Named rule catalogue
Generated page. Built by
docs/tools/gen-named-rules.pyfrom the program’s own rule list (crates/jetcarp-core/data/rules/named.json) and the credits filedocs/data/named-rule-credits.tsv. Edit those files, not this page.
JETCARP knows 166 rules by name, collected from the rule lists that the Life community
has kept for decades. You can type a name anywhere a rule is expected (jetcarp rules lists them, with
a few more built-in names for families that have no standard list). Every one of them runs on any
tiling, though most were found on the square grid and behave differently elsewhere; see
How JETCARP generalises automata.
About the credits. Most of these rules were named, and often found, by hobbyists: through Mirek Wójtowicz’s MCell program and its rules lexicon in the late 1990s, the ConwayLife.com forums, and LifeWiki’s lists. The Credit column names a person only when a source does, with the role the source gives (found, named, studied). An empty cell means no source we checked names anyone, not that nobody did. Where sources disagree, both are shown. 76 of the 166 rules have a named person. The credits were checked in November 2026 against LifeWiki (read through its mirror, since conwaylife.com refuses automated reading), the MCell lexicon, Toffoli and Margolus’s Cellular Automata Machines (1987) and Wikipedia. If you know of an earlier or missing credit, please open an issue.
The Source column links the list each rule was taken from. The short descriptions JETCARP shows for each rule are written in our own words.
| Family | Rules |
|---|---|
| Life-like | 88 |
| Life-like (B0) | 6 |
| Life-like, hexagonal | 1 |
| Life-like, von Neumann | 1 |
| Generations | 45 |
| Larger than Life | 9 |
| Elementary | 10 |
| Agents | 4 |
| Layered | 2 |
jetcarp quickstart --sheet --filter Generations. Numbers: 0 Brian's Brain; 1 Brian's Brain on Penrose rhombs; 2 Brian's Brain; 3 Star Wars; 4 Frogs; 5 Caterpillars; 6 Banners; 7 Transers; 8 Sticks; 9 Worms; 10 Lava; 11 Cooties; 12 RainZha; 13 BelZhab; 14 Xtasy; 15 Fireworks; 16 Bombers; 17 Faders; 18 9:43 at Knight; 19 BelZhab Sediment; 20 Bloomerang; 21 Brain 6; 22 Burst; 23 Burst II; 24 Chenille; 25 Circuit Genesis; 26 Ebb and Flow; 27 Ebb and Flow II; 28 Flaming Starbows; 29 Frozen Spirals; 30 Glisserati; 31 Glissergy; 32 Lines; 33 Living On The Edge; 34 Meteor Guns; 35 Nova; 36 OrthoGo; 37 Prairie on fire; 38 Rake; 39 SediMental; 40 Snake; 41 Soft Freeze; 42 Spirals; 43 Swirl; 44 Thrill Grill; 45 Transers II; 46 Wanderers.Life-like
Family page: Life-like.
Life-like (B0)
Family page: Life-like (B0).
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| AntiLife | B0123478/S01234678 | rule list; LifeWiki: List of Life-like rules | |
| InverseLife | B0123478/S34678 | Jason Rampe (named it; MCell: “a rule by”) | rule list; LifeWiki: List of Life-like rules; LifeWiki: OCA:B3678/S23; MCell lexicon |
| Invertamaze | B028/S0124 | rule list; LifeWiki: List of Life-like rules; LifeWiki: OCA:Invertamaze | |
| Neon Blobs | B08/S4 | rule list; LifeWiki: List of Life-like rules | |
| Oils | B014/S2 | rule list; LifeWiki: List of Life-like rules | |
| Wickstretcher And The Parasites | B01356/S012345 | rule list; LifeWiki: List of Life-like rules; LifeWiki: OCA:Wickstretcher And The Parasites |
Life-like, hexagonal
Family page: Life-like, hexagonal.
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hexagonal Life | B2/S34H | Name taken from the title of a ConwayLife.com forum thread by drc, 18 January 2016 (not re-checked) | rule list; LifeWiki: Hexagonal neighbourhood; ConwayLife forum |
Life-like, von Neumann
Family page: Life-like, von Neumann.
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gnarl (von Neumann) | B1/S0V | Kellie Evans | rule list; LifeWiki: Gnarl; MCell lexicon |
Generations
Family page: Generations.
Larger than Life
Family page: Larger than Life.
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bosco’s Rule | R5,C2,S33-57,B34-45 | Kellie Evans | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon; Golly LtL help |
| Bugsmovie | R10,C2,S122-211,B123-170 | David Griffeath | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon |
| Coexistence ¹ | R4,C2,S9,14,16-17,21,23-24,30-31,37-38,44-45,51-52,58-59,B3,10,17,21,24,31,38,45,52,59,NW100010001000000000000000000000777000100707001000777000000000000000000000100010001 | bubblegum | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life |
| Factorio | R3,C2,S2,B3,N+ | H. H. P. M. P. Cole | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life |
| Globe | R8,C2,S163-223,B74-252 | Mirek Wójtowicz | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon |
| Majority (LtL) | R4,C2,S40-80,B41-81 | David Griffeath | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon |
| Majorly | R7,C2,S112-224,B113-225 | David Griffeath | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon |
| ModernArt | R10,C255,S1-2,B3 | Charles A. Rockafellor | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon |
| Waffle | R7,C2,S99-199,B75-170 | Kellie Evans | rule list; LifeWiki: Larger than Life; MCell lexicon |
Elementary
Family page: Elementary.
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule 105 | W105 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 126 | W126 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 150 | W150 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 18 | W18 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 184 | W184 | Earliest studies: Wentian Li (1987) and Krug & Spohn (1988); later used for traffic flow (e.g. Biham, Middleton & Levine 1992) | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton; Wikipedia: Rule 184 |
| Rule 22 | W22 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 45 | W45 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 54 | W54 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 60 | W60 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton | |
| Rule 73 | W73 | rule list; Wikipedia: Elementary cellular automaton |
Agents
Family page: Agents.
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turmite LLRRRLRLRLLR | Turmite LLRRRLRLRLLR | rule list; Wikipedia: Langton%27s ant | |
| Turmite LRRRRRLLR | Turmite LRRRRRLLR | rule list; Wikipedia: Langton%27s ant | |
| Turmite RLR | Turmite RLR | rule list; Wikipedia: Langton%27s ant | |
| Turmite RRLLLRLLLRRR | Turmite RRLLLRLLLRRR | rule list; Wikipedia: Langton%27s ant |
Layered
Family page: Layered.
| Name | Notation | Credit | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layered parity | Layer 2/01 | Jimmie Rodgers (JETCARP, 2026) | JETCARP |
| Layered sum mod 3 | Layer 3/012 | Jimmie Rodgers (JETCARP, 2026) | JETCARP |
¹ Listed in the data file but not yet accepted by this version of JETCARP: Coexistence. Coexistence uses a weighted Larger than Life neighbourhood, which JETCARP does not read yet.