The Game of Life is played out on an infinite grid of square cells.
Each cell can be in one of two states: alive or dead. 'Alive' is shown in this simulation as red, and 'dead' is shown as pink.
Each cell has 8 neighbours.
In the picture below, the red cell's eight neighbours are shown in green:
The Game of Life is set in motion by a pattern being placed on the grid, making those cells 'alive'. This pattern is the first generation. ( In the above, the first generation would consist of just one alive cell).
A set of rules are then applied to each cell in the grid simultaneously.
From the application of these rules a new generation is created.
By successive repetition of these operations, complex patterns often emerge...