Conway’s Game of Life

The MAX7219LED8x8 library combined with a simple scheduler to automate the task of outputting the buffer to the LED 8×8 matrix comes very handy if you want to write certain type programs, like games for instance. Given the small number of pixels on the LED matrix – only 64, and other limitation set by the Tinusaurplatform, it looks like a game as simple as the Conway’s Game of Life would be a perfect example how to write such a program.

The Game of Life is a classical computer game and a cellular automaton created by the British mathematician John Horton Conway in 1970. This is a zero-player game which means that once it starts no input from user is required to play the game’s turns – it goes by itself until it concludes or goes in a cycle forever.

Its simple rules (outlined below) allow to be implemented on very simple microprocessor systems and Tinusaur (and ATtiny microcontroller systems in general) could be perfect platform for that.