Morris Games
by Dagonell the Juggler

Morris, or Merelles as it was sometimes called, is played in a variety of forms. It may be played with three, five, nine or twelve men and each variation has its own playing board, however the rules are always the same. For the first phase, players take turns placing their pieces on the board whenever two or more line segments intersect.

When a player has three pieces in a row, he has a mill and may remove one of his opponent's men from the board. The row must be straight, it cannot turn a corner, and it must be along a drawn line, which means diagonals do not count in the five or nine man variants. The piece removed cannot be part of an opponent's mill. A piece may be part of more than one mill at a time.

In the second phase, after both players have placed all their pieces, players alternate moving their pieces along the lines to any open space trying to form new mills. If a piece moves out of a mill, the mill is broken and a new mill may be made by moving the piece back. A particularly effective strategy is to use four pieces to form two pairs with a fifth piece moving back and forth between the pairs creating a new mill with every move.

When a player has been reduced to only two men, he loses. In the three man variant, this occurs immediately after the first mill is created. If a player cannot move any of his men because his opponent has him completely blocked in, he loses. In the nine and twelve man variants, a third phase variation is sometimes played. When a player is reduced to three men, he may move any man to any unoccupied space on the board on his turn and does not have to follow the drawn lines. Players should agree ahead of time on whether this rule variant is to be used.

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