Cellular automata guide

Three looks

Each picture below starts from the random grid the tool opens with, on a grid of 100 cells a side. The rule was typed into the Custom rule box, which shows when you press Custom under Rules.

Press Play, and press the same button again (it reads Pause by then) near the generation named. Runs from a random grid never repeat exactly, so yours will differ in the detail.

Game of Life, B3/S23

Mint-green blocks, rings and short lines on a dark grid with thin grid lines
Around generation 60, with grid lines on.

Most of the random start has died away. What is left are small still blocks, rings, blinking lines, and a few clusters that are still changing. Press Play again and watch for gliders.

SettingValue
Cells per side100
GridApply size
Load and saveRandom fill
Grid linesOn
Custom ruleB3/S23
Generations / sec20
PlaybackPlay
PlaybackPlay

This is the same rule as the Game of Life button.

A maze, B3/S12345

Pale blue corridors winding like a maze across a dark blue grid
Around generation 60, in the Ice scheme.

Cells are born with 3 neighbours, as in Life, but survive with anything from 1 to 5. Crowded cells die, lonely ones hang on, and the grid grows into long corridors.

SettingValue
Cells per side100
GridApply size
Load and saveRandom fill
SchemeIce
Custom ruleB3/S12345
Generations / sec20
PlaybackPlay
PlaybackPlay

Seeds, B2/S

Coral-red sparks scattered like static across a dark red grid
Around generation 20, in the Fire scheme.

No cell survives, and any empty cell with exactly 2 live neighbours is born. The grid never settles: sparks spread and fill it with noise.

SettingValue
Cells per side100
GridApply size
Load and saveRandom fill
SchemeFire
Custom ruleB2/S
Generations / sec20
PlaybackPlay
PlaybackPlay

This is the same rule as the Seeds button.