NINE MEN'S MORRIS
| Nine Men's Morris |
 |
| Players |
2 |
| Age range |
Any |
| Setup time |
Less than 1 minute |
| Playing time |
Less than 1 hour |
| Rules complexity |
Low |
| Strategy depth |
High |
| Random chance |
None |
| Skills required |
Strategy |
|
Nine Men's Morris is a two-player strategy board game with a long history in Europe. The pattern of the board is found twice, as graffiti, in the 1300 BC Egyptian temple, the Ramesseum in Kurna in Egypt. Each player has nine pieces which move between the twenty-four intersections of three interlocking squares.
The game also goes under many other English names, including Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, Merels, Merelles, Merrills, as well as names in other languages such as Mérelles, Merrills, Mølle, Mühle, Molenspel, Jeu de Moulin, Tria.
Rules and play
The object of the game is to remove all the enemy pieces. Every time a player forms a line of three (a mill) on any line drawn on the board, he is entitled to remove one enemy piece, with the proviso that a piece may not be removed from an enemy mill.
The game starts with the board empty. Players take turns placing pieces on any empty intersection. After all eighteen pieces have been placed, players take turns moving. A move consists of sliding a piece along one of the board lines to an adjacent intersection.
If a move in either phase of play results in three collinear pieces of the same colour, then any one of the opponent's pieces may be removed from the board, unless that piece is currently forming a 3 in a row and there are other pieces of the opponent's colour still on the board.
An ideal position, which typically results in a win, is to be able to shuttle one piece back and forth between two mills, removing a piece every turn. For example, in the diagram above red has won the game even if blue moves first.
When a player is reduced to three pieces, those pieces may fly from any intersection to any intersection. This appears to be a powerful resource for an underdog, but in fact rarely changes the outcome of a game.
Once a player has been reduced to two pieces, they are unable to capture any more of their opponent's pieces, and therefore that player loses the game.
A common variant of nine men's morris adds four diagonal lines to the board. This makes the game faster and more tactical.
The number of legal positions in nine men's morris is estimated to be 1010, the total number of possible games is approximately 1050. In October 1993, Ralph Gasser solved nine men's morris—he showed that it ends in a draw with perfect play. Gasser also developed an AI, called Bushy that is regarded as the world's strongest player.
The World Merrills Association ran the World Championships annually at the Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton le Hole, York, England.
A nine men's morris board can be found carved into the base of a pillar in Chester Cathedral, Chester. The game was, it is assumed, played by the stonemasons who built it or by the monks when it was a medieval abbey. A Cheshire proverb probably refers to the same game (nine peg morris): 'Nichills in Nine pokes' is what most people win after a night of gambling.
Shakespeare's Titania laments that it is no longer played: "The nine men's morris is filled up with mud" (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 2, Scene 2). Apparently, the game was played outdoors, possibly on a board trowelled into the ground.
Game Origins
This same game is a popular traditional board game in Southern Africa where it is known, among other names, as Morabaraba. It has an African history stretching into antiquity. It is known as Naukhadi[1] in western India.
See also
Related games
External links
Further reading
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