The Ancient Mill Game · Known as Dhadi in Telugu, Navakankari in Tamil & Hindi
Also known as: Merels, Merrills, Mill, Mühle, Dhadi, Navakankari, Saalu Mane Aata
Known internationally as Nine Men's Morris, and by many regional names: Dhadi (దాడి, "the attack") in Telugu, Navakankari ("nine pebbles") in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Hindi, Saalu Mane Aata in Kannada — and Enneas (εννεάς, "nine") in ancient Greece, where boards are found carved into the Acropolis monuments. Place your nine pieces on three concentric squares and form rows of three (mills) to remove your opponent's pieces. When only three remain, pieces can fly anywhere.
How to Play
Alternate placing pieces on any empty intersection
Form a mill (3 in a row) to remove any opponent piece
Slide a piece one step to an adjacent empty spot
When down to 3 pieces, you can jump anywhere on the board
Reduce your opponent to 2 pieces, or block all their moves
History
England has its own claim on the game's name: for centuries, players carved nine men's morris boards straight into the turf of village greens across the country, playing with pegs or stones between neighbours after church or market. Shakespeare knew the pastime well enough to complain, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, that "the nine men's morris is filled up with mud" — proof the turf boards were common enough that their neglect was worth noticing.
The design is far older than any English green, though, and it travelled much further. Boards scratched into stone turn up at Roman forts, on the roof slabs of an Egyptian temple, and in medieval cloisters right across Europe — evidence of a game that needs nothing but a flat surface and a handful of stones. The same three-square board carries different names depending on where you find it: Mühle in Germany, Moulin in France, Molino in Spain, and Dhadi, Navakankari, or Saalu Mane Aata across South India. It has even been solved mathematically — with perfect play from both sides, the game always ends in a draw.
Strategy
The four "cross" points — the intersections with four lines running out of them — are the most valuable squares; control them early to keep the most moves available.
Aim to build a "running mill" (two mills sharing pieces): open one mill and close the other every turn, removing an enemy piece each time.
In the placing phase, prefer flexible positions over rushing a single mill; a mill you can open and re-close is worth far more than one you form once.
Watch for your opponent's two-in-a-rows and block the open point before they complete a mill — a removed piece is hard to recover.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you play Nine Men's Morris?
Each player places nine pieces on the board's intersections, one per turn, trying to form a "mill" — three pieces in a row. Every mill lets you remove one of the opponent's pieces. After all pieces are placed, you slide them along the lines to form new mills.
How do you win Nine Men's Morris?
You win by reducing your opponent to two pieces (too few to form a mill), or by blocking them so they have no legal move.
What is a mill?
A mill is three of your pieces in a straight line along the board's marked lines. Forming one lets you remove any one of your opponent's pieces that is not itself part of a mill.
Is Nine Men's Morris a solved game?
Yes. It was solved in 1993 and, with perfect play from both players, always ends in a draw — which is part of what makes it such a good game to learn strategy on.
What does "flying" mean?
When a player is down to their last three pieces, those pieces may "fly" — move to any empty point on the board instead of only to an adjacent one — giving the losing side a fighting chance.
What are the other names for Nine Men's Morris?
It is also called Merels, Merrills, Mill, Mühle (German), Dhadi (Telugu), Navakankari, and Saalu Mane Aata (Kannada).