Thinhama (Mills) 1.02

INTRODUCTION

Thinhama (Mills) is a strategy board game for two players that emerged from the Roman Empire. The game is also known as Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, The Mill Game, Merels, Merrills, Merelles, Marelles, Morelles and Ninepenny Marl in English. The game has also been called Cowboy Checkers and was once printed on the back of checkerboards. Nine Men's Morris is a solved game in which either player can force the game into a draw.

GAME RULES
The board consists of a grid with twenty-four intersections or points. Each player has nine pieces. Players try to form 'mills'— three of their own men lined horizontally or vertically—allowing a player to remove an opponent's piece from the game. A player wins by reducing the opponent to two pieces (where he could no longer form mills and thus be unable to win), or by leaving him without a legal move.

The game proceeds in three phases:

- placing piece on vacant points
- moving piece to adjacent points
- (optional phase) moving piece to any vacant point when a player has been reduced to three men

Phase one: placing pieces

Thihame (Mills) or Nine Men's Morris starts on an empty board.
The game begins with an empty board. The players determine who plays first, then take turns placing their piece one per play on empty points. If a player is able to place three of his pieces in a straight line, vertically or horizontally, he has formed a mill and may remove one of his opponent's pieces from the board and the game. Any piece can be chosen for the removal, but a piece not in an opponent's mill must be selected, if possible.

Phase two: moving pieces

Players continue to alternate moves, this time moving a piece to an adjacent point. A piece may not "jump" another piece. Players continue to try to form mills and remove their opponent's pieces in the same manner as in phase one. A player may "break" a mill by moving one of his pieces out of an existing mill, then moving the piece back to form the same mill a second time (or any number of times), each time removing one of his opponent's piece. The act of removing an opponent's piece is sometimes called "pounding" the opponent. When one player has been reduced to three pieces, phase three begins.

Phase three: "flying"

When a player is reduced to three pieces, there is no longer a limitation of moving to only adjacent points: The player's piece may "fly", "hop" or "jump" from any point to any vacant point.

Strategy

At the beginning of the game, it is more important to place pieces in versatile locations rather than to try to form mills immediately and make the mistake of concentrating one's pieces in one area of the board.

An ideal position, which typically results in a win, is to be able to shuttle one piece back and forth between two mills, removing a piece every turn.

source: www.wikipedia.com