Conway's Game of Life Records

Since the 15th February 2024 I've been tracking the number of generations required for the number associated with my diurnal age to reach stability under the rules of Conway's Game of Life. On that date, I created a post titled Diurnal Age Meets Conway's Game Of Life that explained the manner in which this number was arrived at. 

Up until today, the record of around 1190 generations was held by 27373 on the 13th March 2024. At that date, no other number had surpassed 1000 generations. Today however, the number associated with my diurnal age, 27388, exceeded the previous record by an impressive margin. This number required slightly less than 1700 generations to reach stability.

Early in the evolution two gliders were created so these do not appear in the screenshot shown in Figure 1 because by the time stability was reached they were far off screen.

Figure 1: using https://playgameoflife.com/

The path of the gliders can be seen in this alternative view shown in Figure 2 where oscillators appear in black and still life shapes appear as white, both against a background of orange cells that were active prior to stability.

Figure 2: using https://conwaylife.com/

Here's a video of the action:

So the record has been set and it remains to be seen when it will be surpassed but this post formally notes the record and if and when it is exceeded I'll add an addendum.

It's interesting what a difference a single cell that is turned on or off can make. For example, 27389 is identical to 27388 except for one cell that is turned off and thus makes the 8 into a 9. Under Conway's Game of Life rules, it terminates in 142 generations and leaves only two blocks. It's nice how the glider collides with a third block so that the two annihilate each other. Here is a video of the action:

ADDENDUM, Sunday April 14th 2024

27402 stabilises after about 2070 generations under Conway's Game of Life rules to six gliders and an assortment of still lifes and oscillators. This sets the record so far for number of generations. The previous record was held by 27388 with about 1700 generations.

ADDENDUM, Sunday April 28th 2024

Only two weeks since my last addendum and 27419 sets a new record by a significant margin. The new number of generations is about 3745 and Figure 3 shows the final configuration with the paths of the numerous gliders clearly visible.

Figure 3

See later post Another Record in Conway's Game of Life.