Pattern of the Year

2024-05-21T21:28:53Z

P46beth:

The '''Pattern of the Year''' ('''POTY''') competition is held each year on the [[ConwayLife.com]] forums. Users are invited to submit interesting and noteworthy patterns, their own or others'; following discussion, a final list is then curated, and a public vote held. There are only two hard and fast rules: patterns must have been discovered in the year in question; and patterns must work in B3/S23 ([[Conway's Game of Life]]).

{| class="wikitable"
! Contents
|-
| [[#Summary|Summary]]{{br}}[[#Results by year|Results by year (details)]] {{br}} [[#See also|See also]]{{br}}[[#References|References]]
|}

==Summary==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year{{br}}(click for details)
! First place
! Second place
! Third place
|-
| <center>[[#2022|2022]]</center> || [[Unique father problem|Unsynthesizable and limited-ancestor objects]] [[reverse caber tosser|Explicit 15-glider reverse caber tosser]]† || || [[Self-synthesizing glide-reflecting loopship]]
|-
| <center>[[#2021|2021]]</center> || [[Self-synthesizing oblique loopship]] || [[Reflectorless rotating oscillator]] || [[Traffic stop]]{{br}}[[DOGun SaGaQR]]†
|-
| <center>[[#2020|2020]]</center> || [[Bandersnatch]]{{br}}[[Speed Demonoid]]† || || Spaceship glider syntheses
|-
| <center>[[#2019|2019]]</center> || [[David Hilbert]] || [[Spider]] synthesis || [[Scholar]]
|-
| <center>[[#2018|2018]]</center> || [[Sir Robin]] || [[0E0P metacell]] || [[Reverse caber-tosser]]
|-
| <center>[[#2017|2017]]</center> || [[2-engine Cordership]] || [[Tanner's p46]] || [[Stable pulse-divider]]s
|-
| <center>[[#2016|2016]]</center> || [[Caterloopillar]]s || [[Copperhead]] || [[Grandfather problem|Grandfather-less Pattern]]
|-
| <center>[[#2015|2015]]</center> || [[Syringe]] || [[Simkin glider gun]] || [[Demonoid]]s
|-
| <center>[[#2014|2014]]</center> || [[Waterbear]] || [[Centipede]] || [[Half-baked knightship]]
|-
| <center>[[#2013|2013]]</center> || [[Snark]] || [[Loafer]] || [[CC semi-Snark]]{{br}}[[Linear propagator]]†
|-
| <center>[[#2012|2012]]</center> || [[Statorless p3]] || Direct stable Herschel duplicator || Period-4 90-degree reflector{{br}}[[37P4H1V0]]†
|-
| <center>[[#2011|2011]]</center> || [[Fully universal Turing machine]]{{br}}[[Lobster (spaceship)|Lobster]]† || || [[Garden of Eden 6]]
|-
| <center>[[#2010|2010]]</center> || [[Gemini]] || [[Phi calculator]] || [[c/5 diagonal rake]]
|-
| <center>2004‡</center> || [[Caterpillar]]‡<ref name="post2115" /> || ||
|-
|}

‡ Result of informal consensus rather than formal competition

† Patterns were tied on number of votes

==Results by year==
{| class="wikitable"
! Contents
|-
|[[#2023|2023]] [[#2022|2022]] [[#2021|2021]] [[#2020|2020]] [[#2019|2019]] [[#2018|2018]] [[#2017|2017]] [[#2016|2016]] [[#2015|2015]] [[#2014|2014]] [[#2013|2013]] [[#2012|2012]] [[#2011|2011]] [[#2010|2010]]
|}

===2023===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6299 Entries] • ''Voting'' • ''Results''

===2022===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5910#p155456 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6050 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=166268#p166268 Results]

In the {{year|2022}} competition, users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wish, awarding up to five stars to each one. [[Oscar Cunningham]], [[Dave Greene]], and [[Matthias Merzenich]] helped to organize the nominations, and [[b3s23love]] volunteered to see the project through to completion.

(Note: A collection of links to many of these discoveries can be found in [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=162372#p162372 this post] in the nominations thread.)

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| =1 || 173 || Unsynthesizable and limited-ancestor objects || [[Ilkka Törmä]] and [[Ville Salo]] || [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Unique_father_problem] [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Unsynthesizable_oscillator_1] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=139854#p139854] [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/American%20Dream]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | These discoveries include an [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Unique_father_problem unsynthesizable still life] and [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Unsynthesizable_oscillator_1 unsynthesizable p2 oscillator], both based on "self-forcing" [[agar]]s, a [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=139854#p139854 generalized solution to the grandfather problem] (patterns that have n-tick predecessors but no (n+1)-tick predecessors), and [[American Dream]], a finite pattern with an infinite-population [[predecessor]] but no finite-population [[predecessor]].
|-
| =1 || 173 || Explicit 15-glider reverse caber tosser || [[Daniel Vargas]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Pavel Grankovskiy]], [[Simon Ekström]], [[Dave Greene]], [[AlbertArmStain]], [[Oscar Cunningham]], [[Chris Cain]], [[dani]], and [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://biggieblog.com/building-arbitrary-life-patterns-in-15-gliders] [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Reverse_caber-tosser]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A concrete construction demonstrating that any [[glider synthesis]] can be reduced to use just 15 [[glider]]s. The number of gliders was also reduced from its previous value of 17.
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | 3 || 129 || Self-synthesizing glide-reflecting loopship || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142538#p142538] [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Self-synthesizing_oblique_loopship#Self-synthesizing_glide-reflecting_loopship]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[pattern]] made entirely of gliders that synthesises a reflected and translated copy of itself. Thus it is an [[orthogonal]] [[spaceship]] travelling at a [[speed]] of 30985960c/144171206.
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | 4 || 127 || The Great Oscillator Discovery Project || [[David Raucci]], [[Mitchell Riley]], [[Luke Kiernan]], [[iNoMed]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/User:Entity_Valkyrie_2/2022_oscillator_stamp]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This project continued 2022's increased focus on the discovery of new [[oscillator]]s, partially to work toward filling in the remaining unknown oscillator periods to finally prove Life to be [[omniperiodic]].
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | 5 || 126 || [[Speed Orthogonal Loopship]] || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=153452#p153452]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A pattern made entirely of [[XWSS]]es that synthesises a reflected and translated copy of itself. It travels orthogonally and is adjustable so that its speed can become arbitrarily close to [[c/2]]. Its population is much less than that of the [[Speed Orthogonoid]].
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | 5 || 126 || [[Raucci's p38]] || [[David Raucci]], [[Jason Summers]], and [[cvojan]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=140183#p140183]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known oscillator with period 38, made by adding copies of cvojan's [[traffic stop]] as [[fencepost]]s for a known [[wick]] by Jason Summers.
|-
| data-sort-value="7" | 7 || 124 || [[Speed Orthogonoid]] || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=143667#p143667]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An [[adjustable spaceship]] capable at travelling orthogonally at any speed less than c/2.
|-
| data-sort-value="8" | 8 || 122 || [[Engineered diehard]]s || [[Dean Hickerson]], [[Pavel Grankovskiy]], [[toroidalet]], and [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [[Engineered diehard]]s
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A series of diehard patterns with increasingly long lifespans, culminating in the discovery of a pattern that starts in a [[bounding box]] of area 9990, and yet lives for more than 10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10^10 generations before dying out completely.
|-
| data-sort-value="9" | 9 || 120 || Lisp in Life || Hikaru Ikuta || [https://woodrush.github.io/blog/posts/2022-01-12-lisp-in-life.html]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A Lisp interpreter implemented in Conway’s Game of Life, using technology similar to the Quest for Tetris project. This is the first implementation of a standardized high-level programming language inside Conway’s Game of Life.
|-
| data-sort-value="9" | 9 || 120 || New quadratic growth records || [[dani]], [[Luka Okanishi]], and [[Rocknlol]] ||
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The smallest known [[quadratic growth]] patterns in terms of population, number of gliders, and bounding box — [[20-cell quadratic growth]], 6G quadratic growth, and 23×13 quadratic growth.
|-
| data-sort-value="11" | 11 || 116 || 74P34 || [[Mitchell Riley]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=147943#p147943]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known [[non-trivial]] oscillator with period 34.
|-
| data-sort-value="12" | 12 || 110 || New gun periods || [[David Raucci]], [[iNoMed]], [[Nico Brown]], [[Mitchell Riley]], [[goldenratio]], [[Luke Kiernan]], [[Gustone]] and [[cvojan]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=156004#p156004]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Gun]]s of five previously unsolved periods: 25, 27, 34, 37, and 43.
|-
| data-sort-value="13" | 13 || 107 || New stable conduits and converters || [[Mitchell Riley]], [[Simon Ekström]], [[Evin]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], and [[qqd]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=162089#p162089]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Several new stable [[conduit]]s and [[converter]]s, including the [[Speed Tunnel]], HRx65R, a small stable 180° reflector (the "[[Jubjub reflector]]"), F149, Lx129, HL224H, RSE14T117, and NW-2T16.
|-
| data-sort-value="14" | 14 || 100 || New spaceship syntheses || [[Goldtiger997]], [[Mark Niemiec]], [[iNoMed]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[pipsqueek]], and [[Connor Steppie]] ||
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Glider construction recipes were discovered for [[Orion 2]], [[33P4H1V1]], [[70P5H2V0]], [[58P8H4V0]], [[30P3H1V0]], [[29P3H1V0]], [[Brain]], [[66P5H2V0]], and [[37P4H1V1]], as well as a method for adding a component to existing [[c/3]] spaceships.
|-
| data-sort-value="15" | 15 || 99 || [[Quartermax]] || [[Keith Amling]], [[Hartmut Holzwart]], and [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=144986#p144986]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A long sought-after pattern that fills one quarter of the Life plane with the [[zebra stripes]] agar .
|-
| data-sort-value="16" | 16 || 98 || Soup search discoveries from distributed computing projects || [[Darren Li]] / [[Charity Engine]] and [[Open Science Grid]] || [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Charity_Engine]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Thanks to the efforts of Darren Li, in 2022 [[Catagolue]] started receiving a much larger number of distributed-computing search results, especially for symmetric soups. This contributed to a large number of new discoveries; see the [[Charity Engine]] and [[Open Science Grid]] articles for examples.
|-
| data-sort-value="17" | 17 || 97 || Nico Brown's strictly volatile oscillators || [[Nico Brown]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=154361#p154361]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Nico Brown created a script that can create huge strictly volatile oscillators of any period 943+ except 944.
|-
| data-sort-value="18" | 18 || 93 || Smaller [[Period-24 glider gun|p24 glider gun]] || [[cvojan]], [[vivi]], and [[James Pascua]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=151697#p151697]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A new second-smallest [[glider gun]] after the [[Gosper glider gun]], fitting in a 20 × 20 bounding box.
|-
| data-sort-value="18" | 18 || 93 || New honeyfarm catalysts || [[Mitchell Riley]] and [[Luke Kiernan]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=163001#p163001]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Catalysts which perform new perturbations on [[honey farms]]. In particular the [[chucklebait]], which has found considerable use in [[honey farm hassler]]s of various periods.
|-
| data-sort-value="20" | 20 || 91 || [[232P7H3V0]] || [[Keith Amling]] || [https://conwaylife.com/wiki/232P7H3V0]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A new record for the smallest 3c/7 spaceship.
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | 21 || 90 || Completion of the [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=153564#p153564 21-bit strict still life synthesis project] and the [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=153274#p153274 20-bit pseudo still life synthesis project] || [[Alex Greason]], [[May13]], [[wwei23]], [[iNoMed]], [[Daniel Vargas]], [[Jeremy Tan]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Carson Cheng]], [[Goldtiger997]], and [[Tanner Jacobi]] ||
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Completion of the 21-bit strict still life synthesis project and the 20-bit pseudo still life synthesis project: Glider syntheses for all 21-bit strict still lifes and all 20-bit pseudo still lifes.
|-
| data-sort-value="22" | 22 || 88 || New [[greyship]]s || [[Hartmut Holzwart]] and [[Keith Amling]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=157297#p157297]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A variety of new greyships, many of which were found with Keith Amling’s new search program, [[LLSSS]].
|-
| data-sort-value="22" | 22 || 88 || p8 "functionally stable" glider reflector || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=148209#p148209]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A period-8 180° glider [[reflector]] that works in every phase and hence can be used as if it were stable.
|-
| data-sort-value="24" | 24 || 85 || [[Strictly volatile p86]] R-pentomino hassler || [[Nico Brown]] and [[iNoMed]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=151276#p151276]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The discovery of this oscillator added 86 to a fairly short list, making it the fourteenth period where a strictly volatile oscillator is known that doesn't make use of self-constructing circuitry.
|-
| data-sort-value="24" | 24 || 85 || Five new p23 engines || [[Nico Brown]], [[James Pascua]], and [[Mitchell Riley]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=162150#p162150]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | At the end of 2021, only one period-23 oscillator was known, excluding variants: David Hilbert. As of the end of 2022, there are six.
|-
| data-sort-value="26" | 26 || 82 || [[Taco]] || [[Frank Everdij]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=154464#p154464]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The third known [[elementary]] c/7 orthogonal spaceship.
|-
| data-sort-value="27" | 27 || 75 || Record lifespan puffer-based methuselahs || [[yaochen2]], [[dani]], and [[gravity]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=162979#p162979]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This series of patterns with relatively small bounding boxes and initial populations set several new records for [[methuselah]] longevity. Ordinarily patterns that include [[switch engine]] outputs will produce unbounded linear growth and are not counted in the "methuselah" category, but these examples generate a lucky retrograde glider that shuts down the receding switch engines after thousands or millions of [[generation]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="28" | 28 || 73 || Small Max predcessors || [[iNoMed]] and [[rocknlol]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=155419#p155419]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | After an intermediate 127-cell, 27 × 23 new record set by iNoMed, Rocknlol found two different record predecessors of a [[Max]] spacefiller variant by population and bounding box of 112 [[cell]]s and 21 × 21, respectively.
|-
| data-sort-value="29" | 29 || 69 || New reflector periods || [[vivi]], [[iNoMed]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[David Raucci]], [[Mitchell Riley]], [[MAP bot]], [[Nico Brown]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], and [[Noam Elkies]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=155493#p155493]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | 90° reflectors for the previously unsolved periods of 23, 34, and 38.
|-
| data-sort-value="29" | 29 || 69 || Component for adding a "crotchet" to a c/3 spaceship || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=154625#p154625]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is a new synthesis component that can repeatably extend a "waltz" section of [[c/3 orthogonal]] spaceship, allowing for the first known infinite series of synthesizable c/3 spaceships.
|-
| data-sort-value="31" | 31 || 68 || New c/2 patterns from soup searches || [[mystical]], [[Charity Engine]], and [[wwei23]] ||
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Spaceships, puffers, and a [[rake]] found from 'unnatural' soup searches. The ship [[58P8H4V0]] and a [[p28 block puffer]] were found in symmetric soups; the ship [[35P12H6V0]], the p112 puffer, and p12 rake were found in soups with the leading edge of the spaceships already present.
|-
| data-sort-value="32" | 32 || 56 || Gliderless Gosper glider gun breeder || [[Wojciech Kęsy]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=143050#p143050]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A p48 [[puffer]] for Gosper glider guns that produces its output in a very unconventional way, with no glider collisions.

