Pattern of the Year 2025 Nomination Thread

[b-engine]

It's 2026 in 23 time zones as of time of creating thread, so guess I'll make the nomination thread.

Rules:

• The pattern in question must work in B3/S23.

• It must be discovered before January 1, 2026.

To nominate, simply post the name or reference to the pattern(s).

Edit by Sokwe: nominees should be added to this table on the wiki.

[77551enpassant]

To start:

• The Solifuge
• The (28,7)c/448 spaceship
• 23-bit still life syntheses
• Unidimensional spaceship
• 5c/9 signal loops and more 2c/3 technology
• True period-14 glider gun

[Entity Valkyrie 2]

To start:

• The Solifuge
• The (28,7)c/448 spaceship
• 23-bit still life syntheses
• Unidimensional spaceship
• 5c/9 signal loops and more 2c/3 technology
• True period-14 glider gun

I would like to request to replace "Solifuge" with "(12,4)c/62 technology", as the solifuge doesn't refer to just a single spaceship and other (12,4)c/62 technology were also made (e.g. puffers, rakes, synthesis/gun etc.)

Along the same vain, I would also like to add "31c/240 technology", with the new smaller spaceships like mannaz, water strider, and the many variants of Leaf bug 2.

EDIT: And how can I forget about the numerous oscillators discovered in 2025? (collection here)

[WhiteHawk]

Not necessarily a pattern, but besides the Solifuge, Giraffe Weevil, and 31c/240 tech, I think 2025 has been a good year for work on other climbers (if not completions), like 23c/83 and (15,11)c/107.

Also the period-18 glider gun and the numerous amounts of gun reductions may be noteworthy as well (guns of periods 35, 47, and many high-period guns got some fairly decent reductions this year).

[Anivec]

I nominate the 23-bit still life synthesis project.

[WhiteHawk]

I nominate the 23-bit still life synthesis project.

77551enpassant already nominated that

[synperiplanar]

i wanna nominate all the "there are no oscillators/spaceships of this period/speed below this population" or "this/these are the only oscillators/spaceships with this period/speed below this population" confirmations

i think inexperienced people dont know how useful this is just in general, because if another oscillator were to exist that could lead to a whole lot of SKOP reductions and if another spaceship were to exist then well the small spaceship finding scene is competitive so that too

[Sokwe]

i wanna nominate all the "there are no oscillators/spaceships of this period/speed below this population" or "this/these are the only oscillators/spaceships with this period/speed below this population" confirmations

I also greatly value these contributions, but to include them in the competition we would need to expand the scope to allow discoveries that aren't patterns (perhaps similar to the OCA "Discovery of the Year" competition). We didn't included the proof that all phoenix oscillators have period 2 in the 2024 POTY competition, even though I view it as one of the most interesting recent achievements in Life research. I would support such an expansion, and I'm curious what others think.

Does anyone have strong opinions on whether we expand the POTY competition to include Life-related proofs? If we did so, should the name be changed from "Pattern of the Year" to something else, like "Discovery of the Year"?

[b-engine]

Does anyone have strong opinions on whether we expand the POTY competition to include Life-related proofs? If we did so, should the name be changed from "Pattern of the Year" to something else, like "Discovery of the Year"?

1. Make a separate DOTY, but we don't have OCA Pattern of the Year and OCA of the Year.
2. Rename this thread to DOTY, but I won't do the job until there's a consensus.
3. Just straight up nominate nonpatterns or absence of patterns.

[Sokwe]

1. Make a separate DOTY, but we don't have OCA Pattern of the Year and OCA of the Year.

I don't see how we would have enough non-pattern nominees for a completely separate competition, and it's already difficult enough to get just one competition to happen.

I disagree, because patterns and proofs have much different purposes.

That's an interesting perspective. Can you give more detail? What do you view as the purpose of each? Why does this difference, in your view, mean that we should not include proofs in the competition?

[qqd]

I nominate the following (unformatted and in no particular order):

1. The Thessalonic Demonoid constructed by PK22, as well as its successor, Thessalonic Demonoid 2, the first known self-constructing spaceships with permanent circuitry made up of only blocks and fishhooks (Thessalonic Demonoid 2's temporary circuitry is also made up of blocks and fishhooks.)

