The Game
of Mill (or Twelve Men's Morris)
The game of Mill is
centuries old. This implementation is
based on a version brought to central Texas by German immigrants. Press start to begin or see the links below
for more details.
How to Play
After the various options
are set as desired, click on start.
When an action is required from you, a prompt will appear in the middle
of the board. To move a piece, click on
the piece and then click on the location where you would like to move the
piece. When moving on to the board, it is only necessary to click a location on the board. When removing captured pieces, it is only necessary to click on the piece. The last piece moved will be highlighted.
Rules
The object of the game is to
capture your opponents pieces. The
game is over and a player looses when he has only two pieces or no moves
left. At the start of the game players
alternately move pieces on the to board.
pieces are placed at the intersections of the lines on the board. When a player gets three pieces along a
straight line, a mill is made. The
player may then capture any opponent’s piece that is not part of mill and
remove it from the board. Once all the
pieces have been placed on the board, pieces may only be moved on the board
to free, adjacent intersections, except when a player has only three pieces
left. Then she may move to any free
intersection.
Strategy
Of
course, the players try to make mills and block the opponents mills. It has been found that some intersections
are better to occupy than others are.
The best intersections are the corners of the middle rectangle. After that are the corners of the inner and
outer rectangle, then the middle intersections of the middle rectangle. The middle intersections of the inner and
outer rectangles are the least desirable.
Often a winning situation is a double mill. This is where a player can move back and forth between two mills,
making a mill and removing an opponents piece on every turn. Don’t forget that when the opponent is down
to three pieces, he may move to any free intersection. Often special considerations such as a delay
move needs to be made just prior to winning a game. As with most strategy games, think several moves ahead…if I do
this, then he can do that, and I can do this and make a mill. Good luck!
History
Several sites discuss the
history of the game of Mill and its variants.
Here are some.
About
This implementation of the
game of mill was written by Gerry Greaves, 2004. If you have any problems or comments you can e-mail ggreaves@adelphia.net. You send a link to this page clicking here.
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