The Game of Life (an example of a cellular automaton) is played on an infinite two-dimensional rectangular grid of cells. Each cell can be either alive or dead. The status of each cell changes each turn of the game (also called a generation) depending on the statuses of that cell's 8 neighbors. Neighbors of a cell are cells that touch that cell, either horizontal, vertical, or diagonal from that cell.
- If the cell is alive, then it stays alive if it has either 2 or 3 live neighbors
- If the cell is dead, then it springs to life only in the case that it has 3 live neighbors
