-down menu.

