Nine men's morris maker

How to play

1. Placing: players take turns putting one piece on any empty point until every piece is on the board. A mill made while placing also removes an opponent's piece.
2. Moving: once all pieces are placed, move one piece along a line to a neighbouring empty point on the same line.
3. Mill: three of your own pieces in a row along a single line make a mill. Remove one of your opponent's pieces for each mill you make.
4. Flying (optional): when a player is down to three pieces, that player may jump to any empty point. Agree on this rule before you start.
5. Winning: reduce your opponent to two pieces, or leave them with no legal move, to win the game.

Tips

• Print on card and keep the two spare counters of each colour beside the board in case a counter is lost.
• Start with three men's morris to learn the idea of a mill in a few minutes, then move up to the full game.
• Choose two boards per page to play two games at once on one sheet of paper.
• Agree on the flying rule before the first move, so neither player changes the rules half way through.

Where it comes from

Morris games are very old: boards have been found scratched into stone in many places, and the game appears in Alfonso X of Castile's Libro de los juegos (1283). Nine men's morris was popular in medieval Europe. It is called Molino in Spanish, Trilha or Moinho in Portuguese (Trilha is common in Brazil) and Jeu du moulin in French. Twelve men's morris adds diagonals, and variants with diagonals are played in several regions.

Played in: Europe · Latin America

Questions