Hello,
I've been attempting to recreate Conway's Game of Life using Python and Pygame. It's sort of working, but I think there's an issue with the logic of checking whether or not a cell lives or dies. I have it seeded to a common start pattern, but the cells only change once and then they stay as is.

I followed the 4 "rules" of the game located here.

Would appreciate anyone more familiar with Python and/or The Game of Life to have a look at this and provide any suggestions.
Thanks!

__author__ = 'me myself and I'
import pygame, sys
from pygame.locals import *

pygame.init()

FPS = 30

WIDTH = 120
HEIGHT = 120
CELL_WIDTH = 5
CELL_HEIGHT = 5

WHITE = (255, 255, 255)
BLACK = (0,0,0)



fpsClock = pygame.time.Clock()

DISPLAYSURF = pygame.display.set_mode((600, 600), 0, 32)

board = []
for r in range(0, WIDTH-1):
  board.append([])
  for c in range(0, HEIGHT-1):
    board[r].append('o')

def debug_board():
  for row in board:
    print row
    print "\n"

def init_board(board):
  board[55][55] = 'x'
  board[56][55] = 'x'
  board[57][55] = 'x'

  board[56][53] = 'x'

  board[51][55] = 'x'
  board[51][54] = 'x'
  board[50][54] = 'x'

def draw_board(board):
  for y, row in enumerate(board):
    for x, col in enumerate(board[y]):
      if board[x][y] == 'x':
        pygame.draw.rect(DISPLAYSURF, BLACK, ((CELL_WIDTH*x),(CELL_HEIGHT*y),CELL_WIDTH,CELL_HEIGHT))

#don't worry about edges for now
def get_live_neighbors(x, y, board):
  try:
    if x >= 1 and y >= 1 and x < (WIDTH - 2) and y < (HEIGHT - 2):
      live = 0
      if board[x-1][y] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x+1][y] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x][y+1] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x][y-1] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x+1][y+1] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x-1][y-1] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x+1][y-1] == 'x':
        live += 1
      if board[x-1][y+1] == 'x':
        live += 1
      return live
  except IndexError:
    print x
    print y

def check_neighbors(board):
  for y, row in enumerate(board):
    for x, col in enumerate(board[y]):
      #live cell fewer than 2 neighbors dies
      if board[x][y] == 'x' and get_live_neighbors(x,y,board) < 2:
        board[x][y] = 'o'
        continue

      #live cell 2 or 3 live neigbors lives on
      elif board[x][y] == 'x' and (get_live_neighbors(x,y,board) == 2 or get_live_neighbors(x,y,board) == 3):
        board[x][y] = 'x'
        continue

      #live cell with more than three live neighbors dies
      elif board[x][y] == 'x' and get_live_neighbors(x,y,board) > 3:
        board[x][y] = 'o'
        continue

      #dead cell with exactly 3 live neighbors becomes live
      elif board[x][y] == 'o' and get_live_neighbors(x,y,board) == 3:
        board[x][y] = 'x'
        continue

pygame.display.set_caption('Hello World!')
DISPLAYSURF.fill(WHITE)
init_board(board)


while True: # main game loop


  for event in pygame.event.get():
    if event.type == QUIT:
      pygame.quit()
      sys.exit()
    elif event.type == KEYDOWN:
      if event.key == K_ESCAPE:
        pygame.quit()
        sys.exit()

  draw_board(board)
  check_neighbors(board)


  pygame.time.delay(1000)


  pygame.display.update()
  fpsClock.tick(FPS)

Glad I'm not alone in my struggle! I will try what you suggested (copying and replacing the board) and see what happens. Thanks a bunch.