|}
'''(Work in progress: copyediting)'''

===2021===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138613#p138613 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142893#p142893 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=143872#p143872 Results]

In the {{year|2021}} competition, users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wish, awarding up to three stars to each one. [[MathAndCode]], [[Dave Greene]], and [[Kalan Warusa]] were each involved in organizing different parts of this year's competition.

(Note: A collection of links to many of these discoveries can be found in [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=139123#p139123 this post] in the nominations thread.)

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 85 || [[Self-synthesizing oblique loopship]] || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=134389#p134389]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first SMOG (spaceship made of gliders) in Conway's Life. Arguably the first [[SMOS]] (spaceship made of spaceships) of any kind that can be run by [[Golly]], since [[0E0P]]-based SMOSes are much too large to simulate in practice.
|-
| 2 || 75 || [[Reflectorless rotating oscillator]] || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=135135#p135135]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first example of an [[RRO]] in Conway's Life that can easily be simulated through multiple cycles -- max loopability 11.
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | =3 || 68 || [[Traffic stop]] catalyst || [[cvojan]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138895#p138895]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An extremely versatile p2 catalyst.
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | =3 || 68 || [[DOGun SaGaQR]] || [[Pavel Grankovskiy]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138191#p138191]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A "shape-shifting" self-constructing pattern that can be trivially altered by one-tick adjustments to one key glider to make a predecessor of empty space ("D"=Diehard), a p100663296 oscillator ("O"=Oscillator),a 4-barrelled glider gun ("Gun"), an orthogonal c/24 spaceship ("S"=Spaceship), a single glider ("G"=Glider), or a quadratic-growth replicator("QR"=Quadratic Replicator).
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | =5 || 65 || New spaceship syntheses || [[goldenratio]], [[bubblegum]], [[Mark Niemiec]], [[iNoMed]], [[Goldtiger997]], and [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=120269#p120269] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=124810#p124810] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=128012#p128012] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=132334#p132334] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=132872#p132872] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141536#p141536]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Several complex recipes for previously unsynthesizable spaceships, including [[greyship]]s of any desired size (the first being [[Canada Grey]]), as well as [[edge-repair spaceship 1]]
|-
| data-sort-value="5" | =5 || 65 || New gun engines || [[David Raucci]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Luka Okanishi]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Martin Grant]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[iNoMed]], [[Louis-François Handfield]], [[Daniel Vargas]], [[praosylen]], [[Jiahao Yu]], [[James Pascua]], [[wwei23]], [[AforAmpere]], [[EvinZL]], and [[FWKnightship]] || Too many to list; a compilation (without forum links) can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142110#p142110]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Many new periodic engines that allow for the extraction of output gliders.
|-
| 7 || 64 || New [[(2,1)c/6]] technology || [[Dylan Chen]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[May13]], [[wwei23]], [[cvojan]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Louis-François Handfield]], [[Peter Naszvadi]], and [[Daniel Vargas]] || Too many to list; a compilation can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142372#p142372], while links to each individual discovery can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=139123#p139123]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The second known elementary [[knightship]] and associated period-12N puffers, rakes, and new spaceship connection types
|-
| 8 || 62 || New scalable programmable computer || [[Nicolas Loizeau]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136536#p136536]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New features and improvements include 90 pre-computed patterns, variable size range from 8 to 32, new instructions to handle arrays, variables usable as memory addresses, shift and rotate instructions, 32x32 pixels display, and circuitry optimization with [[Snark]] reflectors.
|-
| 9 || 57 || New high-period oscillators || [[David Raucci]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[James Pascua]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[wwei23]], [[praosylen]], [[Daniel Vargas]], [[iNoMed]], [[AforAmpere]], [[EvinZL]], [[Martin Grant]], and [[FWKnightship]] || Too many to list; a compilation (without forum links) can be found in [[User:Entity Valkyrie 2/2021 oscillator stamp|Entity Valkyrie's userspace]]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Many new oscillators with periods greater than 12 found primarily with Raucci's impressively simple and effective search script for oscillator engine candidates.
|-
| 10 || 56 || [[hotcrystal0 mechanism]] || [[hotcrystal0]], [[wwei23]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[praosylen]], [[iNoMed]], and [[May13]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141587#p141587]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A new glider duplication mechanism capable, among other things, of reducing the size of a significant number of lower-period glider guns.
|-
| data-sort-value="11" | =11 || 52 || [[QuickSilver Demonoid]] || [[googolplex]] and [[Pavel Grankovskiy]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138965#p138965]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A "[[steampunk]]" Demonoid using retro technology available in the 1990s, mainly [[Silver reflector]]s, but modern single-channel construction recipes and techniques.
|-
| data-sort-value="11" | =11 || 52 || new [[3c/7 orthogonal|3c/7]] technology || [[Dylan Chen]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[iNoMed]], [[bubblegum]], [[Dave Greene]], [[AforAmpere]], [[wwei23]], and [[May13]] || Too many to list; a compilation (without forum links) can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141841#p141841]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A significant expansion of known 3c/7 technology including the first 3c/7 rakes, many new spaceships of various periods, and several new engine-based puffers.
|-
| 13 || 51 || New SKOPs || [[David Raucci]], [[praosylen]], [[iNoMed]], [[83bismuth38]], [[cvojan]], and [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142359#p142359] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=133286#p133286] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136555#p136555] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=132816#p132816] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=128061#p128061] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=133504#p133504] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=133518#p133518] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=135248#p135248] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=132959#p132959]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New Smallest Known Oscillators of various Periods. The term "SKOP" is from [[Jeremy Tan]]'s "Skopje" collection of smallest known oscillators. These include a new [[p25 pre-pulsar shuttle]], a [[p32 honey farm hassler]], [[66P62]], [[Raucci's p74]], a [[p76 pi-heptomino hassler]], a [[p96 honey farm hassler]], a [[p128 wing shuttle]], and a [[p196 pi-heptomino hassler]].
|-
| data-sort-value="14" | =14 || 46 || Twenty-bit still life syntheses || [[Dave Greene]], [[bubblegum]], [[Alex Greason]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Jeremy Tan]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[GUYTU6J]], [[Martin Grant]], [[goldenratio]], [[ENORMOUS_NAME]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Daniel Vargas]], and [[iNoMed]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=125259#p125259]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Glider synthesis|Glider syntheses]] for all twenty-cell still lifes
|-
| data-sort-value="14" | =14 || 46 || Ash-clearing mechanism || [[Andrew J. Wade]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136948#p136948]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Demonstration patterns and scripts showing for the first time a plausible mechanism for a "space-clearing" self-replicator with better than 50% odds of being able to clear out a replicator-sized area of settled random ash.
|-
| 16 || 44 || [[Strictly volatile p4]] oscillator || [[Dongook Lee]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137807#p137807]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known period-4 oscillator with a [[strict volatility]] of 1 (no cells oscillating at any subperiod, in this case periods 1 or 2).
|-
| data-sort-value="17" | =17 || 42 || New [[c/6 orthogonal]] technology || [[FWKnightship]], [[Keith Amling]], [[May13]], and [[iNoMed]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141785#p141785] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=133911#p133911] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137540#p137540] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137564#p137564] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137653#p137653] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137845#p137845] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138128#p138128] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137751#p137751] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138498#p138498]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first c/6 orthogonal rakes, based on new debris-clearing spaceships.
|-
| data-sort-value="17" | =17 || 42 || Herschel merge circuit || [[Entity Valkyrie]] and [[Luka Okanishi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137605#p137605]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known elementary merge circuit with two direct Herschel inputs and one Herschel output.
|-
| 19 || 38 || 12-in-7 and 15-in-11 projects || [[iNoMed]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[BlinkerSpawn]], [[goldenratio]], [[Oscar Cunningham]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[May13]], [[Daniel Vargas]], and [[Martin Grant]] || Too many to list; a compilation (without forum links) can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141702#p141702]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Glider synthesis|Glider syntheses]] of all still lifes with twelve (or fewer) cells using at most seven gliders, and fifteen or fewer cells using at most eleven gliders
|-
| 20 || 37 || New [[c/6 diagonal]] spaceships || [[Frank Everdij]], [[Bullet51]], and [[wwei23]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141567#p141567] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=130230#p130230] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=130622#p130622] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=133347#p133347]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The number of known c/6 diagonal spaceships increased considerably this year, including some with new tailsparks and sidesparks capable of supporting a variety of [[tagalong]]s and [[pushalong]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | =21 || 34 || Fast [[component]]s || [[Daniel Vargas]], [[iNoMed]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[wwei23]], and [[BlinkerSpawn]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=123124#p123124]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Timing-dependent ways to stabilize reactions that almost make still lifes or alter still life-creating reactions or slow components before they settle in order to modify the final result
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | =21 || 34 || New record [[methuselah]]s || [[Dylan Chen]], [[Rocknlol]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Daniel Vargas]], and [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=118690#p118690] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=119406#p119406] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136939#p136939]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New methuselahs with record lifespans, including [[50093M]] and [[52513M]], based on soups discovered with [[apgsearch]].
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | =21 || 34 || Chicken wire grayships || [[Hartmut Holzwart]] and [[Arie Paap]] || Too many to list; a compilation (without forum links) can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141693#p141693]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Many new components for constructing chicken wire [[grayship]]s including slope-0 back ends for almost all wire lengths.
|-
| data-sort-value="24" | =24 || 32 || New [[Period-7 sparkers#Domino sparkers|p7 domino sparkers]] || [[wwei23]], [[BlinkerSpawn]], [[iNoMed]], [[James Pascua]], [[cvojan]], and [[Dongook Lee]] || [[754P7]]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Oscillators that provide a domino spark every seven generations, which can be used to support other reactions. Notable discoveries in 2021 include [[62P7]] and [[678P7]].
|-
| data-sort-value="24" | =24 || 32 || New [[c/10 orthogonal|c/10]] technology || [[Christoph Reinthaler]], [[otismo]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Louis-François Handfield]], and [[Dave Greene]] || Too many to list; a compilation can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142340#p142340] while the original forum thread can be found at [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=118271#p118271] (starting with the first post of 2021)
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New c/10 orthogonal glider perturbation reactions, rake periods, and complex patterns.
|-
| 26 || 31 || Much smaller glider to [[weekender]]/[[doo-dah]] converter || [[Dave Greene]] and [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=137616#p137616]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | 2021's enormously reduced weekender recipe allowed for a glider-to-weekender converter to fit into a quarter of its previous area, even including an additional mechanism to build/not build a doo-dah tagalong by moving an input glider.
|-
| 27 || 28 || p18 glider reflectors || [[David Raucci]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], and [[EvinZL]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=135235#p135235]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Period-18 glider reflectors including the first 90-degree reflector capable of reflecting a period-18 glider stream.
|-
| 28 || 24 || [[2c/5 orthogonal|2c/5]] ant waveguide || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], and [[Nicolay Beluchenko]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=141475#p141475]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A previously unknown type of spaceship connection, where an [[ants]] wick is escorted by a 2c/5 orthogonal antstretcher and anteater, making an adjustable-size spaceship (and not a growing spaceship)
|-
| data-sort-value="29" | =29 || 22 || p33 statorless 90-degree glider reflector || [[FractalFusion]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138634#p138634]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Reaction involving many copies of [[Jason's p33]] allows for [[statorless]] oscillators of all periods that are multiples of 33.
|-
| data-sort-value="29" | =29 || 22 || [[p3 pipsquirter]]s || [[James Pascua]], [[83bismuth38]], [[cvojan]], [[Dongook Lee]], [[Mark Niemiec]], [[Jiahao Yu]], and [[iNoMed]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=142074#p142074] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=134824#p134824] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136874#p136874] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136890#p136890] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=136905#p136905]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Several new variants of oscillators with an isolated domino spark in the same orientation as known higher-period pipsquirters. These sparks can be used to support other oscillators such as the carnival shuttle (though they're far from the first known supports for that particular case)
|-
| 31 || 21 || [[T-nosed p7]] || [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=134269#p134269]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New p7 sparker completed based on a suggestion by [[Connor Steppie]].
|-
| 32 || 19 || [[p11 bouncer]] || [[Martin Grant]] and [[David Raucci]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=138670#p138670]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A previously unknown period for the [[bouncer]] mechanism (a [[p11 bumper]] was known, though very little used).
|}

