Three Men's Morris

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Three Men's Morris is played on a three-line by three-line board, and is a game of position. Figures 1 and 2 indicate the two types of board this game is played on.

   +---+---+   +---+---+
   |   |   |   |\  |  /|
   |   |   |   | \ | / |
   |   |   |   |  \|/  |
   +---+---+   +---+---+
   |   |   |   |  /|\  |
   |   |   |   | / | \ |
   |   |   |   |/  |  \|
   +---+---+   +---+---+
   Fig 1.       Fig 2.

The game is thought to be a direct ancestor of tic-tac-toe. It is also related to Six Men's Morris and Nine Men's Morris.

1 Rules
2 History
3 Alternative names
4 See also
5 Bibliography

[edit] Rules

The game is played with two sets of three or four pieces (one set for each player), with each set having its own colour.

Each player takes it in turn to place pieces on intersection points, the first person to place three along a line wins the game. Once all pieces are placed (assuming there is no winner by then), play proceeds with each player moving one of their own pieces per turn. A piece may be moved one line segment per turn.

[edit] History

The earliest known board for this game is one similar to the one shown in figure 2, which was found on the roof of the temple in Kurna, Egypt dating back to 1400 BC.

The earliest known mention in literature is in Ovid's Ars Amatoria.

It is thought that the Chinese played this game under the name Luk tsut K'i during the time of Confucius (circa 500 BC).

Boards for Three Men's Morris dating back to 13th Century can be found carved into the cloister seats at the cathedrals at Canterbury, Gloucester, Norwich, Salisbury and Westminster Abbey.

The name of the game may be related to Morris dances (and hence to Moorish). It may also be derived from medieval Latin merellus (coin, piece, or game using pieces).

[edit] Alternative names

Nine Holes (Britain)

Sometimes, the names of the games Tic-tac-toe (where players keep adding "pieces") and Three Men's Morris (where pieces start to move after a certain number have been placed) are confused.