The History of Nine Men's Morris
Carved into more surfaces across more centuries than almost any other game.
A Game as Old as Its Name Is Confusing
The game's true age is debated - a board scratched into a roofing slab at the temple of Kurna in Egypt has sometimes been dated to around 1400 BCE, though many historians consider that claim uncertain. What's clearer is that a version of the game, "Terni Lapilli," was popular in the Roman Empire.
The name "Nine Men's Morris" has nothing to do with the dance (Morris dancing) - both likely derive independently from the Latin merellus, meaning "a small counter" or gaming piece.
Carved Into Cathedrals
The game was hugely popular across medieval Europe, played by peasants and nobility alike. Boards have been found carved into cathedral roof beams and cloister seats across England, evidence that even monks and masons passed the time with a quick game between duties.
It even made it into literature: in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titania complains that "the nine men's morris is filled up with mud," describing an outdoor board cut into the grass, left waterlogged and unplayable.
Still Played Worldwide
The game survives today under dozens of regional names - Mühle in Germany, Merels in parts of Britain, and countless local variants elsewhere - and it's popular enough that its complete game-theoretic value has been computed: with perfect play, Nine Men's Morris is a draw.
That result, established by computer analysis in the 1990s, puts it in the same rare company as checkers: a game old enough to have been played by medieval kings, and precisely solved by modern computers.