Nine Men's Morris is an abstract board game for two players. Players attempt to remove their opponents' stones, and the first player to completely deprive the opponent of stones wins the game.

Start of the game

The board has 24 spaces, arranged in three squares. Each player begins with 9 stones of their color in their reserve.

Player's turn

On a player's turn, a player either places one of their stones onto the board if there's any left, or otherwise moves one of their stones on the board. If a player moves a stone, that stone must be moved to an adjacent space. Exception: If a player only has three stones left, they may move a stone anywhere, not necessarily to an adjacent space.

If by placing or moving this stone, the player forms a line of three of their stones, they have formed a "mill" and may remove any of their opponent's stones on the board. If it's possible, a player must remove a stone that is not a part of a mill, but if it's not possible, the player may remove any stone.

End of the game

The game ends if a player cannot make a legal move; that player loses. The game also ends if a player is reduced to two stones (with a loss for that player). This is because they cannot make any more mills, and so those stones will eventually be captured by the opponent, leaving no stones and thus no legal move to make.