Complete Rules of Six Men's Morris

Six Men's Morris

Erik Arneson

Six Men's Morris, closely related to the board games Morabaraba, Three Men's Morris, Nine Men's Morris, and Twelve Men's Morris, is an abstract strategy game that dates back to before 1400 BC.


2 players.


A game board and six pieces for each player (checkers or coins work well for the playing pieces).


The goal is to get your opponent down to two pieces or to block him from making any legal moves.


The board is made up of two concentric squares, with three points marked on each side of each square (the two corners and a midpoint). The same-side midpoints of both squares are connected by a straight line. A total of 16 points are marked on the board.

Be sure to download a Six Men's Morris board in order to play.


Setup Phase: Players taking turns laying their pieces on vacant points.

Regular Phase: After all 12 pieces have been laid down, the regular phase begins. In this phase, a turn consists of sliding a piece along a line to a vacant point.

Whenever a player creates a string of three pieces on one line, he immediately removes one of his opponent's pieces. (This can happen during the setup phase or the regular phase.) However, an opponent's piece which is part of a string may not be removed unless no other piece is available.

Note: Sliding a piece one space on one turn, then back to its original space on a subsequent turn is a legal sequence.


The first player to get his opponent down to two pieces, or to block his opponent from making any legal moves, is the winner.