Nine Men’s Morris is an ancient two-player strategy game played on three nested squares joined by lines. Each side has nine pieces. Line up three in a row to form a mill and take one of your opponent’s pieces.
The board and the placing phase
The board has 24 points where the lines cross or meet. You play the light pieces and go first; the computer plays dark. Each side starts with nine pieces in its tray.
Take turns placing one piece on any empty point by tapping it. Once all eighteen pieces are placed, the game moves on to moving.
Moving and flying
On your turn, move one of your pieces along a line to the empty point next to it. Tap a piece to see where it can go (those points light up green), then tap one, or drag the piece there.
When a player is down to three pieces, that player’s pieces fly: any of them can jump to any empty point on the board.
Mills and taking pieces
Three of your pieces in a row along one line is a mill. Each time you form a mill, you take one of the computer’s pieces.
After you form a mill, the pieces you may take glow red inside a red ring. Tap one to take it. Tap your moved piece instead to take the move back.
You can’t take a piece that is part of a mill, unless every one of the opponent’s pieces is in a mill.
Forming two mills with one move still takes only one piece. Moving a piece out of a mill and back in forms it again.
Winning, losing and draws
You win when the computer is down to two pieces, or when none of its pieces can move. The same rules apply to you.
The game is a draw if the same position comes up a third time, or after 50 moves each with no piece taken.
You can resign at any time. Starting a new game partway through counts as a loss.
Levels and tips
Easy looks only one move ahead and makes mistakes, Normal plans a few moves ahead, and Hard searches deep and rarely misses a trap. Undo takes back your last move and the computer’s reply.
While placing, don’t rush to build a mill the computer can easily block: spread out and keep pieces where they can still move. A “running mill”, where one piece can slide out of a mill and into another, takes a piece every other turn. Avoid getting your pieces boxed in, because a player with no move loses.