Conway's Game of Life is one of the first computer games. It is a mathematical 'game' in which you create patterns in a grid and according to the following rules, you can watch the pattern evolve.

  • Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if caused by under-population.
  • Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation.
  • Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overcrowding.
  • Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction.

You can play an on-line version here if you can be arsed to faff around with java settings.

"But how would those rules work with the De Stijl paintings of Piet Mondrian", I hear no one ask. Well, that's what I've created below.
Just roll your mouse over a painting for it to play out, and click the painting to reset it to its original form.