Each cell has one of N colors arranged in a cycle. A cell moves on to the next color in the cycle as soon as enough of its neighbors (the threshold) already have that next color. Starting from random noise, colors chase each other around and, after a few hundred steps, usually organize into slowly rotating spirals. Choose a preset, or change the number of states, how far a cell looks (range), the threshold, and the shape of the neighborhood.

David Griffeath and others studied these automata in the 1980s and called the spiral patterns "cyclic" because every color is eventually replaced by the next one around the cycle. Whether you get spirals, turbulent noise, or a frozen picture depends sharply on the three numbers: a low threshold with few states tends to freeze or boil, and a higher threshold gives the regular spirals. The grid wraps around at the edges. Not every setting does anything interesting, so try changing one number at a time.

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