On the Game of Merelles ----------------------- Unto Theyr Excellencies Aquel et Johanna does Justin du Coeur, knowne as Ace, send Greetings, and a hope that yr castles are warm in this chill winter. In my past epistles, I have sent manie tales of games that are play'd by the noblemen of the landes. Yet it seemeth that I should tell also of the simpler games, for even in the glorious lande of Carolingia there be manie common folke who woulde have games to playe. So I shal turne my pen to the game of Merelles, old and yet still loved by manie. The forms of the merelles table is simple; it is but three squares, set one within the other, so that one is smal, one modest, and one largest of the three. And the centres of eche side of the squares are joined by lines. Thys figure, whych I shew in the drawing, is simple enow that it may be drawn on anything, even traced in the ground if one is far from home. Your playe shal be upon the points of the board: a man may play on the corner of anie square, or in the center of a side, where the line meets the square. Eche player shal have nine men, and these men maye be of anie forme, suche that the one player's may be tolde from the other: as red and blue disks, light and dark pebbles, or whatever shal serve. You shal begin by putting your man upon anie point of the board; and then yr Adversarie shal sette his man, then you once more, and so until all of yr men are upon the board. And when the men are all placed, you shal begin to Playe, by moving anie man to an adjoining point, along a line; as, from the corner to the center of a syde, or center to a corner, or from the center of the syde of one square to that of the next. Ye maye only playe upon the lines; in this game, you may not playe from one corner to the nexte. You muste playe if there is a point to move to; yf ye cannot, then it is your Adversary's game. All of the merit in this game comes in the making of the Mills. Your Mill is anie three of yr owne men in a row upon a line; that is, filling one syde of a square, or one of the lines that do join the squares. When you make your Mill, then maye you take one of yr Enemies men from the board and laye it beside you; thys is yr captive, and he maye not take it backe. But beware that yr Enemy not make the Mills himself, for then shal he take one of thy men as captive. And knowe that the Mills maye be made even as you set yr men upon the table, so that yr Adversary put a man down, and then you set downe a Mill and take one of hys men straightway. Eche Mill maye take only one man; yet yf you break yr Mill by moving a man within it, and then reform it, it maye take another. You maye not take a man who is within a Mill, unless it hap that there are no others that you maye take in his stead. The skill of the game is in setting thy Mills cunningly, that you may break a Mill and then reform it with haste. For then maye you take one man, then another and another yet, to wear down yr Enemies army, and make him concede. And when he hath but two men remaining, he muste concede, for he maye no longer make a Mill himself, and thus is your army invulnerable. Thys game is of Great Antiquity; no man knows how old. They do playe it differently in some places. Some playe it with but five men and a simpler board, or with twelve and a more complex one, joining lines among the corners of the squares as well as the sides. And some do place holds upon the Mills, that you maye not reform a Mill straightway, mandating that you shal make another move betwixt breaking the Mill and reforming it. Yet the simplest way is easiest for the common folk to remember, and needs no extra rule to make it a pleasant playe. I hope that the season is kinde to the faire lands of Carolingia, and remain yr humble gamester, Justin duC, on this 4th day of Janvier, in the yeere of Our Lord 1599. Endnotes -------- Merels, aka Nine Men's Morris, is one of those marvelously annoying games to research. There is no question that the game is of considerable antiquity, and was known in a variety of cultures -- boards exist from all over the place, and references are fairly common. Yet it was not often described in detail; its ubiquity meant that the various authors writing books on games usually didn't bother to describe it. Given the paucity of descriptions in books, and the evidence that it was fairly common, I suspect it was played more by the common classes than the nobility. What I've described above is pretty much the most common and simplest ruleset. Players take turns setting down their men, and then moving them along the lines. Whenever you make a Mill (three men in a row along a line), you can take one of your opponent's men. The first player to be reduced to only two men loses. There are a number of variations found in the literature. Besides the ones mentioned in the article, there is also a fairly common endgame variant, which says that, when you are reduced to only three men, you may jump them willy-nilly around the board, without regard to the lines. I personally suspect it's a post-period innovation, to make the endgame a somewhat less foregone conclusion, but I'd be happy to see some indication that it was played this way in period. -- Justin