The Game of Life was invented by Cambridge mathematician John
Conway.
The Rules
Survivals. Every counter with two or three neighboring counters survives for
the next generation.
Deaths. Each counter with four or more neighbors dies (is removed) from overpopulation.
Every counter with one neighbor or none dies from isolation.
Births. Each empty cell adjacent to exactly three neighbors--no more, no fewer--is
a birth cell. A counter is placed on it at the next move.
The flash animation above will restart if no cell is born and no cell dies.
In some instance the pattern will just repeat indefinitely.