This photograph was taken in August 1996 at a hill temple near Khejarala,
Rajesthan, India. Carved into the rock is the board for the game "Nine Men's
Morris".
Each player has nine stones which they put onto the board
alternately one at a time. When all the stones are on the board players take
turns to move a piece along a line to a neighbouring empty point. When a
player achieves three in a row an opposing stone is removed but it may not
be taken from an opposing three in a row. If a player is reduced to two
pieces or is blocked and unable to move, they have lost the game.
What is the maximum number of pieces which can be on the board without any
forming a row? Investigate for other size boards.
Reference: "Board
games Around The World" Robbie Bell and Michael Cornelius. Cambridge
University Press 1988 ISBN 0 521 35924 4
Click on a link below for other parts of the Transum web site
Fun Maths Home Transum Software Maths Map Go Maths
How did you use this resource? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop these ideas?
Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for those learning Mathematics anywhere in the world. Click here to enter your comments.
Strategy Games photographs and diagrams by Transum are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
"Contact Us".