Pattern encyclopedia
Playable Conway's Game of Life patterns
Browse the structures that make Life worth studying. Each pattern includes a preview, a research note, and a direct launch link that opens it in the simulator.
Stable
Still lifes
Stable objects that never change after the first generation. They are the anchors and catalysts used to contain more active reactions.
Beehive
A six-cell still life with a compact hexagonal outline.
- Period
- 1
- Cells
- 6
- Size
- 4 x 3
Periodic
Oscillators
Patterns that return to their starting phase after a fixed number of generations. They make periods, phases, and symmetry visible.
Blinker
The smallest oscillator, flipping between vertical and horizontal lines.
- Period
- 2
- Cells
- 3
- Size
- 3 x 3
Toad
A period-2 oscillator made from two offset rows of three cells.
- Period
- 2
- Cells
- 6
- Size
- 4 x 2
Beacon
Two blocks that repeatedly switch their touching corner cells.
- Period
- 2
- Cells
- 8
- Size
- 4 x 4
Pulsar
A large period-3 oscillator with strong fourfold symmetry.
- Period
- 3
- Cells
- 48
- Size
- 13 x 13
Pentadecathlon
A slim oscillator with a much longer cycle than its size suggests.
- Period
- 15
- Cells
- 12
- Size
- 3 x 10
Moving
Spaceships
Self-contained patterns that reappear translated across the grid. They are the basic signal carriers of Life engineering.
Glider
The smallest spaceship and the standard signal in Life.
- Period
- 4
- Cells
- 5
- Size
- 3 x 3
Lightweight spaceship
The smallest orthogonal spaceship.
- Period
- 4
- Cells
- 9
- Size
- 5 x 4
Middleweight spaceship
A wider c/2 spaceship with a larger body than the LWSS.
- Period
- 4
- Cells
- 12
- Size
- 7 x 5
Heavyweight spaceship
The broadest of the classic lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight trio.
- Period
- 4
- Cells
- 14
- Size
- 8 x 5
Chaotic
Methuselahs
Small seeds with unexpectedly long lifetimes. They are useful for studying growth, stabilization, and emergent debris fields.
R-pentomino
A five-cell seed that takes over one thousand generations to stabilize.
- Period
- Long-lived seed
- Cells
- 5
- Size
- 3 x 3
Diehard
A small pattern famous for eventually vanishing completely.
- Period
- Dies after 130 generations
- Cells
- 7
- Size
- 8 x 3
Acorn
A seven-cell seed with a famously long chaotic evolution.
- Period
- Long-lived seed
- Cells
- 7
- Size
- 7 x 3
Emitter
Guns
Periodic factories that emit spaceships. They connect local reactions to larger signal circuits and computing constructions.
Gosper glider gun
The first known finite pattern with unbounded growth.
- Period
- 30
- Cells
- 36
- Size
- 36 x 9