Four white game pieces (the mice) are placed on one side of a chessboard, and one black game piece (the cat) is placed on the opposite side, as depicted below.

The game is played according to the following rules:

• Pieces may only be moved diagonally (with a step size of 1) to an empty square.
• White may only move forward.
• Black may move both forward and backward.
• Black and white take turns making a move.
• Black goes first.
• Black wins if it reaches the other side.
• White wins if it blocks black in such a way that black can no longer make any moves.
• If it is white's turn and it cannot make a move, but black can, then white must skip its turn.

The question: Is this game computable (in other words: can you determine in advance who will win, regardless of the moves the other player makes to prevent that)? And if so, who can always win?

A hint : You can play the game against the computer by clicking on the square where you want to move the black piece.

The answer: Click here!