Nine Men's Morris Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Play
Further Information

How to Play

The rules of the game have undergone remarkably little change since they were first recorded. Rule 5 is perhaps the only contentious one, not being universal, and it does not affect the game greatly, but it gives some hope for that player who is lagging behind his opponent.

Starting the Game

Nine mens morris is played on the board illustrated, which starts empty of pieces. Each player has his own colour, and holds nine pieces of that in his hand.
Black starts the first phase of the game by placing a black piece on any vacant point. White follows suit, and play alternates in this way until both players have placed their pieces. Play then progresses to the second phase.
After all pieces have been placed, the black player begins the second phase of the game, in which pieces may move around the board. White follows, play alternating until the game is over.

Moving the Pieces

A player may move one of his pieces from its point, along a marked line, to the next point, if that point is vacant. Pieces cannot be stacked.
A player reduced to three pieces may instead move one of his pieces from its point to any other vacant point on the board.

Capturing Enemies

A row of three pieces of the same colour, along a marked line, is called a mill.
A player who forms a new mill is entitled, or in fact obliged, to take one of his opponent's pieces as a capture. Any opponent's piece may be captured which is not itself part of a mill.
If all of the opponent's pieces are forming a mill, then no capture is made.
Only a newly made mill entitles a player to capture a piece. To use the mill again, its owner must break it and reform it on subsequent turns. A mill left idle, therefore, does not guarantee an automatic capture every subsequent turn.

Ending the Game

The game is over when one player is reduced to two pieces, making it impossible for him to form a mill. His opponent is then the winner.
The game is also over if a player is trapped so that he cannot move at all; his opponent is likewise declared the winner.

Further Information

Further information on the game may be gained by consulting the following books.

Bell, R. C. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, vol. 1, p. 93. New York: Dover Publishing, Inc., 1979.
Murray, H. J. R. A History of Board-Games Other than Chess, pp. 43-48. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952.
Parlett, D. The Oxford History of Board Games, pp. 118-120. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.