2. The new oscillator periods of 66 and 92 that have appeared in soup for the first time in 2025, the respective oscillators discovered are Hilton's p66 and Four_twin_bees_shuttles_flipping_two_ships, discovered by C.R. Hilton and siffrin normal via soup search respectively.

3. The new stable MWSS-to-HWSS hammer by Entity Valkyrie as well as a similar LWSS on MWSS 3 to Coe Ship hammer.

4. A very fast direct glider to traffic jam signal converter by P1GG with repeat time 78 with an optional Herschel output.

5. Faster stable signal duplicators, such as an LWSS on LWSS duplicator of repeat time 58 by Entity Valkyrie, and a glider triplet duplicator of repeat time 57 by Luka Okanishi.

(3,4 and 5 may be merged into a single entry titled 'New stable signal converters')

6. An exponentially spaced binary counter by FWKnightship.

EDIT: Added forum links to nominations without an article.

[I6_I6]

Don't forget that Tarantula was discovered this year by Frank Everdij.
I also nominate:
Faster highway robbers (various people, final one by Entity Valkyrie 2)
Smaller unsynthesizable still life (400spartans)
Leaf bug 2 (Gustone)
Speed demonoid gun (enofet)
Faster 2c/3 receivers (TigerCub414, Entity Valkyrie 2)
Leaf bug 2 gun (Entity Valkyrie 2, reductions by Hippo.69)
Gliderless guns for nonstandard spaceships (PK22)
p3 bouncer (Matthias Merzenich, based on partial by James Pascua)
(Edit: Added links, as per dvgrn's suggestion below)

[dvgrn]

It will be really helpful if as many nominations as possible can contain links to what they're nominating -- generally forum links.

In case it's useful to people doing nominations of things that were mentioned in LifeWiki CurrentNews, I've just posted to the NewLifeCA Back Issues thread every CurrentNews item from 2025.

The forum message link is usually the second link in each news item, i.e., the verb: "discovers", "invents", "creates", "uses", "synthesizes", etc.

This might make it a little easier to reach the primary source material without wrestling with the LifeWiki, which has been rather unreliable lately.

Some nominations might need LifeWiki links or Catagolue links. Many of those can also be found in the relevant CurrentNews item(s). Please take the time to copy them out and include them in nominations, when you can -- it can really cut down on the confusion about what exactly is being nominated and where exactly to find it.

[dbell]

I suppose I should submit some of the sawtooths that I made in 2025. Perhaps one or two of them could have their own entry, but I'm happy to lump them all together in one entry.

I made a separate entry for the pattern having multiple contributors.

----

A new record minimum repeating population of 168 cells, superseding Sawtooth 177 which was found in 2015. (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6258#p209381)

Two new record minimum repeating population of 374 cells expanding sawtooths.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6258&start=25#p214346)

A new record minimum repeating population of 690 cells sawtooth spaceship based on a small adustment of the previous population 707 sawtooth spaceship that was found in 2011. (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6258&start=25#p215296)

A very slow sawtooth spaceship whose front end moves at c/12 and whose back end moves exponentially slowly. (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6258&start=25#p216504)

A sawtooth which contains no gliders.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6258&start=25#p218322)

----

A sawtooth with an initial bounding box of 48 x 50 cells (by EvinZL, Entity Valkerie, and David Bell). (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6258&start=25#p212057)

----

BCNU,
-dbell

[Entity Valkyrie 2]

Leaf bug 2 (Gustone)

Leaf bug 2 gun (Entity Valkyrie 2, reductions by Hippo.69)

Suggestion: I think that Leaf bug 2 and Leaf bug 2 gun (along with spaceships like mannaz and water strider) should be merged together into a single "new 31c/240 technology" entry.

(same goes with "(12,4)c/62 technology")

[dbell]

Here is an entry for "New Cordership Technology" for some patterns I made in 2025. I am happy for these to be lumped together.

