Overview
A two-player alignment game played on three nested squares joined by cross lines, giving twenty-four points. Form a row of three — a mill — and you remove one of your opponent's pieces.
No governing body publishes rules for this game. This page describes the most common form. House rules vary, so agree them before you start. Whether the "flying" rule applies is the main point of difference.
1. Setup
The board starts empty. Each player takes nine pieces.
The board has 24 points where lines meet. Only those points are used — never the spaces between.
2. Phase one: placing
Players alternate placing one piece on any empty point until all eighteen are down.
Whenever you complete a mill — three of your own pieces along a marked line — you immediately remove one enemy piece from the board.
3. Phase two: moving
Once all pieces are placed, players alternate sliding one piece along a line to an adjacent empty point. Mills score exactly as before.
A mill may be broken and reformed. Moving a piece out of a mill and back on a later turn completes it again, and removes another enemy piece. This is the central tactic of the game, not a loophole — a "running mill" that opens and closes every turn is usually winning.
4. Removing pieces
You may not remove a piece that is part of a mill, unless every remaining enemy piece is in a mill.
5. Phase three: flying
When a player is reduced to three pieces, those pieces may move to any empty point on the board rather than only to adjacent ones.
This is optional in some traditions. Without it, the three-piece player almost always loses immediately — agree before you start.
6. Winning
You win when your opponent is reduced to two pieces, or has no legal move.
7. Strategy
The four corner points of the middle square are the most valuable — each sits on two lines and connects to four neighbours.
Build a double mill — two mills sharing a piece, so that moving between them opens one and closes the other every single turn. This is nearly always decisive.
Do not rush to form a mill in phase one at the cost of a bad structure. A mill that can never reopen is worth one capture; a flexible position is worth more.
Variants
| Variant | Pieces | Board |
|---|---|---|
| Three Men's Morris | 3 | 3×3 grid |
| Six Men's Morris | 6 | Two squares, no outer ring |
| Twelve Men's Morris | 12 | Nine Men's board plus diagonals |
Commonly argued
- Reforming the same mill is legal, and shuttling in and out is a standard winning tactic.
- You cannot take a piece from a mill unless all enemy pieces are in mills.
- Flying is optional but near-universal. Agree first.
- Pieces sit on the points, not in the spaces.
- Diagonals do not count unless you are playing Twelve Men's Morris on a board that has them marked.
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