List of common oscillators

This is a list of the most common oscillators in the Game of Life. The patterns in this table beyond about row 10 are only approximately ranked, as they all occur very infrequently so it is difficult to generate accurate estimates of their occurrence. The approximate relative frequency column gives an estimate of the proportion of all randomly-occurring oscillators that will be of the given type, as computed in Catalogue.

Rank	Pattern	Period	Heat	Minimum # of cells	Approximate relative frequency (out of 1.00)
1	Blinker	2	4	3	0.990
2	Toad	2	8	6	0.00755
3	Beacon	2	2	6	0.00236
4	Pulsar	3	42.7	48	0.000243
5	Pentadecathlon	15	22.4	12	0.00000262
6	Clock	2	8	6	0.00000153
7	Bipole	2	4	8	3.194×10-7
8	Quadpole	2	8	10	2.86×10-7
9	Great on-off	2	2	18	1.97×10-7
10	Figure eight	8	16.5	12	9.38×10-8
11	Spark coil	2	2	18	6.44×10-8
12	Mold	4	7	12	5.368×10-8
13	Quadpole on ship	2	8	16	2.206×10-8
14	Tripole	2	6	9	1.085×10-8
15	Mazing	4	14	12	1.022×10-8
16	Blocker	8	9	15	7.125×10-9
17	Jam	3	14.3	13	5.391×10-9
18	Trans-queen bee shuttle	30	17.9	20	3.089×10-9
19	Cis-queen bee shuttle	30	17.9	20	3.027×10-9
20	Trans-beacon on table	2	2	12	2.562×10-9
21	Cis-beacon on table	2	2	12	2.519×10-9
22	Cis-beacon on dock	2	2	16	2.398×10-9
23	Achim's p4	4	4	40	1.936×10-9
24	Test tube baby	2	2	14	2×10-9
25	Cis-beacon on anvil	2	2	19	1.868×10-9
26	Octagon 2	5	16	16	1.609×10-9
27	Unix	6	11.3	16	1.589×10-9
28	Tub test tube baby	2	2	16	1.457×10-9
29	Trans-beacon on dock	2	2	16	1.101×10-9
30	Tumbler	14	10.3	16	1.052×10-9
31	Cis-beacon up on long hook	2	2	14	1.02×10-9
32	1 beacon	2	2	18	8.99×10-10
	Cis-beacon on cap	2	2	14	8.99×10-10
34	20P2	2	2	21	8.39×10-10
35	Cis-beacon down on long hook	2	2	14	7.79×10-10
36	Block on griddle	2	6	15	4.19×10-10
	Boat on spark coil	2	2	23	4.19×10-10
38	Fore and back	2	4	24	3.60×10-10
	21P2	2	2	16	3.60×10-10
40	Trans-block on long hook eating tub	3	6	16	3.00×10-10
	Trans-beacon down on long hook	2	2	14	3.00×10-10
42	Caterer	3	14.7	12	2.40×10-10
	Beehive on griddle	2	6	17	2.40×10-10
44	Bipole on ship	2	4	14	1.80×10-10
	Boat on quadpole	2	8	15	1.80×10-10
	Candlefrobra	3	6	16	1.80×10-10
	Coe's p8	8	12.5	17	1.80×10-10
	22P2	2	2	20	1.80×10-10
	23P2	2	2	17	1.80×10-10
50	Beacon and two tails	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	Beehive on long hook eating tub	3	6	18	1.20×10-10
	Cis-boat on long hook eating tub	3	6	17	1.20×10-10
	Eater plug	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	Boat on griddle	2	6	16	1.20×10-10
	Odd test tube baby	2	2	15	1.20×10-10
	Trans-beacon on cap	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	Trans-beacon up on long hook	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	24P2	2	2	18	1.20×10-10
	18P2.471	2	2	18	1.20×10-10
	26P2	2	2	20	1.20×10-10

See also

• Common
• Frequency class
• List of common still lifes
• List of common spaceships