----

A period 96 sideways rake with a record minimum population of 186 cells.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=150#p214761)

A period 96 backward rake with a record minimum population of 182 cells.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=150#p214345)

An adjustable high period Cordership with a record minimum population of 216 cells.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=175#p220169)

An adjustable high period rake with a record minimum population of 388 cells.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=150#p212762)

Many period 96 or 192 Corderships producing useful sparks on their edges based on
one or two switch engines attached to a three-engine Cordership.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=150#p215109)
and (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=150#p215109)

Many period 96 puffers producing various objects at the edge of the puffers.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=175#p216783)

Variable period backward edge-rakes allowing for the construction of closely packed backward glider convoys.
(viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4713&start=150#p216009)

----

BCNU,
-dbell

[Goldtiger997]

I nominate the synthesising of all known spaceships up to 35 bits.

The following key spaceships were synthesised in 2025:

• 32P4H2V0 by TigerCub414.
• All four variants of weightship pulling unnamed tagalong 23P4H2V0 by Entity Valkyrie 2, Goldtiger997, and Dave Greene.
• xq4_w6vfgzgfvs13wevnoz131y31 and xq4_04eb776zy1cdeceeecz27deee6 by vilc.
• 34P5H2V0 by Goldtiger997 and KtT.
• 35P4H1V1 by Goldtiger997 and KtT.

Below is a pattern containing the activation steps for each of the above spaceships (excluding variants):

Code: Select all

x = 351, y = 71, rule = B3/S23
335bo$335bobo$335b2o5$274bo$275b2o$274b2o49bo$205bo119bobo$203bobo119b
2o$204b2o38bo$243bo$148bobo92b3o$149b2o145bo$149bo71bo72bobo$200bo21b
2o71b2o$196bo4b2o18b2o$65bo87bobo41bo2b2o33bobo$63bobo19bo62bo4b2o40b
3o37b2o112bo$5bo58b2o18bo64b2o3bo81bo45bo44bobo18bo$6bo53bo23b3o61b2o
65b2ob2o60bobo44b2o19b3o$4b3o54b2o70bobo26bobo50bo3bo61b2o4bo40bo14bo$
60b2o8bo4bo58b2o26b2o52b3o69bo52b2o$13bo55bo4bo59bo28bo53bo68b3o53b2o$
11b2o9bobo44b3o2b3o140bo$7bo4b2o8b2o105bo31bo54b3o$5bobo15bo106bo28b2o
54bo3bo5b2o103bo$6b2o112bo7b3o19bo9b2o53b2ob2o4bo2bo15bobo84bobo$2bo
76b2o37bobo28bobo64bobo6bobo15b2o85b2o$obo55bo20b2o38b2o29bo62b3o2bo7b
o17bo70b2o$b2o8b2o46bo14bo137bo5bobob2o90bo2bo19bo$10bo2bo5b2o36b3o8b
2o3bobo51bo12b2o69bobo5b2obo91b3o13b2o4bo$10bob2o4bobo48bo3bobo52b2o9b
obo2bob2o64bo9bo89b2o15b2o5b3o$7b2obo3b2o3bo49bob2o2bobo49b2o9bobo3b2o
bo74b2o84b2o3bob2o14bo$7bo2bo3bobo49b2obo2bobobobo60bo100bo66bobo3bo2b
o$8b2o5bo50b2ob2o3bo2b2o9bo150b2o65bobo5b2o5bo$12bo12b3o45b2o12b2o150b
obo63bobo11b2o$12bo12bo61bobo67bo6bo139bobo14b2o$2b2o8bo13bo37bo91b2o
5b2o33b2o103bobo14bo$bobo15b2o42b2o81b2o8bobo4bobo33b2o102b2o11b2o$3bo
14b2o43bobo73b2o5bobo49bo41bo41b2o31bo2bo$20bo111bo7b2o4bo92b2o42b2o7b
o23b2o$15b2o62b3o50b2o5bo20b3o43b3o13b2o15bobo40bo9b2o$14bobo62bo51bob
o17b3o6bo40b2o5bo14b2o66bobo$16bo63bo4b2o64bo9bo40b2o3bo14bo$84b2o66bo
48bo$76b3o7bo139b2o115b2o$78bo147bobo9bo47bo55b2o$77bo143b2o3bo10b2o
47b2o56bo$220bobo14bobo45bobo$222bo3$214bo72b3o9bo22b2o$214b2o73bo9b2o
21bobo$213bobo72bo9bobo21bo11b2o$333b2o$335bo$297b2o40b2o$296bobo39b2o
$298bo29b2o10bo$327b2o$329bo4$336b2o$336bobo$336bo!

