3D

Game of

Life

Rules

In the Game of Life, a population of cubes evolves over time. In each generation, whether a cube lives or dies depends on its neighbors.

More specifically, choose four numbers a, b, c, and d. Here's the breakdown:

  1. If a living cube has between a and b neighbors, it stays alive to the next generation. Otherwise it dies (by over- or underpopulation.)
  2. If an empty cell has between c and d neighbors, it becomes alive in the next generation (by reproduction).

Each cube can have between 0 and 26 neighbors.

Examples

Here are some examples illustrating how the 3D Game of Life plays out with certain sets of initial conditions. Click on one of the examples below to set the initial game state.

  1. Beacons (Life 6,7,7,7)
  2. Clocks (Life 5,7,6,6)
  3. Glider (Life 4,5,5,5)
  4. Collision (Life 5,7,6,6)

Settings

Probability that a cube starts out alive: 30%

Click on highlighted cubes to toggle their life status.

Current Layer: 1

Notes

Based on Jon Conway's 2D Game of Life.

Many examples taken from Carter Bays' paper Candidates for the Game of Life in Three Dimensions.

Source code available here.