Nine Mens Morris
a.k.a. Mill, Muhle, Merelles / Merilles, Mulino
Very old game, this set made by J. A. Storer, 1995.
(12.5 by 12.5 by 1/4 inch wood board, 6.75 by 2.25 by 1.5 inch wood box,
1.25 inch white and red poker chips;
king is not used, it is for
Tablut
on back of board)
Board:
Three concentric squares where the midpoints are connected by lines; the intersections are the playing
points:
Pieces:
Nine white and nine black
chips.
Play:
Players alternately place their chips on a vacant point.
When all chips are on the board, the game continues by players alternately moving one of their chips to an adjacent point.
Whenever a player forms a row of three chips (horizontal or vertical, but not diagonal),
called a
mil,
an opponent's chip that is not in a mil may be captured (and never returns to the board).
Win:
A player wins if the opponent has no legal move or has only two chips left.
--------------------------------
Game variations:
-
When not all of a players chips have yet to be placed on the board,
the player may choose to make a move instead of placing a chip.
-
You may not move a piece to the position it was in the previous turn.
-
When capturing, if all of the opponents pieces are in a mil,
then any one of them may be captured.
-
If two mills are formed by a move, then two opponent pieces may be removed.
-
Players may move a chip anywhere when they have only three left.
Other Versions of Nine Mens Morris
Five Men's Morris:
Each player has 5 chips; don't use the outer ring of the board.
Eleven Men's Morris:
Each player has 11 chips; add diagonal lines to the board that connect the corners of each ring
Twelve Men's Morris:
Like 11 Men's Morris but each player gets 12 chips
(game is a draw if both players place their all their pieces with out forming mils (filling up all 24 points).
Further reading:
Masters Games Page,
from: http://www.mastersgames.com/rules/morris-rules.htm
Bennett's Page,
from: http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~leif/games/Morris
Cox-TV Page,
from: http://cox-tv.com/games/rules/morris.php
Gamerz Page,
from: http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/nmm.html
Triad Games Page,
from: http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Nine-Mens-Morris.htm
BBC Page,
from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A666209
Classics Technology Center Page,
from: http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/vamegypt7.html
Gaser Article,
from: http://www.msri.org/publications/books/Book29/files/gasser.pdf
Wikipedia Page,
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Men's_Morris