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You will need

Hints

1. If your opponent is threatening to make a line of three, see if you can block it.
2. Taking the opponent’s counters is sometimes a good way of blocking them.
3. You can move your counter out of a line of three and then move it back on the next turn to complete the line again and remove an opponent’s piece.
4. One very powerful setup is to be able to move a piece back and forth between two lines, completing one and breaking the other each move.

Extra rule

Try adding a flying rule.

• When you have only three counters left, you no longer have to slide along lines. On your turn you can move one of your counters to any unoccupied circle on the board.

What’s happening?

Nine Men’s Morris is an ancient game, at least 2000 years old. Archaeologists have found morris boards engraved in Roman ruins.

In 1996, a researcher named Ralph Gasser used computers to look at Nine Men’s Morris. He calculated all the possible board positions, and then worked out the best moves for each. In the end, he calculated that if each player played perfectly, the game would be a draw.