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Nine Mens Morris

Nine Mens Morris, also known as Merrills, Mill and Merels, is an old English game that goes back to antiquity - evidence has been found for the game in Egypt. More recently, references in the works of Shakespeare have given it an image of the archetypal medieval board game. Like most of the best games, the rules are simple, the objective being to capture opposing pieces by forming lines of 3. But the game can require deep thought in order to win and so is entertaining for beginners and veterans, alike.

Nine Mens MorrisIt's been a long time in the planning but worth the wait. Masters Traditional Games is proud to make available these unique, extremely high quality Nine Mens Morris boards in a traditional style. Hand-made to our own commission by an experienced Marquetry craftshop - you won't find the elegant boards on this page anywhere else.

For the games enthusiast or any lover of fine wooden objects, the Nine Mens Morris board is faced entirely with natural Oak. The lines and spots are inlaid and the board is accompanied by matching wooden disks.

Quality inlaid Nine Mens MorrisBoard dimensions are 36 cm (14 inches) square, rules and pieces are included. It does not come in a storage box.

It's worth paying to avoid thin card boards and plastic pieces:- This beautiful game is likely to be passed down the family for generations to come...

 

Click on the picture to enlarge.
November 2008: Sorry; this product is suspended for the time being as our craftsman has retired. It may be reinstated in the future if we can find a replacement craftshop who can produce boards of an adequate quality.

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Hand Made Nine Mens Morris Game

 £50.98 £59.90 Apologies - product is discontinued

Spare set of Nine Mens Morris pieces (29mm diameter, 9 natural wood, 9 black)

 £4.17 £4.90 2 + transit time

For an immediate quote and ETA, add to the basket & select your location.

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The Origin of Nine Mens Morris

This game, with an ancestry so old it is another contender for the prize of 'Oldest game in the world', is known by a number of different names in England - Nine Mens Morris or Morelles or or Merrills or Merels or Mill or just plain Morris. Presumably an extension of the simpler Three Mens Morris, a Nine Mens Morris pattern has been cut into the temple at Kurna, Egypt (~1440 BC). Other boards have been found in Ceylon which were carved during the reign of Mahadithika Maha-Naga (9-21AD). European boards have been found in such places as the first city of Troy, within a Bronze age burial site in Ireland and at the Acropolis in Athens. The game reached its peak popularity in Europe during the Fourteenth Century.

As an old English game, it used to be played with black and white pebbles on a board marked out with a trowel dug into village greens as well as in Taverns on boards marked with chalk on a table. Shakespeare mentioned it in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Act 2, Scene 2 - "The Nine Mens Morris is filled up with mud" which is what must have happened to the boards marked in the village green when it rained.

You can learn more about the History of Morris from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.