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Loaf image
Pattern type Strict still life
Number of cells 7
Bounding box 4×4
Discovered by JHC group
Year of discovery 1970

Loaf is a 7-cell still life discovered by the JHC group in 1970.[1] It can be seen as a weld of two beehives.


Loaf is the third most common still life in Achim Flammenkamp's census, being about a third as common as beehive but only slightly more common than boat.[2] It is also the fifth most common object on Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue.[3]


A loaf has a partial eater property: certain collisions can destroy the upper rightmost two cells (in the orientation shown in the picture), after which the remainder of the pattern will evolve into a new loaf, flipped 180°. Eater 3 is an actual eater making use of this reaction.

A similar reaction to this involves a block "eating" a loaf, similarly to how the beehives in the queen bee shuttle are removed; stabilising this can be used to construct the Baker's dozen.

Loaf is the stator in both mold and jam, and it can be augmented with tails to give the cis- and trans-loaf with tail.

Loaf can be attached to itself to give four still lifes, namely bi-loaf 1, bi-loaf 2, bi-loaf 4 and loaf siamese loaf.

See also



External links

  • Loaf at the Life Lexicon