Another key piece of work from 2025 was Matthias Merzenich's proof that all OWSS flotillas consisting of a single OWSS supported on each side by a single standard spaceship can be synthesised.

Edit by Sokwe: Here are some additional small spaceships synthesized in 2025:

• xq4_0b8bzw349aiaazuhg9y16frc and an OWSS variant by Dmitry Maitak.
• 15WSS by Dmitry Maitak and Chris857.

Activation steps:

Code: Select all

x = 234, y = 80, rule = B3/S23
154bo$154b2o$153bobo3$224b2o$223b2o$225bo4$141b3o$143bo$142bo26bo$170b
o$168b3o$232b2o$231b2o$233bo$182bo$74bo105bobo8bo$68bobo4b2o2bobo99b2o
8bobo$69b2o3b2o4b2o95bo13b2o$10bo58bo10bo97bo$8bobo24bobo122bo15b3o$9b
2o8bo15b2o70bo53bo$20bo15bo68b2o5bobo44b3o53bo$18b3o85b2o4b2o101bobo$
5bobo105bo101b2o$6b2o$6bo35bo$40b2o39bo$2bo38b2o39b2o$bo79b2o$b3o74bo$
17b2o59b2o$16bobo4bo53bobo11b2o89bo$17bo4bobo66b2o88bobo5bo4bo$13bo8bo
2bo154bo2bo5bo3bobo$b2o11b2o7b2obo47b3o14b2o3b2o78bo3bobo6bo3bo2bo$obo
2bobo5b2o11bo8b3o38bo13bobo3bo5b2o72bo2b2ob2o10bobo3bo$2bo3b2o18bobo6b
o39bo15bo5bo4b2o72bo16b2ob2o2bo$6bo20b2o7bo50bo8b2o90b2o10bo$11b3o72bo
bo93b2o4bo$13bo72b2o6bo82bo6bo4bo3b2o$12bo12b2ob2o64bo80b3o3bo5bobo2bo
6bo$25b2ob2o52b2o10bo79bo7b2o3b2o6bo3b3o$38b2o41bobo90b2o17b2o7bo$37b
2o42b2o118b2o$39bo137b2o$176bobo19b2o$160bo14bobo20bobo$115b2o43b2o14b
o22bobo13b2o$40b2o65b2o6bobo41bobo38bo13b2o$12b3o25bobo64bobo5bo100bo$
12bo27bo66bo$13bo63b2o$76bobo$42bo35bo$41b2o139b2o$41bobo133b3o3b2o$
179bo2bo$161b3o14bo34b2o$163bo49bobo$162bo25b3o22bo$188bo$189bo11$198b
3o$198bo$199bo!

[WhiteHawk]

I think we should probably get on this soon, so we don't avoid a fiasco like last year where voting ended up coming in December

[dvgrn]

Hmm, another month is disappearing fast. Any more nominations? Anyone care to volunteer to build out the full list of nominations for 2025 Patterns and Proofs, and post it here? It's a painstaking and time-consuming task, but it won't be a thankless task because I will definitely thank whoever does it.

(Re: the question of renaming "POTY" to "DOTY" or similar -- see above -- I'd suggest that we could continue to stick to the traditional "POTY", but it's perfectly okay to nominate proofs like the one mentioned two posts up. If a proof wins the voting, we'll just have a Proof of the Year instead of a Pattern of the Year.)

[Sokwe]

All pattern nominees posted in this thread so far have been added to the nominee table on the wiki. Looking at the news archive, I can see several more patterns that should be added. Before I do that, does anyone have opinions on whether any of the current entries should be merged? Here are some unresolved issues:

• Should the solifuge entry be replaced by a more generic "(12,4)c/62 technology" entry?
• Should the "mannaz and water strider" and "leaf bug 2 and gun" entries be merged into a "31c/240 technology" entry?
• Should proofs that don't involve newly discovered patterns be included? (consensus seems to be that they should)
• Some of the entries need missing information filled in (marked with "???" in the table). If you can fill in this information, please do so.

