Six Men's Morris

How to play Six Men's Morris?

Six Stone is a "mill" game very similar to Nine Stone, but played on a smaller board (two nested squares) and with fewer tiles, so it finishes faster. It improves attention and strategy skills in short sittings.

1. It is very similar to Nine Stones, but there are two nested squares on the board. Each player has 6 tiles.
2. If you form a row of 3 ("Mill") on a line with your own pieces, you remove one of your opponent's pieces.
3. Once all 6 tiles are lined up, it's time to "move": you can only move your tiles to an empty neighboring spot.
4. IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE: Unlike Nine Stones, the player who falls to 3 stones DOES NOT have the right to "fly".
5. You win if you reduce your opponent to 2 tiles or make them unable to move.

Six Men's Morris strategy tips

• Since the board is small, every piece is valuable: blocking the opponent's mill is as important as setting up a mill.
• The midpoints connecting the squares are critical passages for movement; Get here early.
• Since there is no right to fly, trapping the opponent's pieces and leaving them without a move is a powerful way to win.

Six Men's Morris history

Six Stone is the small-wood member of the mill family. It is played with 6 tiles each on two nested squares and was quite common in Medieval Europe.

It's an ideal introduction to mill games for beginners, as it's shorter than Nine Stones and has no "fly" rule.

Other names: Six Men's Morris, small mill, Sixtas