Nine Men's Morris Instructions

Players

2 players

What You’ll Need

  • Your Fullnoon Games Towel

  • 9 light pieces

  • 9 dark pieces

Aim of the Game

Form rows of three pieces, called Mills, so you can remove your opponent’s pieces.

You win by reducing your opponent to two pieces or blocking every legal move they could make.

Set Up

  1. Lay the towel flat with the Nine Men’s Morris board facing up.

  2. Each player takes all nine pieces of one colour.

  3. Keep the pieces beside the board.

  4. Choose a starting player.

The game has three stages: placing, moving and flying.

Mills

A Mill is a straight row of three of your pieces along one of the board’s marked lines.

Whenever you make a new Mill, remove one opponent’s piece from the board.

You must remove a piece that is not part of a Mill if possible. If every opponent’s piece is part of a Mill, you may remove any one of them.

A removed piece does not return to the game.

Stage 1: Placing Pieces

Players take turns placing one piece on any empty marked point.

If the piece completes a Mill, remove one opponent’s piece.

Continue until both players have placed all nine of their pieces. You do not move pieces during this stage.

Stage 2: Moving Pieces

After all 18 pieces have been placed, players take turns moving.

During your turn:

  1. Choose one of your pieces.

  2. Move it along a marked line to a directly connected point.

  3. The destination must be empty.

You cannot jump over another piece.

If your move forms a new Mill, remove one opponent’s piece.

You may move a piece out of a Mill and later move it back to form the Mill again. Each time you form the Mill again, you may remove another opponent’s piece.

Stage 3: Flying

When a player has only three pieces left, their pieces may fly.

Instead of moving to an adjacent point, that player may move one piece to any empty point on the board.

The other player must still move normally unless they also have only three pieces left.

Winning

You win when your opponent:

  • Has only two pieces remaining, or

  • Has no legal move during the moving or flying stages.

A player does not lose for being blocked during the placing stage.

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