[Sokwe]

New gun periods
(by Matthias Merzenich, 400spartans, James Pascua, Period1GliderGun, David Raucci)
Guns of periods 14 and 18 were discovered in 2025. These were the lowest remaining composite periods, with period 14 being the lowest possible glider gun period. Both guns were discovered by using LLS to find a low-period bespoke sparker capable of liberating a glider from a higher-period engine.

p14 (by Matthias Merzenich and James Pascua on March 16th, 2025): Using a well-known glider production method similar to the glider injection gate, a p7 duoplet sparker interacts with a p14 pre-banana sparker to create a glider. Notably, the p7 sparker must then interact non-distructively with the outgoing glider:

Code: Select all

x = 72, y = 60, rule = B3/S23
38b2o3bo2bo2bo$38bo2b3o2b6o4b2o$39b2o3b2o6bo3bo$26b2o5bo2bo5b2o2b2o2b
2obo3bo2b2o$26bo6b7o3bo2bobo2bob4obo2bo$4b2o21bo12b3o4b2o2bo4bob2o$4b
obo4b2o3b2o6b4o2bo4b3ob2o2b4o4bo3b2obo$7bo3b2o2bobo6bo3b3o3bo3bobobo4b
6o3bobobo2bo$2o3b2obo6bobob2ob2o3bo5bob4obobob2o8bobo3b4o$bo2bobob7ob
obobobo5b6obobo2bo2bobob6obobo$o3bo2bo8bo3bo2bo4bo6bo2bo2b2o3b2o5b2ob
6o$4obo2b6o2b2ob6o5b5o3b2o10b2o3bo5bo$5b3o4bo2b3obo4bo8bo5bob2o7bo4bo
b4o$2o3bobobo4bo5bob2o10b2obobobobo7bo4bobo$o4bobobob10obo4bo6bo3bobo
2bo6b2o$b3ob2o2bo12bo3bobo5bo3bobobo$4bo4b4o2b2o2b2obob3obo4b5o3bo$b2o
bo7bo2bo4bo2bo4b2o2b5o$bobo7bo4bo3bo3b4o2bo5bo$10bob4o2b2ob3o4b2o5bo$
11bo4b2obobo3b2obobo3b2o4b2o$12b3obo9bobo2b2obo3bo2bo$14bo2b4o4bo2bo4b
o4b3o$15b2o4bo4b3ob3obo$17b5o7bob2o3b3o$17bob4o3b2obo4b2o3bo$4b2o8b2o
bo5bobobob2o4bo3bo$5bo8bo2bo2bo2bobo3bo2b2o3bob2o$5bobo7b2o2bobobo2bo
2bo6b2o3bo$6b3ob2o5b5ob3o2b2obo6b3o3b2o$8b2obo5bo4bo7b2obo4bo5bo2b2o$
8b3o7b3obob6o2b2o11bobo$4b2o3bo10bobobo9b2o8b2obo2b2o10b2o$4bo2bobo17b
2obo2bobo7bo3bobobo10bobob2o$6b2obo2bo8b3o3bo4bo2bo6b3ob2obo14bobobob
2o$10b2o16bo3bo2b2ob2o23b2o3bobo$29b2ob2o6bo5b2o4b2ob2o7bo3bo2bo$22bo
9b2o3bo2bo4b3o3b6o2b2o2bo5b2o$21b3o13bo2bo3bo13bo5b5o$11b2o7b5o12b2ob
o3b2o4bobo2bobo3bo6bo$11b2o6b2o3b2o4bo7bobo3bo3bobob2obob11o$10bo8b2o
b3o3bobo7bobobobobobobo14bo$9b3o8b4o5b2o8bobob2ob2o2bobob5o2b2o$19bo2b
o10bo7bo3bo4bob2o5bo2bo$34bo5b2o3bob3o5b2o2b2o$14b3o7bo7b3o11b2o8bo$15b
o7bobo28bo$13b2o9bo12bo16b2o$13b2o20bobo$36b2o$40bo$41bo$14b2o23b3o$14b
obo$15b2o27bo$42bobo$12b2o29b2o$13bo33bo$10b3o35bo$10bo35b3o!

