Really nice almost endearing video where, the recently deceased, John Conway explains how the Game of Life was invented (during coffee breaks). He called it the no-players game. Funny to learn that the original game was designed and played without computers and the first programmed version was on a PDP.

The interesting part of the Game of Life is that some configurations stall (die) fairly quickly while others seem to continue for ever although it's not possible to prove that (the halting problem). It's remarkable that a game which such simple rules is lacking such proof.

Alternatively you can watch the video here