Nine Men’s Morris

Setup

• Players: two. Our practice table is you against one bot.
• Board: three nested squares joined at their midpoints: 24 points.
• Stones: nine each, in two colors, off the board to start.
• First move: decide who starts. At our table, it swaps each game.

How to play

1. 1Place your stones. Take turns placing one stone on any empty point until all eighteen are down.
2. 2Make a mill. Three of your stones in a line is a mill. Take one of your opponent’s stones, but not one in a mill unless all of theirs are.
3. 3Then move. Take turns stepping a stone along a line to the next empty point. Mills made by moving count too.
4. 4No flying. Stones never jump or fly, even when a player is down to three.
5. 5Stuck or down to two. The player to move with two stones, or no move, loses.

Winning

Once all the stones are placed, the player to move loses with fewer than three stones, or with no move at all. Forty moves without a mill is a draw.

Scoring

Our Classic rules: no flying at three stones, and the 40 moves are counted across both players once all the stones are placed. Many tables let a player down to three fly to any empty point.

Key terms

Point:

One of the 24 places a stone can stand.

Mill:

Three of your stones in a line. It takes an opposing stone.

Placing:

The first phase: one stone a turn onto any empty point.

Moving:

The second phase: one step a turn along a line to an empty point.

Take:

Remove an opposing stone after a mill. Stones in a mill are safe while others aren’t.

Blocked:

No stone can step. The player to move loses.

Flying:

A house rule letting a player with three stones jump anywhere. Not in Classic.