Circular Three Men's Morris

Alternate Names

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A circular mill board and three each of black and white counters are required for play.

History

There were several game boards incised into the stone roofing slabs of the Temple of Kurna at the ancient city of Thebes on the Nile River. This temple is believed to be constructed around 1350 BCE, during the reigns of Rameses I and Seti I. Of these boards, one is described today as Circular Three Men’s Morris board, but this ancient board could have been used for a blockading game or various other purposes.

Objective

The first player to form a row of three of their own counters along a straight line wins the game. There are four positions on the board in which this is possible.

Play

The game commences with the board empty of counters. Each player has three stones and places them one at a time in alternating turns at a vacant position on the board. There is a forced win for the first player if they start at the center and thus a rule prohibiting that initial placement is useful. After all of the counters have been placed, each player moves one counter along a line or arc to an adjacent vacant position.

Strategy

This game has very little depth and is probably only appropriate for children. Several different rules have been spawned as an attempt to give the game more depth. One is to not allow any counter to remain at the center position for more than two of that player’s turns.

Variations

Despite its simplicity, standard Three Men’s Morris is more complex than this game as there are more positions along which a line of three may be formed. The opening position used in Shisima could be utilized for this game, which is otherwise played exactly the same and is even topologically equivalent.

Sources