The most famous cellular automaton, running live in your browser. Click or drag on the grid to draw cells, drop in a glider gun or a pulsar, then press play and watch complex patterns grow from just four rules. Nothing is uploaded — it all runs on your device.
Four rules, unlimited complexity. A live cell stays alive with 2 or 3 live neighbours; a dead cell comes alive with exactly 3. That's the whole ruleset — yet it can build gliders, oscillators, and even a working computer. The Gosper glider gun (the default here) proved patterns can grow forever.
How It Works
A zero-player game invented by mathematician John Conway in 1970.
1
Set a starting pattern
Pick a preset, hit Randomize, or click and drag on the grid to draw your own live cells. The grid wraps around at the edges, so patterns can travel off one side and reappear on the other.
2
Apply the rules
Each generation, every cell checks its eight neighbours. Live cells with 2 or 3 neighbours survive; dead cells with exactly 3 are born; everything else dies. Use Step to advance one generation at a time.
3
Watch it evolve
Press Play and adjust the speed. Look for still lifes that never change, oscillators that blink, and spaceships like the glider that crawl across the grid.
What are the rules of Conway's Game of Life?
Every cell is alive or dead. For each step: a live cell with two or three live neighbours survives; a live cell with fewer than two dies (underpopulation) or more than three dies (overpopulation); a dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes alive. Those four rules produce all of the game's behaviour.
Is it really a game with no players?
Yes — it is a "zero-player game." You choose the starting configuration and the rules take over with no further input. It is one of the best-known examples of a cellular automaton.
What is the glider gun preset?
The Gosper glider gun periodically fires off gliders that travel across the grid. It was the first known "gun" and proved that Life patterns can grow without bound — which is why it is the default pattern here.
Can I put this on my own website?
Yes. There is an embeddable version at lkforge.com/embed/game-of-life/ that you can drop into an <iframe>. It runs entirely client-side with no tracking.