Conway's Game of Life Screensaver
This is a free, in-browser screensaver of Conway's Game of Life, the famous cellular automaton invented by mathematician John Conway in 1970. Cells on a grid live or die each generation by three simple rules, producing gliders, blinkers and ever-shifting patterns with no two runs alike. It runs full-screen with nothing to install, and you press ESC at any time to exit.
How the Conway’s Game of Life screensaver works
Conway's Game of Life plays out on a grid of square cells, each either alive or dead. Every generation, the screensaver counts the eight neighbours around each cell (the Moore neighbourhood) and applies the classic rules: a live cell with two or three live neighbours survives, a dead cell with exactly three live neighbours is born, and every other cell dies or stays empty. That rule set is written B3/S23, and it is the entire engine behind the chaos you see.
The grid is seeded at random, with the Starting density control setting the percentage of cells alive on frame one. From that noise, structure emerges on its own: gliders crawl diagonally, oscillators blink in place, and 'still lifes' settle into stable blocks. Nothing is scripted; every shape is a direct consequence of the three rules running over and over.
Each step is throttled to the Generations / sec you choose, so you can slow it to study a single glider or speed it up into a boiling froth. When Fade trails is on, a cell that dies leaves a glowing ghost that dims by about 18% per generation, so you can trace where activity has just been. Wrap edges joins the left edge to the right and top to bottom, turning the screen into a seamless torus so gliders that leave one side reappear on the other.
Because Life tends to settle into stable or repeating states, the screensaver watches the live population. If everything dies out, or the pattern stops changing for about 60 generations, it quietly reseeds with fresh random noise so the screen never goes static.
A worked example
With the defaults — Cell size 9px, 12 generations / sec, 28% starting density, Wrap edges on and Fade trails on — the screen fills with teal noise that quickly thins out. Within a few seconds you'll spot gliders drifting diagonally and reappearing on the far edge thanks to wrapping, while dead cells leave dimming trails. Bump Cell size up to 18px for a chunkier, easier-to-read board, or drop Generations / sec to 4 to watch each step land.
Settings & tips
- Lower the Generations / sec slider to 3 or 4 to actually watch gliders move one cell at a time; crank it to 30 for a churning, lava-like field.
- Turn off Wrap edges if you prefer patterns that crash into the walls and die, rather than looping around forever.
- Raise Starting density toward 60% for dense, explosive openings, or drop it near 5% for sparse boards where individual still lifes stand out.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the rules of Conway's Game of Life?
- A live cell with two or three live neighbours survives to the next generation. A dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes alive. Every other cell dies or stays dead, which is summarised as the B3/S23 rule.
- Is this Game of Life screensaver free?
- Yes. It runs entirely free in your web browser with no account, download or install required. Open the page, let it fill the screen, and press ESC when you want to stop.
- Why does the pattern restart on its own?
- Game of Life patterns tend to die out or settle into stable, repeating shapes. The screensaver detects when the population hits zero or stops changing for about 60 generations and reseeds the grid with new random noise.
- What is a glider in the Game of Life?
- A glider is a small five-cell pattern that walks diagonally across the grid forever, shifting one cell every four generations. It is the most famous moving structure that emerges naturally from the rules.
- Can I change the speed and colors?
- Yes. You can set generations per second, starting density, cell size and the cell color, and toggle edge wrapping and fading trails. Adjust the controls and the screensaver updates live.