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.

This is a 16-inch, screen-printed, attractive board with Chess or Draughts/Checkers on one side and Nine Mens Morris on the other.

Also on this page are draughts pieces from Dal Negro that would complement this board and can be used for Nine Mens Morris.

The squares are 45mm square each and the board is approx 10mm thick. The board is 406mm in total (16") square.

Please click here for our rough guide to chess piece sizes to chequerboard square sizes.

Change to $ Change to €	UK pounds (ex.VAT)	Pounds (incl. VAT)	Typical ETA in wkg days	Add to basket
16 inch Chess and Nine Mens Morris Board (45mm squares)	£12.09	£14.21		Apologies - product is discontinued
Dal Negro Set of 24 draughts (32mm)	£10.13	£11.90	1 + transit time

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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.