Black&White Game guide

We presuppose some knowledge of John Conway's Game of Life.
See the Game of Life Reminder if necessary.
The Black&White Game differs from the standard Game of Life only in one respect: The initial pattern consists of two type of cells, black and white. Since each newborn cell has three parents according to the standard rules, it is natural to let the new cells in the B&W Game get that colour which is in majority among the parent cells.

The rest of the rules are standard. Cells survive to the next generation if they are surrounded by 2 or 3 cells, regardless of colours.

Do the following steps:

1. Choose side length of the game field. 9 is a natural start. Large fields are much slower.
2. Press 'enter white' to start the initialization. *)
3. Click on the squares of the field to get white cells. Another click erases the white colour.
4. Press 'enter black' and click the field to get black cells. These steps can be repeated at will.
5. Press 'next' to get the next generation.
   

   *) You can also choose among the predefined standard patterns in the pulldown menu. Make sure that you have chosen a suitable sidelength. All standard patterns work well with side length 13. Note that the 'stable border' demands side length 13 . See also the 'Border note' below.

• introduce new cells or erase old cells by pressing 'enter white' or 'enter black'
• enlarge or diminish the field by choosing a new side length
  
• start all over by pressing 'clear' (It is a good idea to reduce the side length before that.)

Border note.

The game field is always surrounded by an invisible empty border. This means that the game field cannot be thought of as a window in a larger field and that the standard Life rules are not always obeyed at the border. If e.g. three living cells are situated in a row at the border no new cell is born outside the field as it should according to the standard rules. On the other hand it becomes possible to study special border effects. Some ordinarily unstable patterns become stable at the border as exemplified by the predefined 'stable border' in the standard pattern collection.

Suggested rules for two persons B&W Game.