History Main / TheGameOfLife

[[quoteright:92:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GameOfLife_glider_9201.png]]
[[caption-width-right:92:The "glider" is a pattern that moves 1 cell diagonally every 4 generations.]]

The Game of Life is a mind-bogglingly complex universe-simulator invented by the mathematician John Conway. Based around an infinite grid and a few simple rules, it gives a new meaning to emergent complexity. Each tile on the grid can exist in one of two states: the default "dead" state, or "live". Given a blank, dead grid, a player then seeds the canvas with little colonies of "live" squares. A live square that is neighbored by fewer than two, or more than three, other live squares dies. A dead square that is bordered by exactly three live squares becomes live. A website which allows you to tinker around with Life patterns can be found [[http://www.ibiblio.org/lifepatterns/ here.]]

Not to be confused with [[TabletopGame/GameOfLife Milton Bradley's board game]].

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!!References in fictional works:

* ''Tea With The Black Dragon'' by Creator/RAMacAvoy has a metaphorically-significant scene in which the protagonist is introduced to the game.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has a mushroom farming minigame that follows the same rules (although with more than one kind of mushroom), but the board is only 4x4, making it impossible to create any particularly interesting patterns.
* ''[[{{Webcomic/Mezzacotta}} Square Root of Minus Garfield]]'''s "[[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=448 Garfield, Infinite Canvas, and The Game of Life]]", in which a ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' comic about not having a life is used as the starting state for the Game of Life.
* ''Glory Season'' by Creator/DavidBrin features this game with the variation of being played as a contest, with each side getting part of the board to use, with the goal being eliminating the other side.
* One of the intro cinematics for ''VideoGame/{{Darwinia}}'' is a simulation of Life, with the added caveat that each Darwinian will die after a set number of years no matter what. As it's incredibly difficult not to get attached to the little guys while playing Darwinia, seeing the last "block" and "spaceship" formations settle, flicker, and die can be [[TearJerker very haunting]].
* An element in the ''VideoGame/BoulderDash'' clone ''VideoGame/RocksNDiamonds''.
* In Creator/LyndonHardy's 1988 novel ''Riddle of the Seven Realms'', a character creates a dimension that operates under these rules, even calling it "the realm of the conways."
* Entering the cheat "gol" in ''[[VideoGame/SimCity SimCity 4]]'' plays the Game of Life using ''[=SimCity=] 4'''s grid-based lot system.
* Revival "Game of Life" is a spellcard used by Eirin Yagokoro in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} 8: Imperishable Night.'' WordOfGod [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Spell_Cards/Stage_6A commentary]] makes reference to the bullet patterns being inspired by those found in Conway's Game of Life.
--> '''ZUN''': "You might not understand this if you didn't study at a technical college."
* In ''SystemShock'', the walls, floors and ceilings of the virtual CyberSpace environment are square grids that light up in patterns that are seemingly arbitrary, until you realize they're following rules from the Game of Life.
* In ''VideoGame/{{ADOM}}'', herbs grow this way. [[spoiler:[[GameBreaker With the right preparations, you can grow an near-infinite number of herbs in the "Big Room" of the Caverns of Chaos.]]]]
* The ''Literature/WWWTrilogy'''s first book has Caitlin seeing cellular automata in the background of her "websight;" Dr. Kuroda brings up the Game of Life as an example of cellular automata while explaining it.
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* In {{ADOM}}, herbs grow this way. [[spoiler:[[GameBreaker With the right preparations, you can grow an near-infinite number of herbs in the "Big Room" of the Caverns of Chaos.]]]]

* In LyndonHardy's 1988 novel ''Riddle of the Seven Realms'', a character creates a dimension that operates under these rules, even calling it "the realm of the conways."

* ''Glory Season'' by DavidBrin features this game with the variation of being played as a contest, with each side getting part of the board to use, with the goal being eliminating the other side.

Not to be confused with Milton Bradley's board game.

* In ''SystemShock'', the walls, floors and ceilings of the virtual cyberspace environment are square grids that light up in seemingly arbitrary patterns, until you realize they're following rules from the Game of Life.

Revival "Game of Life" is a spellcard used by Eirin Yagokoro in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} 8: Imperishable Night.'' WordOfGod [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Imperishable_Night/Spell_Cards/Stage_6A commentary]] makes reference to the bullet patterns being inspired by those found in Conway's Game of Life.

* ''Tea With The Black Dragon'' by RAMacAvoy has a metaphorically-significant scene in which the protagonist is introduced to the game.
* ''KingdomOfLoathing'' has a mushroom farming minigame that follows the same rules (although with more than one kind of mushroom), but the board is only 4x4, making it impossible to create any particularly interesting patterns.
* ''[[{{Mezzacotta}} Square Root of Minus Garfield]]'''s "[[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=448 Garfield, Infinite Canvas, and The Game of Life]]", in which a ''{{Garfield}}'' comic about not having a life is used as the starting state for the Game of Life.

* An element in the ''BoulderDash'' clone ''RocksNDiamonds''.

* Entering the cheat "gol" in ''[[SimCity SimCity 4]]'' plays the Game of Life using ''[=SimCity=] 4'''s grid-based lot system.

* Revival "Game of Life" is a spellcard used by Eirin Yagokoro in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} 8: Imperishable Night''.

* Revival "Game of Life" is a spellcard used by Eirin Yagokoro in ''{{Touhou}} 8: Imperishable Night''.

* ''[[{{Mezzacotta}} Square Root of Minus Garfield]]'''s "[[http://www.mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=448 Garfield, Infinite Canvas, and The Game of Life]]", in which a {{Garfield}} comic about not having a life is used as the starting state for the Game of Life.

* One of the intro cinematics for {{VideoGame/Darwinia}} is a simulation of Life, with the added caveat that each Darwinian will die after a set number of years no matter what. As it's incredibly difficult not to get attached to the little guys while playing Darwinia, seeing the last "block" and "spaceship" formations settle, flicker, and die can be [[TearJerker very haunting]].

* An element in RocksNDiamonds

* One of the intro cinematics for {{Darwinia}} is a simulation of Life, with the added caveat that each Darwinian will die after a set number of years no matter what. As it's incredibly difficult not to get attached to the little guys while playing Darwinia, seeing the last "block" and "spaceship" formations settle, flicker, and die can be [[TearJerker very haunting]].

* ''TeaWithTheBlackDragon'' by [=R. A. MacAvoy=] has a metaphorically-significant scene in which the protagonist is introduced to the game.

* In Lyndon Hardy's 1988 novel ''Riddle of the Seven Realms'', a character creates a dimension that operates under these rules, even calling it "the realm of the conways."

* ''TeaWithTheBlackDragon'' by [=~R. A. MacAvoy~=] has a metaphorically-significant scene in which the protagonist is introduced to the game.

* ''Glory Season'' by David Brin features this game with the variation of being played as a contest, with each side getting part of the board to use, with the goal being eliminating the other side.

* ThisTroper vaguely recalls a dodgy sci-fi movie in which a student tinkers with the rules of the game and accidentally creates a program that evolves into an artificial intelligence. Unhelpfully, I can't remember what it was called or who was in it.