Inspired by computer simulations of fossilized worms trails published by Raup and Seilacher (1969), computer scientist Mike Paterson at the University of Warwick and
mathematician J. H. Conway created in early 1971 a simple set to rules
to study idealized worms traveling along regular grids. Mike Beeler of the MIT Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory subsequently published a study Paterson's worms in which
he considered paths on a triangular grid (Beeler
1973).
The following table summarizes the number of steps required for a number of long-running worms to terminate (Rokicki).