Description
Introduced by the ancient Romans, Nine Mens Morris is said to be the oldest game in the western hemisphere. Very strategic, but easy to learn and play. Still popular in Europe, less well known in USA.
A highly recommended 2 person game made here in our Florida shop. Watch video for more details. I would advise for ages 10 and up; perhaps younger with more focused kids.
Measures about 7.5" square and comes with base, cover, and wood pegs. Peg colors vary.
Below are the rules. You can find more info about strategies and play on the net.
Nine Mens Morris Rules
Equipment: The game is played on a board consisting of three concentric squares connected by lines from the middle of each of the inner square's sides to the middle of the corresponding outer square's side. Pieces are played on the corner points and on the points where lines intersect so there are 24 playable points. There are 9 pieces each of two different colors
Objective: The basic aim of the game is to make "mills" -vertical or horizontal lines of three in a row. Every time this is achieved, an opponent's piece is removed, the overall objective being to reduce the number of opponent's pieces to less than three or to render the opponent unable to play. To begin with the board is empty.
Basic Play: Player's toss a coin to decide who will play first. The first move has a slight advantage. Play is in two phases. To begin with, players take turns to play a piece of their own color on any unoccupied point until all eighteen pieces have been played. After that, play continues alternately but each turn consists of a player moving one piece along a line to an adjacent point. During both of these phases, whenever a player achieves a mill, that player immediately removes from the board one piece belonging to the opponent that does not form part of a mill. If all the opponent's pieces form mills then an exception is made and the player is allowed to remove any piece. It is only upon the formation of a mill that a piece is captured but a player will often break a mill by moving a piece out of it and then, in a subsequent turn, play the piece back again, thus forming a new mill and capturing another piece. Captured pieces are never replayed onto the board. The game is finished when a player is reduced to two pieces or is unable to move.