Conway's Game of Life

Want to know more about the Game of Life (GOL)? Here are some of the highlights and a few instructions:

Conway's Game of Life is a simulation governed by 4 simple rules based on a cell's relationship to its 8 neighbors:

  • If a cell is alive, and 2 or 3 of its neighbours are also alive, the cell remains alive.
  • If a cell is alive and it has more than 3 alive neighbours, it dies of overcrowding.
  • If a cell is alive and it has fewer than 2 alive neighbours, it dies of loneliness.
  • If a cell is dead and it has exactly 3 neighbours it becomes alive again.

Run GOL on a desktop or laptop computer:

  1. Load an initial population of cells in the table:
    • Click the orange 'Random Fill' button to randomly fill the table with the approximate percentage of 'live' cells (stated on the 'Random Fill' button). (The fill percentage may be adjusted by clicking the settings button, to the right of the 'Reset' button).
    • You can add/remove your own cells by clicking on a cell. You can also modify any random cells that have been activated previously.
    • You may also use the 'Drag:Add/Drag:Delete' button to change the virus population my click/dragging the mouse over the grid.
  2. Population, Step Count and Time Step are shown under the buttons. Monitor the message underneath those values for guidance as to what you can do next. (Step Count is the number of stages of evolution that have occurred to date. Time step is the number of milliseconds between evolutionary stages).
    • The Time step may be adjusted by clicking the settings button.
  3. Once you have provided some 'live' cells in the environment, you can:
    • Click 'Start' to run the simulation continuously.
    • Click 'Step' to run the simulation incrementally
  4. When running continuously, you can 'Pause' or 'Continue' the simulation by clicking on the green button.
    • When the simulation is paused, you can click on table squares to add/remove cells to the simulation. You can also 'Step' through the simulation at this time.
    • The table background turns pink when the simulation is paused. When running, it's background turns back to light-gray.
  5. 'Reset' the simulation at any time.

Learn More!

Places to learn more about GOL online:

Watch for upgrades in the future!

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