Nine Man Morris (also known as Morelles, Merrills, Merels or Mill) is an ancient game--a board can be found cut into the temple at Kurna, Egypt, circa 1440 BC, as well as in a Bronze Age burial site in Ireland, and the Acropolis in Athens. In Britain, ancient buildings have been found with boards positioned in such a way as to make play impossible. It's been theorized that stonemasons played on these stone playing boards before using the stones in the final building construction. Nine Man Morris reached its peak of popularity in Renaissance Europe. The English often played with pebbles on boards dug into the village green or in taverns on boards marked in chalk on a table. Shakespeare referred to it in ''A Midsummer's Night Dream''. A customer who purchased this game from us for her grandchildren told us how she used to play it as a child in Hungary, drawing the board in the dirt, and using corn and beans for playing pieces.
The object is to capture all your opponent's pieces by forming ''mills'' (3 pawns in a row). For complete rules, see our Games Rules page.
This wooden Nine Man Morris game is handcrafted in pine, and comes complete with 11'' square board (signed and dated), two sets of 9 individually crafted wood pieces, a cloth pouch for storage of pieces, and rules. $40
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