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Nine Men’s Morris has been known since Roman times, although its heyday was the Middle Ages. Played on a square with interconnecting lines and 18 pieces or men (nine white, nine black), this strategy game was known by a dozen and more names, one of which is Nine Mills.
The square or grid has 24 points. It is usually sketched onto a hard board although it has been played on cloth and in sand. The object is to place three men into a row, called a mill. By forming a mill, a player can remove a man controlled by the opponent. The object is to reduce one player to only two men so that a mill can no longer be formed.
The game starts by placing each of the nine men in alternating turns. Once all men are placed, then they can be moved, one per turn, to an adjacent point. Removing a man is called “pounding” the opponent.
If a player is down to three men, he can “fly” (hop or jump) from any point to a vacant point, increasing his chance of making a mill and extending the length of the game.
Variations of the game abound.
