Morris Variants

About Morris Variants Android Game

The famous Nine Men's Morris game in your hand. This free version of the app gives you a player-vs-player mode on one phone and different game variants (Six Men's Morris, Nine Men's Morris, Twelve Men's Morris).

The upcoming premium version of the game will give you a bluetooth mode and the opportunity to play over the internet, as well as a single player mode.

Game blog: http://ninemensmorris-android.blogspot.com/

Game rules (Wikipedia):
Each player has nine pieces, or "men", which move among the
board's twenty-four spots. The object of the game is to leave the opposing player with fewer than three pieces or, as in checkers, no legal moves.

Placing the pieces:
The game begins with an empty board. Players take turns placing their pieces on empty spots. If a player is able to form a straight row of three pieces along one of the board's lines (i.e. not diagonally), he has a "mill" and may remove one of his opponent's pieces from the board; removed pieces may not be placed again. Players must remove any other pieces first before removing a piece from a formed mill. Once all eighteen pieces have been used, players take turns moving.

Moving the pieces:
To move, a player slides one of his pieces along a board line to an empty adjacent spot. If he cannot do so, he has lost the game. As in the placement stage, a player who aligns three of his pieces on a board line has a mill and may remove one of his opponent's pieces, avoiding the removal of pieces in mills if at all possible. Any player reduced to two pieces is unable to remove any more opposing pieces and thus loses the game.

Flying:
Once a player is reduced to three pieces, his pieces may "fly", "hop" or "jump" to any empty spots, not only adjacent ones.

Game variants:
Six Men's Morris:
Six Men's Morris gives each player six pieces and is played without the outer square found on the board of Nine Men's Morris. It was popular in Italy, France and England during the Middle Ages but was obsolete by 1600.

Twelve Men's Morris:
Twelve Men's Morris adds four diagonal lines to the board and gives each player twelve pieces. This means the board can be filled in the placement stage; if this happens the game is a draw. This variation on the game is popular amongst rural youth in South Africa where it is known as Morabaraba and is now recognized as a sport in that country.