Flying was introduced to compensate when the weaker side is one man away from losing the game.Īt 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. A 19th-century games manual calls this the "truly rustic mode of playing the game". Some rules sources say this is the way the game is played, some treat it as a variation, and some don't mention it at all. When a player is reduced to three pieces, there is no longer a limitation on that player of moving to only adjacent points: The player's men may "fly" (or "hop", or "jump" ) from any point to any vacant point. When one player has been reduced to three men, phase three begins. The act of removing an opponent's man is sometimes called "pounding" the opponent. A player can "break" a mill by moving one of his pieces out of an existing mill, then moving it back to form the same mill a second time (or any number of times), each time removing one of his opponent's men. Players continue to try to form mills and remove their opponent's pieces as in phase one. Players continue to alternate moves, this time moving a man to an adjacent point. After all men have been placed, phase two begins. Any piece can be chosen for the removal, but a piece not in an opponent's mill must be selected, if possible. If a player is able to place three of his pieces on contiguous points in a straight line, vertically or horizontally, he has formed a mill and may remove one of his opponent's pieces from the board and the game. The players determine who plays first, then take turns placing their men one per play on empty points. Nine Men's Morris starts on an empty board. Phase 1: Placing pieces File:Nine Men's Morris board with coordinates, modified.png (optional phase) Moving men to any vacant point when the player has been reduced to three men.A player wins by reducing the opponent to two pieces (where he could no longer form mills and thus be unable to win), or by leaving him without a legal move. Players try to form 'mills'-three of their own men lined horizontally or vertically-allowing a player to remove an opponent's man from the game. Each player has nine pieces, or "men", usually coloured black and white. I believe this case is a draw as well.The board consists of a grid with twenty-four intersections or points. Anything else isn't moving towards a victory. If player 1 moves c3-b3 to threaten a win, player 2 moves a1-b1 to block, and the players would then reverse those moves causing a stalemate. I can't see any way player 1 can force a win here. Player 1 would then move a2-b1, player 2 would move c2-b3, and the game would be a stalemate.Ĭase 3 (1. b1-a2 is the best move as it threatens a player 1 win, but player 2 just responds with b3-c2. Unlike in Three Man's Morris, here Player 1 must move to a2 to prevent a loss (player 2 threatens b3-a2). Player 1 can then force either of the following boards:Ĭase 2 (1. Given that, player 2 should respond by playing in a corner (say A3). If player 2 instead plays C1 on turn 3, player 1 can move b2-a2 to win. This generates the following board, where player 1 can move a1-c1 to win: 1 2 3 I'm going to gloss over a lot of the piece orientations during setup in general, the optimal piece orientation is implied by the subsequent moves a player wants to threaten.Īs player 1, you want to start in the middle with your piece orthogonal (B2+).Ĭase 1: If player 2 responds in the middle of a side (say B3), player 1 can force a win by playing 2. Those solutions give a good starting point for this game. There are two possible victories, depending upon the second player's moves, the first being: 1. The Libro de los Juegos lists the following solutions ( translation from here): The classic Three Men's Morris was solved in the 1200's as a first player victory. I'm assuming that this game has something akin to Chess's draw due to Threefold Repition if not, the optimal result of the game is that you play forever, in which case the only winning move is not to play. Unlike Three Men's Morris, the extra movement options under the rules you cite mean the game is likely a draw under optimal play. The game you are describing is more similar to Three Men's Morris than to Tic Tac Toe.
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