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Show HN: RuleHunt – TikTok for Cellular Automata (rulehunt.org)

15 points by irgolic ↗ HN
We built RuleHunt to search for interesting cellular automata rules using tiktok-style engagement monitoring.

The first rule shown is Conway’s Game of Life. As you scroll, you will see other random rules – the search space is 2^512. Help us find good rule heuristics by starring the ones you like!

On mobile it's a tiktok-like scrolling interface; on desktop it's an interface for targeted rule searching. Starred rules go to a global leaderboard.

GitHub repo: https://github.com/rulehunt/rulehunt

4 comments

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rjwalters
Hey everyone — I’m one of the creators of RuleHunt

This started at the https://alife.org/ Hackathon in Kyoto as an experiment to get a more intuitive feel for how unique cellular automata patterns like Conway's Game of Life really are. Each browser runs automata simulations locally using WebGL (via GPU.js) with CPU fallback.

We’d love feedback on ideas for ranking or clustering interesting rules — right now “interestingness” is purely human. Thinking about adding simple metrics like entropy, density, or temporal variance to help map the space.

Happy to answer any technical or design questions!

bluewin
Oh this is neat, it seems to be a good way to switch off of doom scrolling cause after using it for a few minutes it was pretty easy to just go do something else without the urge to go back to it.

Plus some of them are pretty cool, I found one that looked like a rug.

renshijian
This rule set feels like a challenging intellectual adventure. Each round forces you to find a delicate balance between strategy and randomness, making it feel like you're unlocking hidden secrets! While a bit challenging, it's the kind of fun that makes you become a master after just one try, making it perfect for those who enjoy thinking!
fragmede
oh you can't scroll back to a previous one you've seen.