ANOTHER LOOK AT AN ANCIENT GAME

In recent years, GAMES WORLD OF PUZZLES has had a regular feature called “This Old Game” that spotlights an old board game. But the board game we are looking at in this article isn’t just old, it’s ancient! In fact, boards for the game were scratched into tiles in temples of ancient Egypt. And you can still find modern editions (usually nice wooden ones) of it in gift shops and game stores today.

You have probably seen this game and you may know it by several different names. In the United States it is usually known as “Nine Men’s Morris,” but its many other names include mills, merrills, marelles, morelles, and ninepenny marl.

The game is played on a board