===2020===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117558#p117558 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=123463#p123463 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=126089#p126089 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2020}} competition. Users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wished, awarding up to three stars to each one. [[MathAndCode]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =1 || 76 || [[Bandersnatch]] || [[Martin Grant]] and [[Entity Valkyrie]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=98357#p98357]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[color-changing]] glider-to-glider conduit, which can be used to solve glider color mismatches.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =1 || 76 || [[Speed Demonoid]] || [[Pavel Grankovskiy]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], and [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104423#p104423]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A self-constructing diagonal spaceship with speed limit c/4 due to using a crab [[wickstretcher]].
|-
| 3 || 69 || Spaceship [[glider syntheses]] || [[Goldtiger997]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Martin Grant]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=91947#p91947] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=92323#p92323] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=93110#p93110] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=93167#p93167] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=93825#p93825] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=93897#p93897] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=98477#p98477] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100747#p100747] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=101622#p101622] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=103142#p103142] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104453#p104453] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=114209#p114209]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Glider syntheses for [[56P6H1V0]], [[58P5H1V1]], [[turtle]], [[31P8H4V0]], [[70P2H1V0.1]], [[55P9H3V0]], and [[44P5H2V0]], many of which were the first of their unsymplified speed to be synthesized.
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 68 || Smaller [[3c/7]] spaceships || [[Dylan Chen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117159#p117159] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117548#p117548]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Anura]] and [[Soba]], the second and third known elementary 3c/7 spaceships, both of which are smaller than the first known 3c/7 spaceship, [[spaghetti monster]].
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 68 || [[Rob's p16]] || [[Rob Liston]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=89261#p89261]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A useful sparker, as well as the smallest-known and first [[strictly volatile]] oscillator of its period, found when it occurred in the ash of an asymmetric Catagolue soup.
|-
| 6 || 65 || [[Period-28 glider gun]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] and [[Paul Callahan]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=115869#p115869] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=115928#p115928]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first true period-28 gun.
|-
| 7 || 64 || [[Silverfish]] || [[Chris Cain]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], and [[Nathaniel Johnston]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=96462#p96462]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A new smallest spaceship to use the 31c/240 Herschel climber.
|-
| 8 || 61 || Cheaper fixed-cost [[universal construction]] || [[Chris Cain]], [[Adam P. Goucher]] [[Daniel Vargas]], and [[MathAndCode]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=94346#p94346] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100871#p100871] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104484#p104484]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Reductions in the cost of [[reverse caber-tosser]]-based universal construction by figuring out how to split a target block with gliders instead of needing to use a block-laying switch engine, removing the need for a Sakapuffer, and reducing the number of glider-producing switch enginges required in the circuitry.
|-
| 9 || 58 || 19-bit still life syntheses || [[Jeremy Tan]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Martin Grant]], [[Alex Greason]], [[BlinkerSpawn]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=89061#p89061]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Glider syntheses for all 19-bit still lifes.
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 56 || New [[2c/7]] technology || [[John Winston Garth]], [[Andrew J. Wade]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=92001#p92001] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=114481#p114481]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Two new 2c/7 spaceships, [[186P7H2V0]] and [[doo-dah]] used to help make puffers and rakes.
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 56 || Natural [[loafer]]s || [[John Goodman]], [[Rob Liston]], [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=93011#p93011] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=98270#p98270] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=102387#p102387] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=116445#p116445]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Catagolue soups in the C1 and G1 symmetries that produce the twenty-cell loafer, making it the first spaceship not at the maximum speed for its direction to be found in a random asymmetric soup in B3/S23.
|-
| 12 || 55 || Stable [[barge]] crosser || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=112239#p112239]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A way to transmit a glider signal across an infinitely long barge without permanently damaging it.
|-
| 13 || 50 || New [[grayship]] technology || [[Keith Amling]], [[Hartmut Holzwart]], and [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117591#p117591]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A large collection of new grayship components of varying speeds.
|-
| 14 || 46 || [[Beehive push catalyst]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=116491#p116491]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[stable]] catalyst that allows the beehive push reaction, where a beehive affects an active region while being displaced by one cell orthogonally, to be used repeatedly in situations where there is not another synchronized mechanism to push it back, such as in conduits.
|-
| 15 || 45 || [[49768M|New longest-lasting 16x16 methuselah]] || [[Rob Liston]] and [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=95336#p95336]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An asymmetric 16x16 soup found with Catagolue that takes longer to stabilize than any previous asymmetric non-infinite-growth 16x16 soup, and a related 16x16 pattern that takes one generation longer to form generation five of said random soup.
|-
| 16 || 44 || New [[c/5 diagonal]] spaceships || [[AforAmpere]], [[Sarp]], [[praosylen]], [[John Winston Garth]], and [[Dylan Chen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117609#p117609] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=92434#p92434] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=94109#p94109] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=94294#p94294] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=94332#p94332] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=95431#p95431] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=95843#p95843] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=96217#p96217] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=96478#p96478] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=98297#p98297] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=114110#p114110]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Several new c/5 diagonal spaceships of varying shapes.
|-
| 17 || 43 || Small [[c/5 diagonal]] puffer || [[Peter Naszvadi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=92484#p92484]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An elegant period-1540 c/5 diagonal puffer that uses only three copies of [[58P5H1V1]].
|-
| 18 || 42 || New small [[Cordership]]s || [[wwei23]] and [[Ian07]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=103715#p103715] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=103853#p103853] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=103997#p103997] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104102#p104102] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104197#p104197]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Several new three-engine and four-engine Corderships (including [[4-in-a-row Cordership|one with period 192]]) found using a custom apgsearch symmetry.
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 41 || New [[agar]] crawler/agar bubble/[[skimmer]]/agar clearer technology || [[Arie Paap]], [[Keith Amling]], [[Hartmut Holzwart]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=94779#p94779] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=101259#p101259] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104295#p104295]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Mechanisms to add, remove, travel along, or travel within agar.
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 41 || [[c/5]] and [[c/6]] guns || [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[Goldtiger997]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=88186#p88186] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=97489#p97489] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=114939#p114939]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known guns for c/5 orthogonal, c/5 diagonal, and c/6 orthogonal spaceships.
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | =21 || 39 || New exotic spaceship eaters and spaceship-to-G converters || [[Jeremy Tan]], [[Luka Okanishi]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[praosylen]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=99196#p99196] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=99438#p99438] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=99516#p99516] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=99527#p99527] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100370#p100370] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100403#p100403]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New mechanisms to eat spaceships or turn them into glider signals
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | =21 || 39 || Glider syntheses from Glider_stdin || [[testitemqlstudop]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Arie Paap]], [[GUYTU6J]], [[goldenratio]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=87355#p87355] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=87709#p87709] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=88647#p88647] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100655#p100655]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Glider syntheses based on a result from a custom Catagolue symmetry where gliders are fired at each other in a random configuration.
|-
| data-sort-value="21" | =21 || 39 || [[104P9|Period-9 heavyweight sparker]] and associated R shuttle || [[wwei23]], [[praosylen]], and [[David Raucci]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=115233#p115233]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Period-nine domino sparker that has two dot sparks displaced (2.5, 1) from the center of the domino spark, making it a heavyweight emulator, and has better clearance than the previous known period-nine domino sparker, allowing it and an eater 2 to form a periodic RFx9R conduit that can be attached to another copy of itself to form a shuttle
|-
| 24 || 38 || Stable [[L122]] || [[praosylen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=100820#p100820]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A stable version of the L122 conduit, which previously only had periodic versions.
|-
| 25 || 35 || New [[c/10 orthogonal]] technology || [[Christoph Reinthaler]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86970#p86970] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=115489#p115489]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Arrangements of copperheads and fireships that perform various tasks, such as firing a stream of loafers backwards.
|-
| data-sort-value="26" | =26 || 34 || New XWSS signal technology || [[Dave Greene]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], and [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=98622#p98622] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=99834#p99834]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Improved mechanisms for detecting XWSS signals.
|-
| data-sort-value="26" | =26 || 34 || Cordercolumn and extruder || [[wwei23]], [[Luka Okanishi]], and [[Ian07]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104435#p104435] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104815#p104815] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=104919#p104919]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Two ways to stabilize a switch engine with another switch engine behind it and an extruder that emits a line of switch engines using one of the methods.
|-
| data-sort-value="26" | =26 || 34 || New [[c/6 diagonal]] pushalong || [[praosylen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=95237#p95237]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first new piece of low-period c/6 diagonal technology in 9 years.
|-
| data-sort-value="26" | =26 || 34 || Better [[universal regulator]] || [[Louis-François Handfield]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=93912#p93912]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A device that can align a set of input glider signals with no period constraints to any output period greater than 73 that is smaller and faster than any previous universal regulator.
|-
| data-sort-value="26" | =26 || 34 || c/61 near-spaceship and [[slide gun]] support || [[Tanner Jacobi]] and [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=116260#p116260]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A reaction consisting of a pulsar interacting with two blocks that results in the same confirmation 61 generations later shifted by one cell orthogonally if supplied with two dot sparks or certain fishhook-type interactions, which can be provided with gliders from slide guns.
|-
| data-sort-value="31" | =31 || 33 || Record-setting [[diehard]]s || [[Rob Liston]], [[goldenratio]], and Moth-Wingthane || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=90882#p90882] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=116335#p116335]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Patterns found from soup searches searches that take longer to settle without leaving any ash than any previously known patterns fitting in a bounding box of the same size.
|-
| data-sort-value="31" | =31 || 33 || 4×N [[block]] agar construction || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=96210#p96210]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A way to extend the pseudo still life consisting of a 4×3 rectangle of blocks to a 4×N rectangle for arbitrarily high N using gliders.
|-
| data-sort-value="31" | =31 || 33 || [[409P6H1V0|Width-12 c/6 orthogonal spaceship]] || [[Andrew J. Wade]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=91518#p91518]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first width-12 asymmetric c/6 orthogonal spaceship, which has the minimum possible width for a asymmetric period-6 spaceship of this speed.
|-
| 34 || 32 || [[Loafer]] bitmap printer || [[otismo]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=107683#p107683] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=108412#p108412]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A collection of loafer guns that can be toggled by a glider memory tape to produce a message in loafer-pixels.
|-
| 35 || 30 || 34-bit still life enumeration || [[Nathaniel Johnston]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=87225#p87225]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An enumeration of all 34-bit still lifes and pseudo still lifes, which confirmed that the [[quad pseudo still life]] is the unique 34-bit pseudo still life requiring a decomposition into 4 or more pieces.
|-
| 36 || 27 || p5 drifter-like catalyst/lightweight volcano/periodic catalyst || [[wwei23]] and [[Dongook Lee]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117492#p117492] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117606#p117606]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An oscillator that periodically creates then kills via overpopulation a "[[block]] face", allowing it to be used to perturb regions in the same manner as several [[catalysts]] without permanently harming the oscillator.
|-
| 37 || 26 || New [[growing spaceship]]s || [[Matthias Merzenich]] and [[praosylen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=114020#p114020] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=114280#p114280]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Patterns in which spaceships create a [[wick]] that is consumed at a slower speed than it is created at.
|-
| 38 || 25 || Period-10 glider shuttle || [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=110811#p110811]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The lowest known period for a glider [[shuttle]].
|-
| 39 || 23 || Extensible [[Lumps of muck|LoM]] hasslers || [[James Pascua]], [[wwei23]], and [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117054#p117054] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=117098#p117098]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Extensible oscillators based on lumps of muck .
|}

