Mills: Nine Men's Morris 3 6 9

About Mills: Nine Men's Morris 3 6 9

Nine men's Morris is a strategy board game for two players dating at least to the Roman Empire. The game is also known as nine-man Morris, mill, mills, the mill game, merels, merrills, merelles, marelles, morelles, and ninepenny marl in English. In North America, the game has also been called cowboy checkers, and its board is sometimes printed on the back of checkerboards. Nine Men's Morris is a solved game, that is, a game whose optimal strategy has been calculated. It has been shown that with perfect play from both players, the game results in a draw. The Latin word merellus means 'game piece', which may have been corrupted in English to 'morris', while miles is Latin for soldier. Three main alternative variations of the game are three, six, and twelve men's morris.

The board consists of a grid with twenty-four intersections, or points. Each player has nine pieces, or men, usually colored black and white. Players try to form 'mills'—three of their men lined horizontally or vertically—allowing a player to remove an opponent's man from the game. A player wins by reducing the opponent to two men (whereupon they can no longer form mills and thus are unable to win) or by leaving them without a legal move.

The game proceeds in three phases: Placing men on vacant points, Moving men to adjacent points, (optional phase) Moving men to any vacant point when the player has been reduced to three men

At the beginning of the game, it is more important to place pieces in versatile locations rather than to try to form mills immediately and make the mistake of concentrating one's pieces in one area of the board. An ideal position, which typically results in a win, allows a player to shuttle one piece back and forth between two mills, removing a piece every turn.

Three men's morris, also called nine-holes, is played on the points of a grid of 2×2 squares, or in the squares of a grid of 3×3 squares, as in tic-tac-toe. The game is for two players; each player has three men. The players put one man on the board in each of their first three plays, winning if a mill is formed (as in tic-tac-toe). After that, each player moves one of his men, according to one of the following rules versions: To any empty position: To any adjacent empty position, A player wins by forming a mill.

Six men's morris gives each player six pieces and is played without the outer square of the board for nine men's morris. Flying is not permitted. The game was popular in Italy, France, and England during the Middle Ages but was obsolete by 1600. This board is also used for five men's morris (also called smaller merels). Seven men's Morris uses the board with a cross in the center.

Twelve Men's Morris adds four diagonal lines to the board and gives each player twelve pieces. This means the board can be filled in the placement stage; if this happens the game is a draw. This variation on the game is popular amongst rural youth in South Africa where it is known as morabaraba and is now recognized as a sport in that country. H. J. R. Murray also calls the game "the larger merels". The board is also used for eleven men's morris.

Lasker Morris: also called Ten Men's Morris was invented by Emanuel Lasker, chess world champion from 1894 to 1921. It is based on the rules of nine men's Morris, but there are two differences: each player gets ten pieces, and pieces can be moved in the first phase already. This means each player can choose to either place a new piece or move one of his pieces already on the board. This variant is more complex than nine men's Morris and draws are less likely.