[Help Contents]

[Game Help Contents]

Mill (also known as Nine Men's Morris, Merels/Merrills/Merelles/etc., Mühle, Mĝlle, Muehle, Mühlespiel, Molenspel, Jeu de Moulin, Tria, and Mlýn) is a board game that has a history that dates as far back as 1400 BCE. Boards have been found on Viking ships and on stones that were later used in buildings. One example can be found on a pillar in the Pikering Church in Yorkshire, England. The game is played on a board of three concentric squares, with a total of 24 spaces (circles at the intersection of the lines on the board).

Objective

Force the other player into a position where it is impossible to win, either by maneuvering so they cannot move, or by reducing them to two (2) pieces.

Rules

• At the outset of the game, each player has nine pieces to place on the board. The players alternate placing their pieces on the board until all of the pieces have been placed. Pieces can only be placed on one of the unoccupied spaces on the board. This is the "Place" phase of the game, as indicated on the right-hand side (circled in blue):
  
  
  
  
• Once all of the pieces have been placed on the board, the players take turns moving one of their pieces to an unoccupied adjacent space. This is the "Move" phase of the game, note the circled bit:
  
  
  
  
• Whenever a player puts three pieces in a row (horizontally or vertically), they have created a mill. Examples of mills:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A mill may be formed either by placing a piece during the beginning of the game, or by moving a piece after all of the pieces have been placed.
• If a player has been reduced to only three (3) pieces, then the player may move one of their pieces to any unoccupied space on the board -- they're no longer limited to just moving to adjacent spaces.
• When a player forms a mill, the player then removes one of the other player's pieces. Any piece that is not itself part of a mill may be removed (except that if the other player only has three pieces left and they're in a mill, any of those pieces can be removed).