List of common oscillators

This is a list of the most common oscillators in the Game of Life. A pattern is considered common if it frequently arises after several generations of a random starting pattern (known as soup). 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.

Rank	Pattern	Period	Heat	Minimum # of cells	Approximate relative frequency (out of 1.00)
1	Blinker	2	4	3	0.989
2	Toad	2	8	6	0.00804
3	Beacon	2	2	6	0.00246
4	Pulsar	3	42.7	48	1.53×10-4
5	Pentadecathlon	15	22.4	12	1.84×10-6
6	Clock	2	8	6	1.78×10-6
7	Bipole	2	4	8	3.98×10-7
8	Quadpole	2	8	10	3.65×10-7
9	Great on-off	2	2	18	2.60×10-7
10	Figure eight	8	16.5	12	9.04×10-8
11	Spark coil	2	2	18	8.17×10-8
12	Mold	4	7	12	6.60×10-8
13	Ship on quadpole	2	8	16	2.74×10-8
14	Tripole	2	6	9	1.43×10-8
15	Mazing	4	14	12	1.34×10-8
16	Blocker	8	9	15	8.21×10-9
17	Jam	3	14.3	13	7.37×10-9
18	Cis-queen bee shuttle	30	17.9	20	5.27×10-9
	Trans-queen bee shuttle	30	17.9	20	5.27×10-9
20	Cis-beacon and dock	2	2	16	4.31×10-9
21	Cis-beacon and table	2	2	12	3.36×10-9
22	Trans-beacon and table	2	2	12	3.24×10-9
23	Achim's p4	4	4	40	3.00×10-9
24	Cis-beacon and anvil	2	2	19	2.70×10-9
25	Test tube baby	2	2	14	2.34×10-9
26	Octagon 2	5	16	16	1.80×10-9
	Unix	6	11.3	16	1.80×10-9
28	Tumbler	14	10.3	16	1.32×10-9
29	Tub test tube baby	2	2	16	1.26×10-9
30	Trans-beacon and dock	2	2	16	1.20×10-9
31	Cis-beacon up and long hook	2	2	14	1.02×10-9
32	1 beacon	2	2	18	8.99×10-10
	Cis-beacon and cap	2	2	14	8.99×10-10
34	20P2	2	2	21	8.39×10-10
35	Cis-beacon down and long hook	2	2	14	7.79×10-10
36	Griddle and block	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 and long hook eating tub	3	6	16	3.00×10-10
	Trans-beacon down and long hook	2	2	14	3.00×10-10
42	Caterer	3	14.7	12	2.40×10-10
	Griddle and beehive	2	6	17	2.40×10-10
44	Ship on bipole	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 and long hook eating tub	3	6	16	1.20×10-10
	Cis-boat and long hook eating tub	3	6	17	1.20×10-10
	Eater plug	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	Griddle and boat	2	6	16	1.20×10-10
	Trans-beacon and cap	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	Trans-beacon up and long hook	2	2	14	1.20×10-10
	24P2	2	2	18	1.20×10-10
	25P2	2	2	15	1.20×10-10
	26P2	2	2	18	1.20×10-10
	27P2	2	2	20	1.20×10-10

External links

• Most seen natural occurring ash objects in Game of Life by Achim Flammenkamp