What to watch
- The gun has period 120.
- The starting pattern contains 36 live cells in a 33 x 21 bounding box.
- It is a good comparison with the period-30 Gosper glider gun.
Guns
Simkin glider gun
A compact true glider gun discovered by Michael Simkin in 2015.
The Simkin glider gun gives readers a modern counterpart to the Gosper gun: still recognizable, but much newer and based on a compact double-barreled construction.
Simkin glider gun is a modern compact gun
The Simkin glider gun is a compact period-120 glider gun discovered in 2015. It is useful beside the older Gosper gun because a user can compare two working guns without changing the basic question: how does a finite pattern keep emitting gliders?
Guns36 cells33 x 21 boxperiod 120
- Category
- Guns
- Period
- 120
- Movement
- bounded
- Population
- 36 cells
- Bounding box
- 33 x 21
- Known since
- 2015
How to use it
Use it on gun comparison pages for readers who want a small or modern glider-gun example.
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 Simkin glider gun
What is the period of the Simkin glider gun?
The Simkin glider gun has period 120. That makes it slower to verify than the Gosper gun, but useful as a compact modern comparison.
Should I learn Gosper or Simkin first?
Start with the Gosper glider gun because its period-30 cycle is easier to check. Then run Simkin to see a newer period-120 construction.
Why compare Simkin with Gosper?
Both are finite guns that emit gliders, but they come from different moments in Life history and have different periods. That contrast helps users separate the idea of a gun from one famous pattern.