Build a three-piece mill on marked lines to remove one AI piece, then keep mobility when the placement phase becomes movement.
Nine Men's Morris changes character halfway through the match. First, each side alternates placing nine pieces on twenty-four marked intersections. Completing any listed line of three forms a mill and removes one opposing piece. After all pieces are placed, turns become movement: choose one piece and slide it along a connected line to an empty neighbor. The objective is to reduce the opponent below three pieces or leave it without a legal move.
During placement, tap an empty intersection. During movement, tap one teal piece and then a connected empty destination. Keyboard and mobile controls cycle complete legal actions and confirm with Space, Enter, or OK, which is useful on the dense inner square. Mill captures are resolved immediately against an opponent piece outside a protected mill when possible, keeping each turn compact and readable.
A completed mill earns the main tactical score because it removes material as well as claiming a line. Ordinary placements and forward movement earn smaller points for survival and mobility. The win bonus arrives when white falls below three pieces. Best is local. Reopening and closing the same mill can score again, but only if the moving piece genuinely leaves and later restores that line.
Do not treat the placement phase as a race to make the first obvious mill. Place pieces where two potential lines cross, because one intersection can support a fork or a reusable mill later. Preserve routes between the outer, middle, and inner squares. Once movement begins, count each piece's empty neighbors; a visually strong cluster can still lose if every exit becomes blocked.
On phones, intersection dots are larger than the line width, so tap the center of a dot rather than the surrounding square. The legal-action cycle avoids ambiguity when inner and middle points sit close together. After a capture, recount both colors before selecting again. Landscape makes the three nested squares wider, while portrait keeps the OK button close for repeated placement turns.
Do not treat the placement phase as a race to make the first obvious mill.
On phones, intersection dots are larger than the line width, so tap the center of a dot rather than the surrounding square.
Nine Men's Morris: A completed mill earns the main tactical score because it removes material as well as claiming a line
Build a three-piece mill on marked lines to remove one AI piece, then keep mobility when the placement phase becomes movement.