How to play?

Objective: The goal of the game is to form rows of three of your pieces, known as "mills," either horizontally or vertically. When you form a mill, you can remove one of your opponent's pieces from the board. The player who reduces their opponent's pieces to fewer than three or blocks their opponent's pieces so they cannot make a legal move wins the game.

Setup:

1. Begin with an empty Nine Men's Morris board, which consists of three concentric squares and multiple lines connecting the intersections (a total of 24 points or intersections).
2. Each player starts with nine pieces of their chosen color (typically black and white).

Gameplay: Players take turns placing their pieces on the board in the following two phases:

1. Placing Phase:

   • In the initial phase, players take turns placing their pieces on empty intersections.
   • The goal in this phase is to position your pieces to create future mills.

2. Moving Phase:

   • After all pieces have been placed, players take turns moving one of their pieces along the lines to an adjacent empty intersection.
   • You can only move your pieces along the lines (not diagonally), and you cannot jump over other pieces.

Forming a Mill:

• If, after moving, you create a row of three of your pieces (a mill) either horizontally or vertically, you can remove one of your opponent's pieces from the board. The removed piece is out of the game.
• Mills can be formed during both the Placing Phase and Moving Phase.

Endgame: The game ends when one of the following conditions is met:

1. A player is reduced to only two pieces, in which case they lose the game.
2. A player is unable to make a legal move because all their remaining pieces are blocked, in which case they lose the game.
3. The game can also be declared a draw if the same board position is repeated three times.