===2019===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86701#p86701 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=88378#p88378 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=91252#p91252 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2019}} competition. Users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wished, awarding up to three stars to each one. [[testitemqlstudop]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 74 || [[David Hilbert]] || [[Luka Okanishi]], [[praosylen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85719#p85719]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first {{period|23}} [[oscillator]] discovered.
|-
| 2 || 66 || [[Spider]] synthesis || [[Martin Grant]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=72705#p72705] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86121#p86121] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=87949#p87949]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first [[glider synthesis]] of a [[c/5 orthogonal]] [[spaceship]], and the largest [[elementary spaceship]] synthesis to date.
|-
| 3 || 53 || [[Scholar]] || [[Andrew J. Wade]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86724#p86724]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The second elementary [[2c/7 orthogonal]] spaceship to be discovered, using a new search program named [https://gitlab.com/andrew-j-wade/life_slice_ship_search life_slice_ship_search].
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 48 || [[46P4H1V0]] synthesis and [[gun]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Martin Grant]], [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=69591#p69591] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=70272#p70272] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84423#p84423]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first synthesis and the first gun to produce a [[c/4 orthogonal]] spaceship.
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 48 || Cheap [[still life]] syntheses || [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Jeremy Tan]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Chris Cain]], [[2718281828]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86078#p86078] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85457#p85457] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=82560#p82560] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=83979#p83979]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Among other things, the construction of all 17-bit still lifes in at most 16 [[glider]]s (less than one glider per bit) and all 18-bit still lifes in at most 38 gliders.
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 45 || [[Knightwave]] stablization || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=68044#p68044]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The discovery that [[Sir_Robin#Tagalongs|Minstrel 2]] can be used to support both ends of the knightwave, allowing for extensible [[knightship]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 45 || [[Remini]] || [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=74984#p74984]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[universal constructor]]-based [[puffer]], made only with p30 technology theoretically available since the 1970s.
|-
| 8 || 41 || [[Dueling banjos]] and p24 gun || [[Apple Bottom]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=67718#p67718] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=67805#p67805] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=67883#p67883]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A new {{period|24}} oscillator and resulting compact p24 gun.
|-
| 9 || 39 || [[Slavic]] || [[Pavel Grankovskiy]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86540#p86540]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The current smallest universal-constructor based [[quadratic growth]] pattern.
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 37 || [[Wings]] synthesis and gun || [[Goldtiger997]], [[BlinkerSpawn]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84593#p84593] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84785#p84785]
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 37 || Stable glider-to-spaceship [[converter]]s || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=76686#p76686] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=77029#p77029] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=86384#p86384]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Stable patterns that convert gliders into small synthesizable spaceships ([[crab]], [[25P3H1V0.2]], [[wings]]).
|-
| 12 || 36 || [[66P13]] || [[Bullet51]], [[praosylen]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85245#p85245] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85261#p85261] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85862#p85862]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A sparky {{period|13|text=period-13}} oscillator which can support [[wick]]s, [[bumper]]s, and p26 oscillators.
|-
| 13 || 35 || [[p49 skewed pulsar hassler]] || [[Martin Grant]], [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85900#p85900]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known p49 oscillator that is not a [[glider loop]].
|-
| data-sort-value="14" | =14 || 34 || [[Phoenix]] [[agar]]s || [[Alex Greason]], [[BlinkerSpawn]], [[Dongook Lee]], and [[Arie Paap]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84877#p84877] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84994#p84994] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84928#p84928]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Oscillating patterns living on a period-2 phoenix background that emulate some bounded [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_cellular_automaton Rule 18] patterns.
|-
| data-sort-value="14" | =14 || 34 || 60-line c/10 printer || [[GilGil]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=76571#p76571]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An easy-to-use [[c/10 orthogonal]] printer that can copy and print a picture 60 lines tall.
|-
| data-sort-value="16" | =16 || 33 || [[R49]] || [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[Luka Okanishi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=83753#p83753]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A useful and compact pre-[[Herschel]] [[turner]]/advancer [[conduit]].
|-
| data-sort-value="16" | =16 || 33 || New gun designs || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=75185#p75185] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=75374#p75374]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Clever new gun components that allow the reduction of a large number of glider guns in the [[Dieter and Peter's glider gun collection|small guns collection]].
|-
| data-sort-value="16" | =16 || 33 || Systematic survey of small patterns || [[Nick Gotts]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65971#p65971] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=77105#p77105] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85059#p85059]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A systematic survey of all patterns up to 9 cells, as well as a survey of all single-cluster 10-cell patterns resulting in the discovery of two record-breaking 10-celled methuselae, [[bunnies 10a]] and [[bunnies 10b]].
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 32 || 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall || [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85414#p85414]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A pattern that prints the song "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall."
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 32 || [[Spaghetti monster]] eater and [[Heisenburp]] || [[Martin Grant]], [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84018#p84018] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84081#p84081]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first patterns capable of cleanly deleting and detecting a [[3c/7 orthogonal]] spaceship.
|-
| 21 || 29 || [[47575M]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=70221#p70221]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A record-breaking [[methuselah]] (excluding [[switch engine]]-based methuselahs) found with [[apgsearch]].
|-
| 22 || 27 || Mountain range patterns || [[Dean Hickerson]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=72684#p72684]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Various patterns experiencing irregular growth due to complex glider interactions in a similar vein to [[jagged lines]].
|-
| data-sort-value="23" | =23 || 26 || New mid-period [[sparker]]s || [[2718281828]], [[praosylen]], [[Martin Grant]], [[Dongook Lee]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=70587#p70587] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=70632#p70632] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=75715#p75715] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=76104#p76104] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=77040#p77040] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84992#p84992] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85532#p85532]
|-
| data-sort-value="23" | =23 || 26 || Stably supported [[cyclotron]] gun || [[Goldtiger997]], [[Paul Callahan]], [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71925#p71925]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A modification of [[Dean Hickerson]]'s [[cyclotron]] which uses only [[stable]] components.
|-
| 25 || 25 || [[230P8]] || [[Arie Paap]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=68099#p68099]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A high-clearance p8 [[domino]] sparker that can be used to create a p32 [[phase shift]] oscillator.
|-
| 26 || 23 || p250 c/10 orthogonal [[rake]] || [[Christoph Reinthaler]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=85846#p85846]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The lowest-period [[c/10 orthogonal]] rake constructed to date.
|-
| 27 || 19 || Hackersaw || [[Gustone]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84247#p84247]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A logarithmic-growth pattern with a [[sawtooth]]-shaped population graph.
|}

