What to watch
- A new glider leaves the gun every 30 generations.
- The two stable blocks act as eater-like boundary objects.
- The central reaction repeats instead of burning out.
Guns
Gosper glider gun
The first known finite pattern with unbounded growth.
The Gosper glider gun changed the status of Life by proving that a finite pattern can emit an infinite stream of moving objects.
Gosper glider gun has period 30
The Gosper glider gun is a 36-cell pattern in a 36 x 9 bounding box. Its core repeats every 30 generations while a glider escapes, which is why it is the classic first example of a finite pattern with unbounded growth.
Guns36 cells36 x 9 boxperiod 30
- Category
- Guns
- Period
- 30
- Movement
- bounded
- Population
- 36 cells
- Bounding box
- 36 x 9
- Known since
- 1970
Exact generation snapshots
Compare the pattern over time
The gun core repeats every 30 generations while gliders leave. The complete growing pattern does not repeat.
These images are computed on an unbounded B3/S23 plane. Each frame is fitted to its own live-cell bounding box; compare the labels rather than the apparent scale.
How to use it
Use it to introduce glider streams, guns, and unbounded population growth.
Open the pattern in the lab, reduce the speed, and use single-step mode when a phase change is hard to see. The green preview marks births in the next generation; red outlines mark live cells that will die.
Fast answers
Common questions about Gosper glider gun
What is the period of the Gosper glider gun?
The period is 30. After 30 generations, the gun core returns to the same phase while a glider has moved away.
How large is the Gosper glider gun?
The standard pattern has 36 live cells in a 36 x 9 bounding box.
Why does the Gosper glider gun prove Life can grow forever?
It starts from a finite pattern and keeps emitting gliders under the standard B3/S23 rule, so the live-cell history is unbounded rather than settling into final ash.
Next experiments
Compare nearby patterns
Move between similar structures to see which facts change: box size, lifespan, extinction, motion, and final ash.
Simkin glider gun
A compact true glider gun discovered by Michael Simkin in 2015.
- Size
- 33 x 21
- Lifespan
- 120
Queen bee shuttle
A period-30 oscillator closely tied to early glider-gun history.
- Size
- 22 x 7
- Lifespan
- 30
Glider
The smallest spaceship and the standard signal in Life.
- Size
- 3 x 3
- Lifespan
- 4
Eater 1
A seven-cell still life that can absorb gliders in useful reactions.
- Size
- 4 x 4
- Lifespan
- 1