Nine Men's Morris is one of the oldest games in the world. Also known as Morris, Merels or Mill, this sophisticated Tic-Tac-Toe has a resume that begins in an ancient Egyptian temple and ends online in the 21st century. In between, its history travels from Sri Lanka to Rome to Shakespeare in England---and even across the ocean to the American Civil War.
The Game
In Nine Men's Morris, two players compete, each with nine pieces. Players try to get three in a row, while preventing their opponent from doing the same. Each time a player achieves this, she takes one of the opponent's pieces. The loser is the first to have only two men, no longer able to get three in a row. The board has three nested squares, each with eight places for the pieces to rest. Two versions of the board have been found--one with diagonal lines through the corners of the squares and one without. What makes it different from its younger sibling Tic Tac Toe, is that pieces may be moved to adjacent spots as the game progresses, allowing for strategic moves.
Ancient Times
The oldest example of Nine Men's Morris was discovered carved into the roof of the Temple of Kurna in Egypt, which was built in 1400 BC. Other versions have been discovered in ancient manuscripts and tombs, as well. Boards were discovered in Ceylon, Sri Lanka, circa 10 A.D., and a game was found cut into the deck of a Viking ship from 900 AD. The Romans, too, entertained themselves with Nine Men's Morris. Versions have been found etched in their buildings.
Bronze Age Ireland
According to GamesCrafters, a UC Berkeley website, the game was discovered scratched in the ground of Bronze Age Ireland. GamesCrafters claim the Celts considered the game sacred and the board symbolic with the center square named the Cauldron or Mill and representing regeneration. The four diagonal lines stood for the four compass points, as well as the four winds and the four elements.
Medieval England
Though it's not clear when the game reached England, it has also been found etched into English cathedral choir stalls. Furness Abbey's stairs were not spared an etching, nor were tombstones in the Isle of Man, Norwich, Dover or Scarborough Castle. The game reached the height of popularity in the 14th and 15th centuries, according to Gamescrafters. It often came on the back of a chess or backgammon board.
Shakespeare's Times
William Shakespeare writes of the game boards that were dug into the village greens with a trowel. In "A Midsummer's Night's Dream," he writes: "The nine-men's morris is filled up with mud; And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are indistinguishable." (Medieval literature from France and Germany also mention the game.) Around Shakespeare's time, the game became known as Merels, from the Old English for boundaries. One might simply chalk Merels onto the table in a tavern and challenge another patron.
American Civil War
Versions of the game appeared in the southwestern United States among the Kere, Tigua, Tew and Zuni tribes. During the American Civil War, soldiers used pebbles and twigs for markers, scratching the game board into the dirt. A letter from soldier Charles Wickesburg, written to his family from a U.S. Army Hospital in 1863, explains that Nine Men's Morris is among the many games he can get from the hospital reading room. Later, the real-life trench warfare of World War I led to the creation of a new version of Nine Men's Morris called "Trencho."
Today
Today, multiple websites offer game boards for sale or online versions of the ancient game. Players can walk in the footsteps of the ancient Celts or match their strategy against a computer.
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