Nine Men’s Morris – Rule Description

Overview:
Nine Men’s Morris is a classic two-player strategy game where each player aims to form “mills” (three of their pieces in a row) to remove the opponent’s pieces. The objective is to reduce your opponent to two pieces or block all their moves.

Image By Alfonso X of Castile and Leon - Scanned from: Grunfeld, Frederic V. (1975) Games of the World, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp. p. 60 ISBN: 0-03-015261-5., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1572481

Game Components:

A Leather pouch board with 24 intersection points

9 pieces (or “men”) per player, usually in two colors

Rules of Play:

1. Setup:
   Each player receives 9 pieces. The board starts empty. Players alternate turns placing one piece at a time on any unoccupied intersection point.
2. Placing Phase:
   Players aim to create a mill—three of their pieces aligned horizontally or vertically. Forming a mill allows the player to capture one opponent’s piece (not part of a mill, if possible).
3. Moving Phase:
   After all 18 pieces are placed, players take turns moving one piece at a time to an adjacent empty point along the board’s lines. Forming a mill during this phase still allows the player to capture an opponent’s piece.
4. Flying Rule (optional, in standard rules):
   When a player is reduced to three pieces, they may “fly” (move to any empty point on the board, not just adjacent ones).
5. Capturing Rules:
   When forming a mill, a player may remove one opponent’s piece, but not one from a mill unless no other pieces are available.
6. Winning the Game:
   A player wins by:

Reducing the opponent to two pieces

Blocking all legal moves for the opponent

Strategic Tip:
Control the center and anticipate mills. Blocking your opponent’s mills is just as crucial as forming your own.