Loafer

Loafer
x = 9, y = 9, rule = B3/S23 b2o2bob2o$o2bo2b2o$bobo$2bo$8bo$6b3o$5bo$6bo$7b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ TRACKLOOP 7 -1/7 0 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 27 GPS 5 HEIGHT 480 WIDTH 480 ]]
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Pattern type	Spaceship
Number of cells	20
Bounding box	9 × 9
Direction	Orthogonal
Period	7
Mod	7
Speed	c/7
Speed (unsimplified)	c/7
Heat	14.6
Discovered by	Josh Ball
Year of discovery	2013
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 – B378/S23678 # of rules 25 = 32 Isotropic rules B3-k/S23 – B34ceq5acen6acn78/S234cejknwy5-ijnq678
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders 8 Catagolue-generated RLE synthesis Uploaded synthesis RLE loafer_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext loafer.cells RLE loafer.rle
Identifiers apgcode xq7_3nw17862z6952 Pentadecathlon ID 20P7H1V0.1

Loafer (also the loafer) is a c/7 orthogonal spaceship found by Josh Ball on February 17, 2013. Its name refers to its slow speed and loaf-pushing behaviour.

It is the fifth smallest known spaceship in terms of cell count (after glider, lightweight spaceship, middleweight spaceship and heavyweight spaceship), being tied with some nontrivial flotillae.

Loafer ranked second place in the Pattern of the Year 2013 competition in a belated vote held on the ConwayLife.com forums, behind the Snark.

Uses and reactions

On February 22, 2013, Paul Tooke built a sawtooth that uses loafer's ability to turn a middleweight spaceship into a loaf.

On March 9, 2013, Mike Playle found a stable loafer-to-Herschel conduit, apparently by means of the same search program (or its earlier version) that gave the world the Snark a month and a half later.

On June 11, 2016, Simon Ekström created a loafer-to-glider conduit, based on a loafer-to-pi found by praosylen.

Nico Brown noted that the loafer can be cleanly destroyed by an eater 1 positioned at the loafer's foot.

x = 51, y = 19, rule = B3/S23 18b2o$18bo9b2o$19bo2bo2bo3bo$16b4o2b4o2bo$16bo11b2o$19b4ob2o$19bo2bob 2o2$11bo$9b3o$bo6bo12bo9b2o15bo$obo5b2o10bobo8b2o15bo$o2bo16bo2bo24b3o $b2o18b2o27bo2$o5bo13bo5bo$bo3bobo13bo3bobo$2o3bo2bo11b2o3bo2bo$o3b2o 2bo11bo3b2o2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 12 WIDTH 720 HEIGHT 400 THEME Book AUTOSTART GPS 7 PAUSE 2 T 36 PAUSE 1 GPS 15 T 95 PAUSE 2 LOOP 96 ]]

Left: a loafer eater found by Nico Brown. Right: a loafer-to-Herschel converter by Mike Playle, shown with BFx59H and ghost Herschel. (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Occurrence

See also: List of common spaceships

Despite the loafer's remarkably small size, it did not occur naturally until April 1, 2020, making it the first spaceship of a non-standard speed to occur in an asymmetric soup. A second soup was found by Rob Liston on June 2, 2020, and a third soup in August. Eight loafer-producing soups (of which two are symmetric) have been found as of May 2023.

Construction

Adam P. Goucher found an 18-glider synthesis for this spaceship on the day of its discovery which Matthias Merzenich reduced to 8 gliders the following day. Two loafer guns were built by Shannon Omick on February 19th of the same year, using these syntheses.

An one-glider seed for the loafer was constructed in February 2013, followed by a smaller version in March 2015.

x = 41, y = 37, rule = B3/S23 2bo$obo$b2o$32bo$30b2o8bo$31b2o5b2o$39b2o3$36bo$34b2o$15bo19b2o$14bo$ 14b3o2$6bo$7bo$5b3o8$b2o$2b2o$bo7$34b2o$34bobo$34bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 560 HEIGHT 540 THEME Book AUTOSTART GPS 24 ZOOM 10 T 0 PAUSE 2 T 102 PAUSE 1 LOOP 103 ]]

A 8G synthesis for the loafer (click above to open LifeViewer)

x = 46, y = 45, rule = B3/S23 13b2o17bobo$14bo17b2o$14bobo16bo$15b2o2$3bo$2bobo$bobo$b2o$14b2o$13bob o$13b2o4$20b2o$19bobo$10bo9bo$9bobo4bo$10b2o3bobo$14bobo$14b2o2$45bo$ 25b2o16b3o$20b2o3b2o15bo$19bo2bo19b2o$bo17bo2bo$obo17b2o$b2o4$21b2o$ 21bobo4b2o$22bo5bobo$29b2o$33b2o$33b2o3$22b2o$21bo2bo$21bo2bo$22b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 560 HEIGHT 540 ZOOM 8 X 0 Y 4 THEME Book AUTOSTART GPS 32 T 0 PAUSE 2 T 299 PAUSE 1 LOOP 300 ]]

An 1G seed for the loafer (click above to open LifeViewer)

See also

• Copperhead
• Taco

External links

• Loafer at the Life Lexicon
• Loafer at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue
• 20P7H1V0.1 at Heinrich Koenig's Game of Life Object Catalogs
• The 6 twenty-bit spaceships at Mark D. Niemiec's Life Page