Nine men's morris

Nine men's morris
	A game of nine men's morris in phase two. Even if it is Black's turn, White can remove a black piece each time a mill is formed by moving e3-d3 and then back again d3-e3.
Years active	> 2000 years ago to present
Genres	Board game; Abstract strategy game; Mind sport;
Players	2
Setup time	< 1 minute
Playing time	5–60 minutes
Chance	None
Age range	5+
Skills	Strategy
Synonyms	Nine-man morris; Mill, mills, or the mill game; Merels or merrills; Merelles, marelles, or morelles; Ninepenny marl; Cowboy checkers;

Nine men's morris is a strategy board game for two players dating at least to the Roman Empire.^[1] The game is also known as nine-man morris, mill, mills, the mill game, merels, merrills, merelles, marelles, morelles, and ninepenny marl^[2] 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.^[3]

The Latin word merellus means 'gamepiece', which may have been corrupted in English to 'morris',^[1] while miles is Latin for soldier.

Three main alternative variations of the game are three, six, and twelve men's morris.

^ ^a ^b Berger, Friedrich (2004). "From circle and square to the image of the world: a possible interpretation for some petroglyphs of merels boards" (PDF). Rock Art Research. 21 (1): 11–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-11-21. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
^ Hone, William (1826). The Every-Day Book. London: Hunt and Clarke. ASIN B0010SXPN0.
^ Gasser, Ralph (1996). "Solving Nine Men's Morris" (PDF). Games of No Chance. 29: 101–113. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-10. Retrieved 2015-06-01.

[Berger-1] Berger, Friedrich (2004). "From circle and square to the image of the world: a possible interpretation for some petroglyphs of merels boards" (PDF). Rock Art Research. 21 (1): 11–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-11-21. Retrieved 2007-01-12.

[2] Hone, William (1826). The Every-Day Book. London: Hunt and Clarke. ASIN B0010SXPN0.

[Gasser-3] Gasser, Ralph (1996). "Solving Nine Men's Morris" (PDF). Games of No Chance. 29: 101–113. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-10. Retrieved 2015-06-01.

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