Nine men’s morris

Nine men’s morris is one of the most ancient, known games. It is a strategy board game for two players, that can easily be drawn out, with 9 game pieces each. You can make your own game board by following the instructions below!

 
 

Number of players & equipment:
2 players
18 pieces (9 pieces each, different colours or shapes, so that each player can recognise their pieces)
A board drawn out (see example)

Rules:
Each player has 9 pieces.
The player who begins is chosen at random.
The game board is empty to start.
 

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First phase :

Players take it in turns to place one of their 9 pieces on any free point on the board. During this phase, players cannot move pieces that have already been placed. Once all the pieces have been placed on the board, players taking it in turns, the second phase can begin.

Second phase: 

Each player takes it in turns to move a piece to the next point which must be empty. Pieces can only be moved to one point at a time, horizontally or vertically. During the two phases of the game, if the piece placed (phase 1) or moved (phase 2) is at the end of a mill, i.e. a row of three pieces of the same colour in a vertical or horizontal line, the player can take one of their opponent’s pieces off the board, and this piece can no longer be played.

Each time a mill is formed, one of the opponent’s pieces is removed from the board. This rule applies even if the mill has already been formed before and is formed again, i.e. a piece was moved once and then moved back to the same point again.

The player who formed the mill can choose which of their opponent’s pieces they want to remove, as long as it is not part of a mill. If all the opponent’s pieces form a mill, the other player can choose one of them to remove.

End of the game:

A player wins the game in the following two scenarios:

• A player has removed 7 pieces from their opponent, meaning the opponent now only has 2 pieces left on the board and can no longer form a mill
• When the opponent cannot move a piece because they are all blocked by other pieces