12 Men's Morris
A game on zen2play
Three in a row. Win a Soldier.
Twelve Purple Soldiers against twelve Green Soldiers on 24 golden circles. Line up three in a row, a mill, and take one of your opponent's Soldiers. Bring them down to two and you win.
A game with a long history. Morris games were widely played across Europe from the Middle Ages through the 18th century, and their boards are still found carved into cathedral cloister benches, castle walls and medieval and Viking sites in England, Ireland, France and Germany. Twelve Men's Morris is said to have travelled to New England with 17th-century settlers. Its close cousin Morabaraba has been played across Southern Africa for generations: a board about 800 years old was found at Mapungubwe, South Africa, and the mill family may reach back further still, to boards scratched in ancient Egypt.
- Free to play
- Games of 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes
- Play a person, or Zen when nobody is free
Purple has just made a mill and takes a Soldier, from a game Zen played.
How it plays
The board is three squares inside each other, with a golden circle on every corner and every side's middle, joined by white lines. Soldiers stand on the circles and move only along the lines. Purple moves first, the sides take turns, one action each, and every action is final.
Place
Each player starts with twelve Soldiers in hand. In turn, put one on any free circle. While you still hold Soldiers, you place, and the Soldiers already down do not move.
Move
Once you have placed all twelve, each turn you move one Soldier along a white line to a free neighbouring circle.
Make a mill
Three of your Soldiers in a row on one of the twenty lines is a mill, and it wins a Soldier of your opponent. Take any Soldier that is not in a mill of theirs, unless every one of theirs is. Two mills at once still win only one.
Break a mill, make it again
You may break your own mill by moving a Soldier out of it, and make it again to win another Soldier. One restriction: a mill you broke to make a new mill cannot be made again on your next turn. The game does not offer that move; a turn later it does.
Down to three: fly
When a player is left with only three Soldiers, they fly: each turn one Soldier may jump to any free circle, near or far. If one side has three and the other more, only the side with three flies.
Fly to a mill
A flying Soldier can close a mill from the other side of the board. The page lights every free circle for it.
Down to two
A player reduced to two Soldiers, in hand and on the board together, loses. A won Soldier is gone for good.
Rules at a glance
A win, a draw, or the clock. Every action is final: there is no passing and no take-back.
Purple moves first
Then the sides take turns, one action each. A Soldier placed, moved or won stays that way.
Down to two, you lose
Reduce your opponent to two Soldiers, or leave them no move while a circle is still free. Run out of time or resign, and the game is theirs.
Three ways to draw
A full board with no move left, a third repetition, or ten moves each with three Soldiers on a side and nothing won. The board counts the turns left and warns you before a repeat.
Always moving
10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes each, 15 by default, and 2 minutes for every move. Make your first move within 60 seconds, or the game is abandoned.
A rating that means something
Everyone starts at 1000. Beat a person and gain 6; lose and give up 3; a draw changes nothing. Games against Zen are not rated.
Someone to play, any time
A person, or Zen Calm and Zen Master, our computer players, always clearly labelled. Against Zen you choose Purple or Green; against a person the colours are drawn at random.
The board is set
Sign in and play your first game of 12 Men's Morris, against a person or Zen.