I played this game when I was young, but cannot find it online. It is played on a checkers board (e.g. the black squares of a chess board) between two players P and T. The game goes as follows:
- P places 7 police within the bottom two rows of the board each at a distinct square.
- T places 2 thieves each at some (still) unoccupied square.
- P and T then take turns to move, starting from P. No piece is allowed to be moved onto the same square as another piece.
(a) On P's turn, P must move exactly one police diagonally upwards by one step (like a normal checker piece).
(b) On T's turn, T must move exactly one thief diagonally by one step (like a checker king). Whichever player cannot make a move loses.
So P wins if P can somehow trap both thieves. And T wins if T can somehow get at least one thief below the police (because police cannot move downwards). The question is, who wins under perfect play? I believe that P can win, but it is very easy to make a mistake. So is my belief correct, and what is the simplest strategy?