===2018===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=67012#p67012 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=67446#p67446 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=68446#p68446 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2018}} competition. Users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wished, awarding up to three stars to each one. [[77topaz]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 106 || [[Sir Robin]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Tomas Rokicki]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=57354#p57354]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[(2,1)c/6]] spaceship, and the first [[elementary spaceship|elementary]] [[oblique]] spaceship discovered in Conway's Game of Life.
|-
| 2 || 90 || [[0E0P metacell]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://cp4space.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fully-self-directed-replication/]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[unit cell]] which does not require a background grid of metacells to function, proving the existence of unusual classes of patterns such as quadratic [[replicator]]s and [[RRO]]s in Conway's Game of Life "imported" from other rules.
|-
| 3 || 79 || [[Reverse caber-tosser]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=61666#p61666]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A complex mechanism which theoretically allows any [[glider synthesis|glider-synthesisable]] pattern to be synthesised in just 35 gliders, by encoding the pattern's complexity into the distance between the gliders rather than their quantity.
|-
| 4 || 52 || [[Turing machine]] simulator || [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58910#p58910]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A script which can simulate arbitrary [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine Turing machines] in Conway's Game of Life using a finite tape.
|-
| 5 || 45 || [[Camelship]] || [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66297#p66297]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[self-constructing]] [[oblique]] spaceship with the minimum possible step size for a [[slope]] 3 spaceship.
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 41 || New [[self-constructing]] spaceships || [[Dave Greene]] || [http://b3s23life.blogspot.com/2018/11/new-tools-for-self-construction.html]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[loopship]], along with [[HashLife]]-friendly variants of [[Orthogonoid]] and [[Demonoid]].
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 41 || c/2 diagonal [[telegraph]] [[recipe]] || [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64489#p64489]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A 140-glider recipe to create a detectable c/2 diagonal [[signal]] traveling non-destructively along an arbitrarily long [[barge]] or [[ship]].
|-
| 8 || 35 || [[Period-52 glider gun]] || [[Dave Greene]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Chris Cain]], [[Entity Valkyrie]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64083#p64083] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65720#p65720] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65762#p65762]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first true-period 52 [[gun]] constructed, which was later [[P13-assisted period-52 glider gun|vastly reduced]] using [[53P13]].
|-
| 9 || 34 || Stable [[line crosser]] || [[Dave Greene]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=63536#p63536]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A modernized rehash of a [[periodic]] circuit for transmitting a glider across a diagonal line of cells found by [[David Bell]].
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 33 || [[Jormungant's G-to-H]] || [[Louis-François Handfield]] (Jormungant) || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58814#p58814]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A 2G-to-H converter with a short [[recovery time]], allowing for the optimization of numerous [[gun]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 33 || [[Period-33 glider gun]] || [[Arie Paap]], [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64266#p64266]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first true-period 33 [[gun]], which uses two interacting copies of [[Jason's p33]].
|-
| data-sort-value="10" | =10 || 33 || Infinite distinct diagonal spaceships and infinite distinct orthogonal spaceships || [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=55400#p55400] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66993#p66993]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Two guns which each use [[sqrtgun]] mechanisms to fire infinitely many distinct spaceships, all of which are [[puffer]]s whose outputs are eaten by spaceships arbitrarily far away.
|-
| data-sort-value="13" | =13 || 31 || Sierpinski triangle generator || [[Luka Okanishi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56835#p56835]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[breeder]] that outputs gliders in the shape of a growing Sierpinski triangle.
|-
| data-sort-value="13" | =13 || 31 || [[Cottonmouth]] || [[AforAmpere]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58357#p58357]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An infinitely extensible [[pushalong]] for the [[copperhead]] and [[fireship]].
|-
| data-sort-value="13" | =13 || 31 || 5c/9 signal injector || [[Rhombic]], [[Simon Ekström]], [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=&p=54607#p54607]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A method of transforming [[Herschel]]s to [[5c/9 drifter]]s with a [[recovery time]] of 62.
|-
| 16 || 30 || [[p46 gliderless LWSS gun]] || [[Nathaniel Johnston]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=61392#p61392]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The smallest known [[gliderless]] [[LWSS]] gun, using three copies of [[Tanner's p46]].
|-
| data-sort-value="17" | =17 || 29 || [[Bronco]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66406#p66406]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The second elementary [[glider]]-to-[[Herschel]] converter to be discovered.
|-
| data-sort-value="17" | =17 || 29 || New high-period [[oscillator]]s || [[carybe]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=63969#p63969] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64645#p64645] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65088#p65088] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65324#p65324]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A collective entry for [[p36 shuttle]], [[34P14 shuttle]], [[68P16]], and [[p64 thunderbird hassler]], all discovered using [[apgsearch]].
|-
| 19 || 28 || [[Quinti-Snark]]s || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65198#p65198]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Period-quintupling [[reflector]]s useful for [[gun]]s.
|-
| 20 || 27 || [[Pseudo-period]] [[xWSS]] guns || [[Chris Cain]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Entity Valkyrie]], [[2718281828]], [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65121#p65121]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | New xWSS guns with pseudo-periods ranging from 18 to 21, breaking the previous record of 22.
|-
| 21 || 26 || [[Self-constructing]] [[oscillator]] with [[strict volatility]] one || [[Dave Greene]], [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66216#p66216]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A method of constructing strictly volatile oscillators with any [[period]] 3,506,910 or above.
|-
| 22 || 25 || [[p3 bumper]] || [[Arie Paap]], [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58869#p58869]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[periodic]] reflector to work at p39, which also allowed for the construction of a [[p57 bumper loop]]
|-
| data-sort-value="23" | =23 || 24 || Goldtiger997's Amazing 2 in 1 Reusable Multipurpose Minstrel Remover and Detector™ || [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66828#p66828]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A circuit capable of removing every known [[Minstrel]] from [[Sir Robin]] at the time of its construction.
|-
| data-sort-value="23" | =23 || 24 || New mid-period [[sparker]]s || [[Dongook Lee]], [[Josh Ball]], [[Martin Grant]], [[praosylen]], [[carybe]], [[Bullet51]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56422#p56422] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58503#p58503] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58616#p58616] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=59789#p59789] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=59991#p59991] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=62347#p62347] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64284#p64284] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66800#p66800]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A collective entry for various [[spark]]ing oscillators with periods ranging from 7 to 10, including but not limited to [[68P9]] and [[55P10]].
|-
| data-sort-value="25" | =25 || 23 || [[Minstrel 4]] || [[Entity Valkyrie]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66748#p66748]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A manually-assembled [[Sir Robin]] [[tagalong]] which combines [[Minstrel]]s 1 and 3.
|-
| data-sort-value="25" | =25 || 23 || Period-doubling [[fireship]] tagalong || [[christoph.r]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64623#p64623]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[tagalong]] for a [[flotilla]] of three [[fireship]]s which increases its period to 20.
|-
| 27 || 22 || [[p4 bouncer]] || [[Arie Paap]], [[Noam Elkies]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64315#p64315]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The fastest known p4 [[reflector]].
|-
| 28 || 21 || Huge 2D-extensible [[wick]]-supporting [[pushalong]] || [[Hartmut Holzwart]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64968#p64968]
|-
| 29 || 20 || [[Non-monotonic]] [[2c/5 orthogonal]] spaceship || [[Arie Paap]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Bullet51]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=59118#p59118]
|-
| data-sort-value="30" | =30 || 19 || [[p9 bouncer]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[carybe]], [[Noam Elkies]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=64309#p64309]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[reflector]] capable of reflecting a p27 glider stream using [[68P9]], which was found using [[apgsearch]] the same day.
|-
| data-sort-value="30" | =30 || 19 || p6 180-degree [[reflector]] and related [[gun]]s || [[Arie Paap]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Louis-François Handfield]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65060#p65060] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65819#p65819]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A reflector which can be used alongside other [[sparker]]s to create arbitrary guns with period (60n+30).
|-
| 32 || 18 || Fast universal [[regulator]]s || [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=61746#p61746]
|-
| 33 || 17 || [[42883M]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=66055#p66055]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A {{times|16|16}} [[soup]] found by [[apgsearch]], and the longest-lasting known [[methuselah]] fitting within a {{times|16|16}} bounding box.
|-
| 34 || 10 || New [[honey farm]] [[hassle]]rs || [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65000#p65000] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65021#p65021] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=65117#p65117]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A collective entry for a few [[oscillator]]s of periods 36 and 40 which use honey farm-hassling reactions.
|}

