Your cell phone might take pictures

I don't have a camara.

That's a good idea. Care to share a photo?

I made for myself a Mill board on 20-pound art paper using a straight edge and crayon.
I rather like the result.
It works just fine.
Using red and black old-style, wooden checker pieces, I now have a nice Mill set, board and pieces, for playing and studying the game.

— We 2/4 2025

I can't see them. I'm not a member and don't want to sign up for anything else. Is there a way you can post them here?

Anyone interested in seeing a collection of Mill/NMM boards I made some time back check out my Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/mattlittlewood/merrill-boards/

There are some 200 odd images of Boards and designs based on the Nine Men's Morris concentric squares pattern.

The pattern is very old and was found as far back as excavations at Stonehenge. The symbol seems to have been used in the Pagan religion to ward off negative spirits.

It is interesting in the modern day in how many places we still find this pattern. In India we see it all over, from Bank logos to decorative designs. It is a symbol with meaning that even predates the game itself - which is already very old!

Interesting information.

I found the book published in 1952/55 by H.R Murray. The game name took two seperate paths - Germanic, Slavic and Eastern European languages adopted the respective forms of Mill and the English and Romance languages the Latin Merrellus meaning 'piece'. In some countries you have both names being used.

In the rest of the world - such as India and China it was often named after the number of pieces i.e 9 or the alignment/capture of 3 pieces.

Thanks

Interesting.
Thank you for the information.

In German Mills is known as Mühle - which can be translated as 'grinder' or 'mill' as in the machine that grinds.

In the past, and even today the action of moving the pieces is referred to as grinding - especially the back and forth movement between two Mills.

This is one possibility outside the possible corruption of the Latin words.

I don't have it on hand but the answer is probably in H.R Murray's book the History of board games other than Chess. It has an entire section on the game including how it travelled to various countries.

I'll try to find my copy and have a look.

Thank you, good information.
I think the game is older then Rome, though, so our account of these two names might not be quite complete.
Maybe, maybe not.

According to Wikipedia:
The Latin word merellus means 'gamepiece', which may have been corrupted in English to 'morris',[1] while miles is Latin for soldier.
Latin is missing from my education so I cannot vouch for it.

Thank you, rabbitoid.
Perhaps someone knows the origin of the name Mill or Morris.

That one I know. the ancestor Indian game is Shatranj. The Persians took it over and gave it the name "King", "shakh" in persian, or rather "shakh mat" = the king is dead. In Russian that is still the name. In German they kept only "Schach". In English that became chess.

I think the origin of these names is often lost in the obscure past.

I really don't know.
Where did they get the name Chess?

— We 26/3 2025

Where did they get the name mill?

Thank you for your appreciation, hoof hearted.
Nine Men's Morris, a.k.a. Mill, is such a fine game to play.
I was given a board and pieces as a little shorty, but as an adult I am thoroughly absorbed by the game.
I wish we had more GoldToken players interested in it.

— Sa 22/3 2025

I'm glad you pointed it out so I could sign up

Just in case anyone is interested, The Apr 2025 — KJ's April Fool's Day: The Tournament is open for signups.
Nine Men's Morris is one of the games... hurrah!
Additional players will be welcome if you wish to sign up and play.
The tourney starts on April Fool's Day, 1.Apr.

— Fri 21/3 2025

Like rabbitoid says, we either win or learn.
Thanks a tonne for joining.

— Fr 7/3 2025

I signed up but man is it loaded with good players

Many thanks, rabbitoid.
Let's hope several others also sign up to play.
We'll have a real shindig then.

Ok, three.

Psst, the link to a tournament is
{ Tournament#13998 } which links to The Apr 2025 — 3-day round robin — DIVISIONS Tournament

the link to a subtournament is
{ Tournament:237850 } which links to The Nine Men Morris Competition in The Apr 2025 — 3-day round robin — DIVISIONS Tournament

The Apr 2025 — 3-day round robin — DIVISIONS Tournament has two players signed up to play Nine Men's Morris.
The quorum is three.
If you enjoy this game or would like to give it a try, please consider signing up.
Play begins the first Monday in April.

— Fr 7/3 2025

Gosh! Thankyou so much. That's so kind. I'm really touched and appreciate it alot.

Happy Sunday to you.

Matt

As a silver now, you can join The Of Cowboys & Amazons Club.

Hey redclay, you have been mysteriously upgraded. Go join that tournament!

This is the last call for The Nov 2024 — 3-day round robin — NO DIVISIONS Tournament.
It starts this coming Monday, 4 November.
We already have four players signed up to play, so we have met the quorum of three.
My thanks to these people.
But if anyone else wishes to participate in the fun, this is your last chance.
Good luck to all.

— Th 31/10 '24

All good thank you for the message. Our community here is quite wonderful and I am simply happy to play. Some site features I'm not completely familiar with I suspect - though in way way or another I've been playing here since the site began. I'll have a look at membership next time around. Looking forward to many more years.

I would love to have you in the club, Matt, but there is a restriction.
Not mine but GoldToken's.
You must have a silver-level membership to join a club.
I don't think the owner makes any profit from these membership dues she collects, but perhaps they offset her expenses in keeping GoldToken running.

— Fr 25/10 '24

I tried to join but there is a restriction? Sorry, I'm new to clubs. Thank-you!

Thank you, Matt.

I'm in!

There's a new club in town, The Of Cowboys & Amazons Club.
Two of the three games it offers are Nine Men's Morris and Twelve Men's Morris.
The third is Amazons.
The name is inspired by the fact that another name for Nine Men's Morris is Cowboy Checkers.

The club is now fully functional even though I haven't completed the main page or banner yet.
There are club teams and club ladders.
The only thing missing is players who want to join them and play.
Here's hoping you would like to be one of those.

— Wed 23/10 2024

Thank you very much, rabbitoid.

I missed the one in August so yes.

The Nov 2024 — 3-day round robin — NO DIVISIONS Tournament has only one player signed up, yours truly.
The number needed for the tourney to start is three; that's two more.
Would anyone else be interested in playing?
Your participation would be much appreciated, and we would have tonnes of fun.
Kickoff is Monday, 4 November, two weeks and a day from now.

— Su 20/10 '24