The Game of Life, also known simply as Life, is a cellular automaton devised by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. It is a zero-player game, meaning that its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input.
There are an infinite number of cells. Every cell can interact with its neighbor (8 cells).
At each new generation the following rules apply:
Live cell:
- Fewer than 2 live neighbors, it dies. < 2
- More than 3 live neighbors, it dies. > 3
- 2 or 3 live neighbors, survives. 2 or 3
Dead cell:
- Exactly 3 live neighbors, it lives!
First generation is created by applying these rules to every cell in seed:
- Births and deaths apply across all cells in tandem (a tick)