===2017===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=54485#p54485 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=55444#p55444 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56715#p56715 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2017}} competition. Users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wished, awarding up to three stars to each one. [[Adam P. Goucher]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 50 || [[2-engine Cordership]] || [[praosylen]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=54444#p54444]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A successful refutation of the common belief that 3 engines are required to build a [[Cordership]].
|-
| 2 || 34 || [[Tanner's p46]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=52220#p52220]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A new sparky {{period|46}} [[oscillator]] that various [[gun]]s can be made from.
|-
| 3 || 32 || [[Stable pulse-divider]]s || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=50677#p50677] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=52335#p52335] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=52636#p52636]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The [[Snark]] and [[semi-Snark]] have been joined by new exciting [[tremi-Snark]], [[quadri-Snark]], and [[semi-cenark]]s, which are particularly helpful for optimising [[glider gun|glider]] and spaceship [[gun]]s.
|-
| 4 || 29 || New [[Demonoid]] and [[Orthogonoid]] [[spaceship]]s || [[Dave Greene]], [[slmake]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=45264#p45264] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=45486#p45486]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Geminoid]] variants which travel diagonally and orthogonally, respectively, showcasing interesting developments such as [[MWSS]]-based [[signal]]ling and [[syringe]] syntheses.
|-
| 5 || 27 || The efficient {{slcells|16|text=16-bit}} still life [[synthesis]] project || [[Chris Cain]], [[BlinkerSpawn]], [[Luka Okanishi]], [[Martin Grant]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Bob Shemyakin]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=38489#p38489] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=43734#p43734]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | All still-lifes of 16 or fewer cells can be constructed at a cost of <= 1 glider per cell.
|-
| 6 || 26 || Synthesis of [[25P3H1V0.2]], and reductions of many other small spaceships || [[Martin Grant]], [[Chris Cain]], [[2718281828]], [[gmc_nxtman]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=54359#p54359] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=46308#p46308] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=52614#p52614] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=53496#p53496]
|-
| data-sort-value="7" | =7 || 24 || [[Cordership#Sparse Cordership|Sparse Cordership]] || [[David Bell]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=54103#p54103]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | All previously-known [[Cordership]]s required interactions between two or more adjacent [[switch engine]]s. This design, on the other hand, allows the individual switch engines to be separated by arbitrary distances, relying instead on long-range interactions mediated by [[glider]]s and [[stable]] objects.
|-
| data-sort-value="7" | =7 || 24 || [[Hydra]] || [[Oscar Cunningham]], [[Dave Greene]], [[slmake]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=53089#p53089]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[single-channel]] [[quadratic-growth]] pattern which constructs an intricate mesh of splitting construction heads in all directions. Some well-positioned [[eater]]s prevent this behemoth from cannibalising itself. It uses similar technology to Dave's earlier triple wickstretcher, but is more complex owing to the necessity of splitting signals.
|-
| 9 || 22 || [[3-glider collision|Three-glider synthesis]] of a [[switch engine]] || [[Luka Okanishi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=41557#p41557]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | It was previously believed that 4 gliders were necessary and sufficient to synthesise a switch engine.
|-
| 10 || 21 || Synthesis of ''N''-bit still lifes in 38 to 39 gliders || [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40503#p40503] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40526#p40526]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Glider synthesis|Syntheses]] of ''N''-bit still lifes for all sufficiently large natural numbers ''N'', using a bounded number of [[glider]]s (38 or 39, depending on the parity of ''N'').
|-
| 11 || 18 || Life object having a bounded population with an [[unknown fate]] || [[David Bell]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=53533#p53533]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Collatz 5n+1 simulator|A pattern]] which either becomes [[stable]], [[oscillator]]y, or aperiodic, depending on the behaviour of 7 under the generalised Collatz iteration which maps a positive integer ''N'' to 5''N''+1 (if ''N'' odd) or ''N''/2 (if ''N'' even).
|-
| data-sort-value="12" | =12 || 17 || Completed [[Quest for Tetris]] challenge || [[PhiNotPi]], [[El'endia Starman]], [[K Zhang]], [[Muddyfish]], [[Kritixi Lithos]], [[Mego]], [[Quartata]], et al. || [https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/11880/build-a-working-game-of-tetris-in-conways-game-of-life/142673#142673]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A game of Tetris simulated on a digital computer built out of logic gates formed from [[Brice Due]]'s [[metacell]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="12" | =12 || 17 || [[Gliderless]] [[unit cell]] || [[Peter Naszvadi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=53026#p53026]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A cellular automata [[polyglot]] (pattern which runs in a range of rules) based on p46 technology, establishing Turing-completeness of B3[8]/S23[8] provided infinite patterns are permitted.
|-
| data-sort-value="12" | =12 || 17 || [[Garden of Eden 11]] || [[Steven Eker]] || [http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/orphan_11th.html]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An [[orphan]] with 45 live cells and 43 dead cells, the fewest total number of specified cells among all known orphans.
|-
| 15 || 16 || Several new [[stable]] [[signal]] [[converter]]s || [[Dave Greene]], [[Goldtiger997]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=42465#p42465]
|-
| 16 || 15 || [[339P7H1V0]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40206#p40206]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The narrowest odd-symmetric c/7 spaceship, and the second known [[elementary]] c/7 spaceship, after the [[loafer]].
|-
| 17 || 14 || Much smaller [[spiral growth]] pattern || [[Dave Greene]], [[slmake]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44792#p44792]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A tightly-coiled loop of data reflected in a double-spiral of [[Snark]]s instructs a [[construction arm]] to encircle the construction indefinitely, gradually constructing an unbounded spiral of further Snarks.
|-
| 18 || 13 || p148 B29 gun || [[Luka Okanishi]], [[Dave Greene]], [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40764#p40764]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A compact [[gun]] for a [[B29|c/4 diagonal spaceship]].
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 12 || Cumulative sum generator || [[gameoflifeboy]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40837#p40837]
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 12 || Triple wickstretcher || [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44377#p44377]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[single-channel]] [[glider loop]] which extends zigzags of [[Snark]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="19" | =19 || 12 || The first 3c/7 orthogonal puffer || [[Luka Okanishi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=41074#p41074]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Exclusively using 3c/7 [[spaghetti monster]]s (the only known spaceship of its velocity). Owing to its faster-than-c/4 speed, a c/2 spaceship is necessary to catch up with the front of the engine to continue the reaction.
|-
| 22 || 11 || The first c/6 orthogonal puffers || [[Nico Brown]], [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=47306#p47306]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Messy albeit elegant [[puffer]]s where [[glider]]s collide with large sparky spaceships in perpetuity.
|-
| 23 || 9 || Fixed-length [[tail]] for a [[lightspeed bubble]] of arbitrary width in the [[zebra stripes]] [[agar]] || [[Arie Paap]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=40615#p40615]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Gabriel Nivasch]] showed that arbitrary-width lightspeed bubbles in the zebra stripes agar are supportable, requiring a fixed-length head and variable-length tail. It was hitherto an open problem to replace the variable-length tail with a fixed-length counterpart.
|-
| 24 || 7 || [[28P7.3]] || [[Bullet51]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=54236#p54236]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The smallest known (tied with previous record) {{period|7}} [[oscillator]].
|-
| 25 || 6 || [[Runny nose]] || [[83bismuth38]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=41272#p41272]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A {{period|3}} [[oscillator]] which showed an unexpected gap in lists of small objects.
|}

===2016===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=39117#p39117 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=41977#p41977 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44028#p44028 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2016}} competition. Users were able to vote on as many patterns as they wished, awarding up to three stars to each one. [[Alexey Nigin]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 49 || [[Caterloopillar]]s || [[Michael Simkin]], [[David Bell]] et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29796#p29796]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Previously, all [[engineered spaceship]]s had speeds that were either fixed ([[Caterpillar]]) or adjustable but always very low ([[Gemini]]). Caterloopillars have the best of both worlds: their speed is variable, and the fastest ones can travel as quickly as c/4. So far all caterloopillars have been orthogonal, but a project to build one with adjustable [[slope]] is underway.
|-
| 2 || 47 || [[Copperhead]] || [[zdr]], [[Simon Ekström]] et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=27988#p27988] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=28956#p28956]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | In addition to being the first of its speed, this [[c/10 orthogonal]] [[spaceship]] is so small that it is surprising nobody discovered it before. Its small size allowed the creation of a 22-glider synthesis, and a gun was made soon afterwards. A pseudo-tagalong known as the [[fireship]] found a bit later made it possible to create c/10 [[puffers]] and [[rakes]]. Much of copperhead's fame is due to the mystery surrounding its discovery: it was posted by a newly-joined anonymous user who became inactive afterwards.
|-
| 3 || 39 || [[Grandfather problem|Grandfather-less Pattern]] || [[mtve]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30646#p30646]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | "Is there a configuration which has a father but no grandfather?" This is the statement of the grandfather problem, one of the longest-standing open problems in [[Conway's Game of Life|Life]], having been unsolved for decades in spite of a $50 prize offer from [[John Conway]] Himself in September 1972. It was only this year that the first grandfather-less pattern was discovered using a SAT solver.
|-
| 4 || 31 || [[Spaghetti monster]] || [[Tim Coe]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=31863#p31863]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is the first spaceship with a speed of 3c/7, which has been one of the most sought-after speeds in the last 15 years. The ship was discovered with [[knightt]], a relatively new search program. The search took about two months, even though the width was continuously tweaked to make it faster.
|-
| 5 || 28 || [[8-bit computer]] || [[Coban]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=37428#p37428]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is the first 8-bit computer in any [[cellular automaton]], and easily the most realistic computer ever constructed in Life. It has a ROM which contains the program, consisting of 32 instructions which are stored in 21 bits each. For RAM, it has a register bank containing eight 8-bit registers. For output, it has a "printer" with 8 pixels.
|-
| 6 || 19 || [[Herschel splitter]] || [[Luka Okanishi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29968#p29968]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is an elegant solution to an old circuitry problem: a direct [[Herschel]] signal splitter that recovers in less than a hundred ticks. People had been looking for something exactly like this for very nearly twenty years, ever since the original 1996-97 universal set of [[Herschel conduit]]s. It was made by extending an [[Fx119]] conduit with a partial copy of itself to extract the second Herschel output.
|-
| 7 || 14 || [[Bumper]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29711#p29711]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This [[reflector]] mechanism can be attached to a variety of sparky [[oscillator]]s to make reflectors of the corresponding periods. Since the resulting reflectors have different timing than the [[Snark]], they solve a range of "my glider is in the wrong phase" wiring problems. A small wave of record-breaking guns followed soon after the bumper's debut.
|-
| data-sort-value="8" | =8 || 12 || New gun periods || [[Luka Okanishi]], [[Maia Karpovich]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29965#p29965] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=29991#p29991] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30033#p30033]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | In three days, three new true gun periods were discovered: [[Period-61 glider gun|p61]], [[Period-58 glider gun|p58]], and [[Period-57 glider gun|p57]].
|-
| data-sort-value="8" | =8 || 12 || [[Statorless p5]] || [[Josh Ball]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=32242#p32242]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is the first [[statorless]] oscillator of its period. Since the period is prime, the lack of stator implies that the oscillator is [[strictly volatile]], which is a rare property.
|-
| 10 || 11 || Aperiodic tiles || [[NotLiving]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=30640#p30640]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is an implementation of a particular set of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_tiles Wang tiles] in the Game of Life. The Life tiles form a stable pattern if and only if the corresponding arrangement of Wang tiles is valid. Since this set of Wang tiles can only form aperiodic arrangements, so can the Life tiles.
|-
| 11 || 10 || [[Rich's p16]] || [[Rich Holmes]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=32766#p32766]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is a small [[:Category:Oscillators with period 16|p16]] oscillator that appeared [[natural]]ly. It is compact for its period and has easily accessible [[spark]]s. Most notably, it can filter [[glider]] streams similarly to the [[blocker]], which led to reductions in many guns that previously utilized other filter mechanisms.
|-
| 12 || 9 || Small [[Garden of Eden|GoE]]s || [[Steven Eker]] || [http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/orphan_9th.html] [http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/orphan_10th.html]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A few record-breaking Gardens of Eden and [[orphan]]s were found, including an orphan with only 89 defined cells.
|-
| data-sort-value="13" | =13 || 6 || 15-bit [[still life]] [[syntheses]] || [[BlinkerSpawn]], [[Goldtiger997]], [[Bob Shemyakin]], [[Mark Niemiec]], [[Martin Grant]], [[Chris Cain]], et al. || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=36803#p36803] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=37438#p37438]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A project to find syntheses of all {{slcells|15|text=15-bit}} still lifes in under 15 gliders turned out to be a very prolific collaboration. Using [[Catagolue]] soups along with known and new [[converter]] mechanisms, several hundred new syntheses were created. The goal was achieved in just 41 days.
|-
| data-sort-value="13" | =13 || 6 || [[132P7|p7 sparker]] || [[Dongook Lee]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=38352#p38352]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This pattern adds a new relatively strong [[heavyweight emulator]] to the p7 collection, which previously only had the [[pipsquirter]]. It was used to complete a p28 [[wick]] with no prior stabilization.
|}

