The grid is yours: click or drag on it to draw cells, even while it runs. Clear it to start your own.
How to play Game of life
The board starts alive with a random soup already running, so you can see the rules at work right away. Tap or drag on the grid to turn cells on or off, even while it runs, or hit clear and draw your own start. Each cell with two or three live neighbours stays alive, each dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes alive, everything else dies. Watch your pattern grow, shrink, glide or stabilise. Pause and step to follow it one generation at a time.
Tips
- Try a glider, a five cell shape that walks across the grid
- Symmetrical starts often produce the prettiest patterns
- Slow the speed down to actually see the rules in action
- Build in clusters, isolated cells die in one generation
About Game of life
John Conway's Game of Life is from 1970 and was first published in Martin Gardner's column in Scientific American. It is technically not a game, you do not play it, you watch it. Three rules per cell turn a flat grid into evolving patterns that researchers have studied for fifty years. People have built calculators, clocks, and even a simulation of the Game of Life inside the Game of Life. Our version is the original ruleset on a fast canvas.
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