Nine Men's Morris Rules
Nine Men's Morris is a classic two-player mill board game. Each side has nine pieces and aims to form mills — three pieces in a straight line of adjacent points — to remove opponent pieces from the board. Play unfolds in phases: place all nine pieces, then slide (and later fly) along the lines. MorrisLive uses these standard online rules with Ebony and Maple sides, server-validated actions, and flying allowed when a side has exactly three pieces left.
Quick facts
- Each side starts with nine pieces.
- The board has 24 points connected by lines.
- A mill is three of your pieces on a straight line of adjacent points.
- When a side has exactly three pieces left after placement, that side may fly to any empty point.
- You win if the opponent has two or fewer pieces after placement, or has no legal place, move, or fly.
Board and sides
The board is three concentric squares connected by mid-side lines, making twenty-four points (intersections). Pieces sit on points, never inside the squares. Lines show legal adjacency for sliding moves. On MorrisLive the two sides are named Ebony and Maple; either may sit first depending on how the room was created. Spectators see the same layout but cannot move pieces.
Place
Players alternate turns. On each turn during placement, a player puts one of their remaining unplaced pieces onto any empty point. Placement continues until both Ebony and Maple have all nine pieces on the board. You may form mills during placement; each mill formed on your action grants a remove.
Mill
A mill is three of your own pieces occupying three adjacent points on one straight line of the board (along an edge or a mid-side connector). Forming one or more mills on your place, move, or fly lets you remove one opponent piece afterward. Mills can be broken and remade later in the game; each new mill formation on your action grants another remove.
Move
Once both sides have finished placing all nine pieces, the moving phase begins. On your turn, choose one of your pieces and slide it along a board line to an immediately adjacent empty point. You cannot jump over pieces or move to a non-adjacent point unless you are flying (see Fly).
Fly
MorrisLive uses the common online “flying on three” rule. After placement is finished for both sides, when a player has exactly three pieces left on the board, that player may fly: move a piece to any empty point on the board, not only an adjacent one. With four or more pieces, only adjacent slides are legal. Flying ends if you somehow regain more than three pieces (you cannot on standard rules) — in practice, three-piece sides keep flying until the game ends.
Remove
Immediately after your action forms one or more mills, you must remove one opponent piece. Prefer a piece that is not currently in a mill. If every opponent piece is in a mill, you may remove any opponent piece. Removed pieces leave the board permanently and count toward the win condition.
Win
After both sides have finished placement, you win if the opponent has two or fewer pieces left on the board, or if the opponent has no legal place, move, or fly when it is their turn (they are blocked). Resign and timeout also award the win to the other side. Draws are covered in the Draw section on the Rules page and by mutual agreement on the board.
Draws
A game may end in a draw when both players agree via the offer-draw flow on the site. Separately, if a player has no legal action on their turn they lose — that is a win for the opponent, not a draw. There is no automatic repetition or fifty-move draw clock on MorrisLive beyond what players choose to agree; use resign or offer draw when the position is clearly dead.
How MorrisLive applies these rules
On MorrisLive, every place, move, fly, remove, resign, draw response, and clock tick is enforced by the server. You can play through private invite links (optional password), public Open Games tables, or Play Bot at Easy, Medium, or Hard. Spectators use a separate /watch link so viewing never steals a seat. Time-control presets and increments are the same across modes. When a side runs out of time, that side loses. After the game, rematch keeps you in the same room flow when both sides want another.
New to the site? See how to create a room and invite a friend.
Looking for placement and mill tips? Read the strategy guide.