===2015===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=26338#p26338 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=26648#p26648 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=27344#p27344 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2015}} competition. Users chose as many pattern as they wanted and ranked them from best to worst; the votes were then tallied with a custom Delphi program.<ref name="post27345" /> Alexey Nigin organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Points
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 107 || [[Syringe]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18086#p18086]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Syringe is the fast [[glider|G]]-to-[[Herschel|H]] that Herschel plumbers have been wishing for a decade, also allowing for fast signal splitters and other much more efficient logic circuits, including self-constructing circuitry.
|-
| 2 || 102 || [[Simkin glider gun]] || [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19124#p19124]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The [[Simkin glider gun]] is the smallest gun ever constructed. The previous record holder, the [[Gosper glider gun]], was constructed as long ago as {{year|1970}}.
|-
| 3 || 91 || [[Demonoid]]s || [[Chris Cain]] and [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=25401#p25401] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=25702#p25702]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Demonoids are highly-simplified, diagonally-moving variants of the original [[Gemini]] spaceship. The 0hd Demonoid is the only case where a spaceship [[gun]] pattern was completed before the actual spaceship.
|-
| 4 || 55 || Syntheses of [[spaceship]]s || [[Martin Grant]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], and [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15474#p15474] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15747#p15747] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15951#p15951] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=16223#p16223] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=16736#p16736] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=17576#p17576] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18531#p18531] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20360#p20360] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=22469#p22469]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Syntheses of [[B29]], [[X66]], half-X66 with [[HWSS]], [[Pushalong 1]], [[25P3H1V0.2]], [[30P5H2V0]], [[30P4H2V0]], a pufferfish spaceship, and the [[weekender]] were discovered in 2015, which exceeds the number of spaceship syntheses found in any previous year, including 1970.
|-
| 5 || 48 || [[Recursive filter]] || [[Alexey Nigin]] and [[Kiran Linsuain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20935#p20935]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=20935#p20935 Recursive Filter] allows the creation of extremely slow-growing patterns. A single recursive filter gives the growth rate of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterated_logarithm log*(t)], which is slower than the growth rate of any pattern constructed before. Recursive filters can be stacked to obtain even more mind-boggling growth rates.
|-
| 6 || 45 || [[Glider]]-to-[[Weekender]] || [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23009#p23009]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23009#p23009 G-to-Weekender] splits a single input [[glider]] into 82 separate signals, and successfully synchronizes them to produce an output [[weekender]] spaceship. The previous record synchronization was [[Adam P. Goucher|Goucher]]'s glider-to-[[Cordership]] converter, which produced 19 synchronized gliders from one input signal.
|-
| 7 || 34 || [[Bob Shemyakin]]'s syntheses || [[Bob Shemyakin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23931#p23931]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23931#p23931 Bob Shemyakin's syntheses] are often cheaper than what could be found in [[Mark Niemiec]]'s database (and those were already pretty good). This was the result of a lot of patient script-writing and collecting collision results, starting with adding two gliders (within a certain range) to every possible two-glider collision. Many new 4-, 5-, and 6-glider still life recipes were found, and optimizations for many larger still lifes up to 15 bits.
|-
| 8 || 33 || [[HBK gun]] || [[Chris Cain]] and [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15639#p15639]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | HBK gun is an extremely large and complex [[gun]] that fires parallel HBKs. It is the only gun to produce non-self-constructing macro-spaceships.
|-
| 9 || 31 || [[Herschel-to-MWSS]] || [[Tanner Jacobi]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23888#p23888]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23888#p23888 H-to-MWSS] is the smallest converter of [[Herschel]]s into (non-[[glider]]) [[standard spaceship]]s. Prior constructions of XWSSs required many [[Herschel track]]s and a large area.
|-
| 10 || 30 || [[Sawtooth 177]] || [[Maia Karpovich]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], [[Chris Cain]], [[Adam P. Goucher]], and [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=24245#p24245]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Sawtooth 177 is currently the smallest known sawtooth.
|-
| 11 || 29 || [[Single-lane construction arm toolkit]] || [[Simon Ekström]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=26024#p26024]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=26024#p26024 Single-Lane Construction Arm Toolkit] is an important result for simplifying [[self-constructing]] [[circuitry]], especially those where a recipe needs to be duplicated, as in the [[linear propagator]], not just interpreted as in the [[Demonoid]] and [[Gemini]].
|-
| 12 || 28 || Elementary conduits collection || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Dave Greene]], and [[Maia Karpovich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=25684#p25684]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=25684#p25684 Elementary Conduits Collection], recently significantly expanded with new discoveries, is a one-stop shop for the building blocks of [[stable]] [[track]]s. It was organized to catalogue all [[converter]]s between likely active reactions, not just from [[Herschel]] to Herschel.
|-
| 13 || 26 || [[45-degree MWSS-to-G|(L{{!}}M)WSS-to-glider]] || [[Ivan Fomichev]] and [[Dongook Lee]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23800#p23800]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=23800#p23800 (L|M)WSS-to-G] is the second known small conduit that turns [[standard spaceship]]s into [[glider]]s, and the first that accepts [[LWSS]]s.
|-
| 14 || 23 || Collection of guns || [[Chris Cain]], [[Simon Ekström]], [[Scot Ellison]], and [[Dave Greene]] || [https://github.com/ceebo/glider_guns]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The [https://github.com/ceebo/glider_guns Collection of Guns] is an ambitious project to collect new smaller [[glider gun]]s using the [[syringe]] and other recent discoveries. All guns in the range 78-999 were eventually reduced to bounding boxes less than 8000 cells.
|-
| 15 || 19 || [[Dragon lightsaber]] || [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18503#p18503]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18503#p18503 Dragon Lightsaber] is a mysterious pattern that seems to calculate some sequence. It is [https://xkcd.com/1433/ this] type of a lightsaber.
|-
| 16 || 14 || [[Quadratic sawtooth]] || [[Martin Grant]], [[praosylen]], [[Dongook Lee]], and [[Alexey Nigin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19443#p19443]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19443#p19443 Quadratic sawtooth] is a [[sawtooth]] whose population peaks grow quadratically.
|-
| 17 || 13 || [[Tlog(log(t)) growth|t*log(log(t)) growth]] || [[Alexey Nigin]] and [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19959#p19959]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19959#p19959 t*log(log(t)) growth] is pattern with an exotic growth rate. That growth rate has long been achievable via [[exponential filter]]s, but this pattern utilizes a completely different design.
|}

===2014===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=27369#p27369 Initial entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56723#p56723 Belated entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56796#p56796 Belated voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=57457#p57457 Results]

The following patterns were submitted as competition entries by users in early 2016. Patterns were not voted on at the time, but a belated vote was held in early 2018, featuring three further submissions in addition to the original nine. [[Kiran Linsuain]] organized the 2016 competition; [[77topaz]] organized the 2018 vote.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 30 || [[Waterbear]] || [[Brett Berger]] and [[Ivan Fomichev]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15284#p15284]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first fast oblique [[spaceship]], moving at speed (23,5)c/79.
|-
| 2 || 23 || [[Centipede]] || [[Chris Cain]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=13070#p13070]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A large, engineered [[spaceship]] that moves at 31c/240, using a unique reaction.
|-
| 3 || 21 || [[Half-baked knightship]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Chris Cain]], [[Dave Greene]], and [[Ivan Fomichev]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=12630#p12630]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An oblique [[spaceship]] that moves with [[displacement]] (6,3), using the [[half-bakery reaction]].
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 17 || [[Switch engine ping-pong]] || [[Michael Simkin]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=14050#p14050]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A 23-cell [[quadratic growth]] pattern, the smallest known.
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 17 || Syntheses for all {{slcells|17|text=17-bit}} and {{slcells|18|text=18-bit}} [[still life]]s || [[Martin Grant]], [[Mark Niemiec]], and [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=11972#p11972] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=14272#p14272]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Note: Some of the 18-bit syntheses were later found to be invalid, and the project was not completed for real until 2019.<ref name="post83979" />
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 13 || [[Pufferfish]] || [[Richard Schank]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=14510#p14510]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[period]] 12 c/2 [[puffer]] that was used to make the first wholly high-period c/2 spaceship.
|-
| data-sort-value="7" | =6 || 13 || [[Spiral growth]] || [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=12815#p12815]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[self-constructing pattern]] that grows in an outward spiral.
|-
| data-sort-value="8" | =8 || 12 || [[Dart]] and [[crab]] syntheses || [[Martin Grant]], [[Mark Niemiec]], [[Michael Simkin]], [[Ivan Fomichev]], [[Tanner Jacobi]], and [[Brett Berger]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=14680#p14680] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=15243#p15243]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Glider synthesis|Glider syntheses]] for small [[spaceship]]s that did not previously have any.
|-
| data-sort-value="8" | =8 || 12 || [[Weekender distaff]] || [[Ivan Fomichev]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=12047#p12047]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first 2c/7 orthogonal [[rake]], consisting of a long chain of [[weekender]]s perturbing [[ash|debris]].
|-
| 10 || 8 || [[Honey thieves]]&dagger; || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=13179#p13179]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The smallest known {{period|17}} [[oscillator]], and the first one with a known [[glider synthesis]].
|-
| 11 || 7 || p27 [[billiard table]] oscillator&dagger; || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=13248#p13248]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An [[oscillator]] in which period 5, period 8 and period 3 [[rotor]]s [[phase shift]] each other.
|-
| 12 || 6 || [[LCM oscillators]]&dagger; || [[Noam Elkies]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=56725#p56725]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | [[Oscillator]]s featuring multiple [[rotor]]s that interact in complicated ways.
|}

&dagger;not originally submitted in 2014.

===2013===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=57472#p57472 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=57924#p57924 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=58573#p58573 Results]

