Nine Men’s Morris online, with a friend

One of the oldest board games, now over a link

Nine Men’s Morris was carved into Roman steps and medieval church benches, and it’s still one of the best games for two: easy enough to learn in a minute, deep enough to keep you thinking. In Germany it’s called Mühle, in Spain Molino, in France Jeu du moulin and in Turkey Dokuz Taş. The idea is always the same: get three stones in a row, a mill, and take one of your opponent’s.

On BeatMe you play it with a link. Start a game, send it in any chat, and your friend plays in the browser. Play live together or one move at a time: every placed stone, every move and every mill plays back when the other one looks again. Moves are checked on our server, so nobody can slide a stone where it isn’t allowed.

Nine Men’s Morris tips

• Take the crossings. The middle points of the middle square touch four lines. Stones there have the most moves.
• Don’t rush into mills. While placing, a mill is nice, but mobility matters more. A player who gets blocked in the moving phase loses.
• Build a double mill. Two mills that share a stone let you swing one stone back and forth and close a mill every turn. It’s the strongest pattern in the game.
• Block their two in a row. When the other player has two stones on a line and the third point is free, put a stone there before they do.
• Watch out for flying. With three stones left your friend can jump anywhere, so every pair of yours with an open third point is a threat.

Fair play

Every move is checked on our server: placing only while stones are left, moving only along the lines, taking only after a real mill and never a stone in a mill unless all are. If you don’t like flying, switch it off when you start the game.