Nine Men's Morris is a strategy game played for well over a thousand years. Each player places nine pieces on the points of three nested squares, then slides them along the lines. Line up three in a row — a mill — to remove one of your opponent's pieces. Reduce your rival to two pieces or leave them with no move to win; with only three pieces left you may fly anywhere. Play the computer on three levels or a friend.
How to play Nine Men's Morris
Goal: Reduce your opponent to two pieces, or leave them with no legal move.
Keyboard & mouse
- Click an empty point to place a piece
- Later, click one of your pieces and then an empty point to move it
- After forming a mill, click the rival piece to remove
- Arrow keys move between points, Enter or Space selects
- P or Escape to pause
Phone & tablet
- Tap a point to place; tap a piece, then a ringed point to move
- After a mill, tap an outlined rival piece to remove it
Rules
- Players take turns placing their nine pieces on empty points.
- Three of your pieces in a line along the board (a mill) lets you remove one rival piece that is not in a mill — unless all of them are.
- Once all pieces are placed, take turns sliding a piece along a line to a neighbouring empty point; new mills remove again.
- With only three pieces left, a player may fly a piece to any empty point.
- A player with two pieces, or with no legal move, loses. Fifty moves each without a capture is a draw.
Tips and strategy
- Points where four lines meet (the middles of the sides) give the most freedom.
- Don’t rush to form mills while placing — keeping your pieces mobile matters more.
- A “running mill” — a piece that can slide back and forth between two mills — removes a piece every turn.
- Try to block your opponent’s pieces in so they cannot move.