No competition was initially held in {{year|2013}}. However, it was mentioned in [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7826#p7826 various] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=26363#p26363 places] that the winner for 2013 was clearly Mike Playle's [[Snark]], with no particular need for a formal vote. A belated vote was organized in early {{year|2018}} by [[77topaz]]. The following patterns were submitted as competition entries by users.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1 || 34 || [[Snark]] || [[Mike Playle]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7819#p7819]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[stable]] 90˚ glider [[reflector]] which, with 52 cells and a [[repeat time]] of 43, is both far smaller and far faster than previous such patterns.
|-
| 2 || 31 || [[Loafer]] || [[Josh Ball]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7450#p7450]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first [[c/7 orthogonal]] spaceship and, with just 20 cells, the smallest spaceship other than the glider and [[xWSS]]es.
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | =3 || 22 || [[CC semi-Snark]] || [[Sergey Petrov]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=8383#p8383]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A small, [[Spartan]] 90˚ glider reflector which functions as a [[period doubler]].
|-
| data-sort-value="3" | =3 || 22 || [[Linear propagator]] || [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=9901#p9901]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A large, engineered pattern which is arguably the first example of a [[replicator]] in Conway's Game of Life, depending on the exact definition used.
|-
| 5 || 17 || Original 16-bit [[still life]] [[synthesis]] project || [[Martin Grant]], [[Mark Niemiec]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10227#p10227]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A project to synthesize all 16-bit still lifes.
|-
| 6 || 15 || [[Period-20 glider gun]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7975#p7975]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A true period-20 [[glider gun]], the smallest true period known for a gun.
|-
| 7 || 14 || [[135-degree MWSS-to-G]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=8489#p8489]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first fast [[elementary]] [[MWSS]]-to-[[glider]] [[converter]].
|-
| 8 || 11 || [[Period-40 glider gun]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]], [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7594#p7594]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A true period-40 [[glider gun]] based on complicated reactions involving [[honey farm]] predecessors, {{period|5}} and {{period|8}} [[oscillator]]s.
|-
| data-sort-value="9" | =9 || 9 || [[AK-94]] and [[Pre-pulsar shuttle]] 22 || [[Mike Playle]], [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7954#p7954] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7961#p7961]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Two constructions based on a new [[catalyst]] found by [[Mike Playle]].
|-
| data-sort-value="9" | =9 || 9 || [[Standard spaceship]] [[eater]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=8579#p8579]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[still life]] capable of [[eater|eating]] every type of [[standard spaceship]].
|-
| data-sort-value="11" | =11 || 8 || p29 reflector || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Noam Elkies]], [[David Buckingham]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=8860#p8860]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[reflector]] based on a [[Pre-pulsar shuttle 29]] variant.
|-
| data-sort-value="11" | =11 || 8 || [[c/4 diagonal]] [[wickstretcher]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Jason Summers]], [[Paul Tooke]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7373#p7373]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[fencepost]] for a partial [[c/4 diagonal]] [[wickstretcher]] found by [[Paul Tooke]] in {{year|2004}}.
|-
| 13 || 7 || [[c/5 orthogonal]] [[wickstretcher]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]], [[Hartmut Holzwart]], [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7570#p7570]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first [[c/5 orthogonal]] [[wickstretcher]] to be found.
|-
| 14 || 5 || [[French kiss]] synthesis || [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=9513#p9513]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A 23-glider synthesis for a {{period|3}} oscillator which, despite its size, previously had no known synthesis.
|-
| data-sort-value="15" | =15 || 4 || [https://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xq4_wp3hz07gg030sxgzgkl0eijggoi12zy61/b3s23/ 41P4H1V0] || [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7780#p7780]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | At the time of its discovery, the second smallest known [[c/4 orthogonal]] spaceship.
|-
| data-sort-value="15" | =15 || 4 || [[Period-7 sparkers#Dot sparkers and functional dot sparkers|138P7]] || [[Karel Suhajda]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=8392#p8392]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A fairly strong {{period|7}} [[sparker]], at a time when few were known. It was used to create a {{period|14}} [[traffic light]] [[hassler]].
|}

===2012===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7350#p7350 Entries] ([https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=146912#p146912 belated]) • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5747 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5747&p=155877&hilit=poty#p155786 Results]

No vote was initially held for {{year|2012}}, but the following patterns were submitted as competition entries by users. User [[User:P46beth|p46beth]] organized the original competition, while a belated vote was organized by [[atavoidirc]] in 2022 and completed in January 2023.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Stars
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| 1|| 33 || [[Statorless p3]] || [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6967#p6967]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first statorless period-3 oscillator.
|-
| 2|| 32|| Direct stable Herschel duplicator || [[Sergey Petrov]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5915#p5915]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A conduit with a single Herschel input and two independent Herschel outputs.
|-
| =3 || 31|| Period-4 90-degree reflector || [[Karel Suhajda]], [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7356#p7356]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first fast period-4 90-degree reflector; works at periods as low as 52.
|-
| =3 || 31|| [[37P4H1V0]] || [[Josh Ball]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6540#p6540]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A 37-cell c/4 orthogonal spaceship by Josh Ball. In terms of minimum population, it is the smallest known c/4 orthogonal spaceship.
|-
| 5 || 27|| 444-tick [[glider-to-Herschel converter]] || [[Sergey Petrov]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7102#p7102]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | This is the fastest known stable glider-to-Herschel converter/90-degree glider reflector currently known.
|-
| =6|| 26 || Slow two-sided synthesis of the Herschel transmitter || [[Sergey Petrov]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=&p=7261#p7261]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Two-sided syntheses of the standard Herschel transmitter in every orientation where only two gliders interact at any step in the synthesis.
|-
| =6 || 26 || G4 Herschel merge circuit || [[Sergey Petrov]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5850#p5850] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5885#p5885] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7200#p7200]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A spartan Herschel transceiver that allows two independent transmitters to feed into the same receiver.
|-
| =8 || 23 || [[HLx111R]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=7042#p7042]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A versatile H-to-R conduit that can be used to construct several new Herschel conduits.
|-
| =8 || 23 || New c/5 diagonal rake design || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://github.com/Matthias-Merzenich/jslife-moving/blob/master/velocity-c5d/rake-c5d-p85.rle]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A c/5 diagonal rake design that allows rakes of periods as low as 85.
|-
| =8|| 23 || Herschel-less p62 gun || [[Jason Summers]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=147721#p147721]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first period-62 glider gun that does not rely on Herschels.
|-
| =11 || 22 || [[86P6H3V0]] || [[ Matthias Merzenich]], [[Josh Ball]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6222#p6222]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The smallest known 3c/6 orthogonal spaceship.
|-
| =11 || 22 || Low density orphan || [[Marijn Heule]], [[Christiaan Hartman]], [[Kees Kwekkeboom]], [[Alain Noels]] || [https://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/orphan_8th.html]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An orphan with 92 set cells and only 45 on cells, giving it the lowest density of any known irreducible orphan.
|-
| 13 || 21 || [[Ambidextrous]] G5 [[Herschel transceiver]] || [[Sergey Petrov]], [[Paul Callahan]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=148&hilit=p504&start=50#p7201] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=148&hilit=p504&start=50#p7205]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A spartan Herschel transmitter that can connect to Callahan's spartan Herschel receiver in either of the two possible orientations.
|-
| =14 || 20 || New reflector periods || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=147718#p147718]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first p26 dependent reflector and p52 and p58 independent reflectors.
|-
| =14 || 20 || New c/4 diagonal spaceships || [[Nicolay Beluchenko]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=147721#p147721]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Large collection of new c/4 diagonal spaceships found with Beluchenko's modification of [[WLS]].
|}

===2011===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4904#p4904 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5940#p5940 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6325#p6325 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2011}} competition. Users were able to vote for up to three patterns, but not their own patterns; all votes were weighted equally. [[Adam P. Goucher]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Votes
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =1 || 10 || [[Fully universal Turing machine]] || [[Paul Rendell]] || [http://rendell-attic.org/gol/fullutm/index.htm]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An extension of the [[Universal Turing machine]] and [[Turing machine]], also by Paul Rendell.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =1 || 10 || [[Lobster (spaceship)|Lobster]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4983#p4983]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A c/7 diagonal spaceship found using [[WinLifeSearch]].
|-
| 3 || 7 || [[Garden of Eden 6]] || [[Marijn Heule]], [[Christiaan Hartman]], [[Kees Kwekkeboom]], and [[Alain Noels]] || [http://wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/achim/orphan_7th.html]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A small ({{times|10|10}}), rotationally [[symmetry|symmetric]] [[garden of Eden]] whose [[orphan]] requires only 92 cells to specify.
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 6 || Collection of new stable technology || [[Sergey Petrov]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5234#p5234] [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5239#p5239]
|-
| data-sort-value="4" | =4 || 6 || Oblique [[antstretcher]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4548#p4548]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | An [[antstretcher]] combining a c/5 orthogonal component with a c/4 diagonal component previously found by [[Hartmut Holzwart]] in 2006.
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 5 || [[1×N quadratic growth]] || [[Stephen Silver]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4587#p4587]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first pattern exhibiting [[quadratic growth]] that starts with the thickness of a single cell, using the [[breeder]] from [[Nick Gotts]]' [[26-cell quadratic growth]].
|-
| data-sort-value="6" | =6 || 5 || [[Pulsar Pixel Display]] || [[Mark Walsh]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4902#p4902]
|-
| data-sort-value="8" | 8 || 4 || [[Stable]] [[HWSS]] [[Heisenburp]] || [[Sergey Petrov]], [[Richard Schank]], [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5385#p5385]
|-
| 9 || 2 || [[77P6H1V1]] || [[Josh Ball]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4349#p4349]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The smallest known spaceship of [[c/6 diagonal|this speed]] in terms of its minimum population, found using [[WinLifeSearch]].
|-
| 10 || 1 || Small moving [[sawtooth]] || [[cloudy197]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=5857#p5857]
|}

===2010===
[https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2105#p2105 Entries] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4056#p4056 Voting] • [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4110#p4110 Results]

The following patterns were voted on for the {{year|2010}} competition. Users were able to vote for up to three patterns, but not their own patterns; all votes were weighted equally. [[Adam P. Goucher]] organized the competition.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! data-sort-type="number" | Final rank
! data-sort-type="number" | Votes
! Pattern
! Author
! Link(s)
|-
! class="unsortable" colspan="5" | Description
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | 1 || 14 || [[Gemini]] || [[Andrew J. Wade]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2323#p2323]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first [[oblique spaceship]] to be constructed, with a speed of (5120,1024)c/33699586.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | 2 || 9 || [[Phi calculator]] || [[Adam P. Goucher]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1931#p1931]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A modification of Goucher's similar [[pi calculator]] to instead calculate the digits of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio golden ratio].
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | 3 || 6 || [[c/5 diagonal rake]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3761#p3761]
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =4 || 5 || [[Pianola breeder]]s || [[Paul Tooke]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3525#p3525]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A series of Gemini-inspired patterns with a growth rate in between [[linear growth|linear]] and [[quadratic growth]].
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =4 || 5 || [[Merzenich's p31]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3797#p3797]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first known {{period|31|text=period 31}} oscillator, which also has the ability to reflect gliders 90 degrees.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | 6 || 4 || Gemini [[gun]]s || [[Dave Greene]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3036#p3036] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110525070420/http://pentadecathlon.com/lifeNews/2010/07/gemini_guns_1.html]
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =7 || 2 || [[Sawtooth 260]] || [[David Bell]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2242#p2242]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | Formerly the smallest known [[sawtooth]] in terms of minimum repeating population.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =7 || 2 || [[c/5 orthogonal]] [[greyship]]s || [[Hartmut Holzwart]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2051#p2051]
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | 9 || 1 || [[Period-45 glider gun]] || [[Matthias Merzenich]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2228#p2228]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The first true-period-45 glider gun to be discovered.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =10 || 0 || [[MWSS]] [[Heisenburp]] device || [[Martin Grant]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2096#p2096]
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =10 || 0 || [[Beluchenko's other p37]] || [[Nicolay Beluchenko]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2108#p2108]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | The second known {{period|37|text=period 37}} oscillator, and the first one with the ability to reflect gliders 90 degrees.
|-
| data-sort-value="1" | =10 || 0 || [[Flying wing]] [[spaceship]] || [[Emerson J. Perkins]] || [https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2386#p2386]
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="5" | A [[growing spaceship]] which grows in both dimensions.
|}

==See also==
* [[OCA Discovery of the Year]]

==References==
<references>
<ref name="post2115">{{LinkForumThread
|format = ref
|title = Re: Pattern of the Year 2010 competition
|p = 2115
|author = Adam P. Goucher
|date = April 3, 2010
}}</ref>
<ref name="post27345">{{LinkForumThread
|format = ref
|title = Re: Pattern of the Year 2015 (Votes)
|p = 27345
|author = Alexey Nigin
|date = February 11, 2016
}}</ref>
<ref name="post83979">{{LinkForumThread
|format = ref
|title = Re: 18-bit SL Syntheses (100% Complete!)
|p = 83979
|author = Ian07
|date = October 9, 2019
}}</ref>
</references>

[[Category:Everything else]]
[[Category:Competitions]]

__NOTOC__

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Pattern of the Year

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