# Three Men's Morris — three in a row, then move

- From: Three Men's Morris, an old game related to tic-tac-toe
- Players: 2 players
- Time: 5–8 min
- Made by: Traditional
- Rules from: The board as recorded by the US National Park Service

Made with boardgameBuilder 0.14.4. To design from it, open boardgameBuilder and choose Open game: its blocks go on the canvas, and the feelings are left for you to pick.

Like tic-tac-toe, but with only three pieces each. Once all six are down you slide pieces along the lines, so the game does not stop with a full board.

## What it shows a designer

Placing pieces, then moving them: a second phase keeps a tic-tac-toe-like game from ending in a draw. It shows phases as a design tool.

## What you need

- paper and a pen to draw the board
- 3 coins or pebbles each, of two kinds

## How to play

1. **Board.** Draw a square with nine points: the four corners, the middle of each side and the centre. Join them with lines across, down, and through the centre along both diagonals.
2. **Place.** Toss a coin to see who starts. Take turns placing one piece on an empty point. Three of yours in a straight line wins at once.
3. **Move.** When all six pieces are down, take turns sliding one of your pieces along a line to an empty point next to it. No jumping.
4. **Win.** The first to make a straight line of three wins.
5. **Draw.** If the same position keeps coming back, or after 20 moves each, call it a draw.

## After playing, talk about

- Did the first piece in the centre matter?
- When did you make two threats at once?
- How did the game change once pieces started moving?

## Where the rules are written down

- https://www.nps.gov/morr/learn/kidsyouth/3-men-s-morris.htm
- https://www.cyningstan.com/game/106/three-mens-morris

## Its blocks

- Core mechanic: pattern building
- Player interaction: direct confrontation
- Chance or skill: mostly skill
- Theme: abstract
- Information visibility: full information
- Timing: take turns

## Saved state

boardgameBuilder reads this part back when the file is opened.

```json
{"mechanics": {"core-mechanic": ["pattern-building"], "player-interaction": "direct-confrontation", "chance-skill": "mostly-skill", "information": "full-information", "theme": "abstract", "timing": ["take-turns"]}, "chosenFeelings": [], "previousMechanics": {}, "previousFeelings": [], "turnNumber": 0, "locked": false, "turnHistory": [], "answers": {}, "tests": {}}
```