Transport

Attraction

Attractor share5%

5% attractors, 95% seekers among occupied cells. Rounded to whole cells. Attractors also pursue other attractors. With no eligible target, a cell stays still. A fully occupied field may jam.

Wait one cycle per cell of distance before entering the next closer band: 40 cycles at distance 40, then 39 at distance 39. Inward progress gets faster as you approach.

Each band spans one cell of straight-line distance. Forty waiting cycles means inward travel becomes eligible on the forty-first.

The timer restricts your own inward progress; your moving target can also change the distance. Move around your band every cycle in your compass direction. If your closest permitted square is contested, try the next choice in the same cycle. Stop only when all legal choices fail.

Changing attractor share rebuilds the seeded opening and pauses at Step zero. One Step is one cycle; playback starts at 16 Steps per second.

041GOL

Slow Attraction

Seekers and attractors approach other attractors, orbit within distance bands while waiting, and disappear on arrival. The closer the band, the shorter the wait.

Explore the collection Rules & reproducibility

Approach, orbit, disappear

01Every cell, including attractors, receives a randomly chosen attractor and a clockwise or counterclockwise compass. Attractors never target themselves.
02Wait your distance band in cycles before entering the next closer band. Keep moving around the same band while you wait.
03Move one neighboring square, including diagonals. Occupied squares block; competing claims try other legal squares in the same cycle. Touching your own attractor before or after movement means death, for either role. Surviving cells whose target dies choose another surviving attractor for the next cycle.

Same-band travel follows the compass even if the exact distance varies slightly. Choose the closest legal destination; equal distances use the compass turn from the inward bearing. Resolve choices in simultaneous rounds, with no priority winner. Move at most once per cycle; retries do not consume extra time. Your own move cannot skip a band, retreat outward or swap. Dying cells free their squares for the following Step.

Click a cell to pause and inspect its target, distance band, wait and exact next move. Attractor center marks remain visible with Color off.

Experiment index041 / 100

Game of Life: Slow Attraction

Paused · Toroidal

160 × 160 · 2539 cells

Attractor · center markClockwise seekerCounterclockwise seeker

The closer the attraction, the sooner the next inward step.

Click to inspect. Arrow keys select; Enter inspects; P plays/pauses; S steps.