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Movement Rules

Understanding how each piece can move is essential to playing the game effectively.

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Mouse Movement

The mouse has the most flexible movement options:
  • Direction: Can move diagonally in any of the four diagonal directions
  • Range: Can only move to adjacent diagonal squares (one square at a time)
  • Restrictions: Cannot move to squares already occupied by cats
  • Available squares: Must move to black squares only
The four possible diagonal directions:
  • Forward-left (increasing row, decreasing column)
  • Forward-right (increasing row, increasing column)
  • Backward-left (decreasing row, decreasing column)
  • Backward-right (decreasing row, increasing column)
The mouse can move both forward and backward, giving it tactical flexibility to evade cats.

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Cat Movement

Cats have more restrictive movement:
  • Direction: Can only move diagonally forward (toward row 1)
  • Range: One square at a time to adjacent diagonal squares
  • Restrictions:
    • Cannot move to squares occupied by the mouse
    • Cannot move to squares occupied by other cats
    • Cannot move backward or sideways
  • Available squares: Must move to black squares only
The two possible diagonal directions for cats:
  • Forward-left (decreasing row, decreasing column)
  • Forward-right (decreasing row, increasing column)
Cats cannot move backward! Once a cat moves forward, it cannot return to its previous position. This limitation is key to the mouse’s strategy.

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How to Play

The following rules are extracted from the official game instructions:

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Turn Order and Movement Sequence

  1. The mouse is the first to move. At any time, the mouse can move to any of the adjacent black squares, as long as the square is not already occupied by a cat.
  2. After the mouse moves, it’s one of the cats’ turn. The cats can only move forward, as long as the square is not occupied by the mouse or any of the other cats.
  3. When one of the cats has moved, it will be the mouse’s turn again, and so on successively.
  4. The mouse wins if it manages to reach the opposite side, that is, any of the squares from which the cats started.
  5. The cats win if they manage to trap the mouse, such that the mouse can no longer move.
These rules come directly from the source code’s instruction system (lines 51-66 in raton_y_gatos.clp).

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Movement Restrictions

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Occupied Squares

No piece can move to a square that is already occupied:
  • Mouse: Cannot move to any square containing a cat
  • Cats: Cannot move to squares containing the mouse or other cats
If you try to move to an occupied square, the game will display: “la posición ya está ocupada…” (the position is already occupied) and ask you to enter your move again.

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Board Boundaries

All pieces must remain within the 8x8 board:
  • Row numbers: 1-8
  • Column numbers: 1-8
  • Moves outside these ranges are invalid

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Valid Diagonal Movement

For a move to be valid:
  1. The destination must be exactly one square away diagonally
  2. Both the row and column must change by exactly 1
  3. The destination must be a black square (sum of row + column must be even)
Mathematical validation: 
|new_row - current_row| = 1
|new_column - current_column| = 1
new_row ≠ current_row
new_column ≠ current_column
If you attempt an invalid diagonal move, the game will display: “Posición fuera de alcance del ratón…” (Position out of reach of the mouse) and prompt you to enter a new position.

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Turn Alternation

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Strict Alternation

The game enforces strict turn alternation:
  • Mouse cannot move twice in a row
  • Only one cat moves per turn (even though there are four cats)
  • No skipping turns allowed

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Cat Selection

In this CLIPS implementation:
  • The AI automatically selects which cat to move based on optimal strategy
  • The expert system uses multiple rules to determine the best cat and move
  • Strategies include: blocking escape routes, advancing in formation, and trapping the mouse

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Game State

The game tracks several important states:
  • Current piece positions for the mouse and all four cats
  • Available moves for the current player
  • Win/loss conditions checked after each move

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