p18 (by 400spartans, Period1GliderGun, and David Raucci on March 25th, 2025, with subsequent reductions by several others): the p18 gun produces a glider using more complicated interaction found by Period1GliderGun between a p18 sparker by David Raucci and a bespoke p6 spark. 400spartans found the complicated p6 sparker with LLS to complete the gun. The form shown here includes reductions to the initial p6 by other users:

Code: Select all

x = 68, y = 50, rule = B3/S23
31b2o4bo$32bo3bobo$32bob3obo$33bo3bo9b2o13b2o$35bo9bo2bo3b2o3b2o4bo$34b
3o6b4obob3obo2bo2b3o$37bo4bo4bobo4bo3bobo$32b3ob3o4b2o2bo2b2obob4obob
3o$30b2o3bo4b2obob3o2b2obo8bo2bo$28bo2b3o2bo3b2ob2o3bo2bob2o2b2o5b2o$
28b5obobo7bob2ob2obo3bobo$24b2o7b2obob7o2bobo2b3o3bobo$25bo2b4o2bob2o
7b2o3b2o3b4ob3o$8bo16bobobo9b2o2b2o7b2o9bo$7bobobo2b2o6bob2obo2b2o3b4o
2bo2bo7bob3o5b2o$6bobob2o2b2o4b3obo2bo5bobo2bo2b2o13bo$3bobo2bo10bo6b
2ob3obo$b3ob3o2b8o2b6o2b2o4bo$o7bobo7b2o6bo2bo3bo5bo8b2o$obob2o2b2o2b
2o2bo3bob2obo4bo2bo3b3o9bo2b2o$bobobo2bo3bo4bob2obobo2bo3bo4bo12bobo2b
o$3bobob3obobo3bo4bo2b4o6bobo8b2obo2b2o2bo2bo$3bob2o2b2o3bo7bo7b2ob3o
bo7bo2bob2o2b6o$bo3bobo3b3o3bo2bob2o7bob4o8b2obo4bo$b3o4b2obo2b7obo7b
2o16bo2b2ob3ob4o$b2o6bo2bobo7bobo3b2obo11b2o3bobo3bobobo2bo$3o6bob2ob
o2b4o2bobobob4o2bo5b4o4b6obo$8b2o2bobobo4b2o2bobo3bo3b2o3b2obo2bobobo
4bobo$10bo4bo3b2o2b2o2b7ob2o4b2o2b2obob2ob2o2bo$10b2o4b2ob3o3b2o3bo10b
2o3bobobo3bobo$8b2o2bo6bo3b2o2b3o6b4o5bo2bo2b3o2b2o$9bobo2b3o2b2o3bob
o2bo5bo6bobo3bo5b2o$9bo2b2o2b3o5bob2ob2o4bobo2bobobobob2o3bo2b2o$8b2o
bo7b5obo3bob3o4bobobob2obo6bo3bo3b2o$7bo3b3o2b2o9b2ob4ob3o2b2obo3bo7b
2o2bo3bo$8b3o3bo2b2o2b6obo4b3o2b2o3bo3bob2ob3o2b2o3bo$11b2ob2o12bobo4b
obo2b3o3b2ob2obo2bobo4b4o$10bo2bo2b3ob4ob2ob2ob2ob2o2bo6bo8b2obo2b2o3b
o$8b3obo2bo2b8obo3b2o2b2obob3o2bo8bo2bobo2bo$7bo4bob2o14bo7bobo2bob2o
5b3o2bobobo$7b5obo14bo2bo3b2obobob2obo6b2o4b2o2bo$5b2o6bo14bob4o6bobo
2b2ob3o2bobobo2bob2o$4bo2bobobob2o17b2ob2ob5o3bobo2bobobob4obobob2o$4b
2obobobo2bo13b2o7bo4b2obo2bob2obob2o4bo2b2obo$7bo2bob2o8b2o5bo12b2o4b
o3bobo3bo2bobo$7b2obo3bo6bobo5bo19b2obo2bob2o3b2o$9bobob2o6bobo4bo22b
ob2o$9bobobo7b2o10bo17bo$10bo2bo20bo15b2o$11b2o19b3o!