<p>There's some information available in German. The game's called "Mühle" (= mill) in German,
and there exists at least one book on this subject.
The book can be found online here: <a href="http://www.hubbie.de/" rel="nofollow">http://www.hubbie.de/</a><br>
Click on "Mühle", the book can be viewed in html or as an applet.
It's a beginner's book, but contains even some advanced strategies.</p>

<p>It should be possible to understand a lot of the strategies even without knowledge 
of German, but with "Google translate", or dict.leo.org you should be able to make
sense of most of the text.</p>

<p>There's even an organization which organizes (European) championchips, see
<a href="http://www.muehlespiel.eu/" rel="nofollow">http://www.muehlespiel.eu/</a><br>
It might be possible to get information from there, too.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-05-27T20:27:20.390Z
2011-05-27T20:27:20.390Z
KlausC
<p>I realize you are searching for a human strategy, but it might be useful to know that it was solved for a computer play. <a href="https://www.cs.brandeis.edu/%7Estorer/JimPuzzles/GAMES/NineMensMorris/INFO/GasserArticle.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nine Men’s Morris was solved</a> by <a href="https://www.chessprogramming.org/Ralph_Gasser" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ralph Gasser</a> in 1993. The game is a Draw.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2012-11-25T21:31:25.653Z
2024-06-20T06:07:43.397Z
2024-06-20T06:07:43.397Z
Chris
<p>With respect to basic strategy, I'm assuming that you've found <a href="http://www.alanemrich.com/SGI/Week_01/SGI_Nine_Mens_Strategy.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>, which seems to have scraped the text from <a href="http://www.smartboxdesign.com/ninemmstrategies.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this page</a> (or vice versa).</p>
<p>In the early '90s, <a href="http://www.ics.uci.edu/%7Eeppstein/cgt/morris.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">at least one person</a> believed that the strategy you are seeking was not possible to describe.</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>What is an optimal opening strategy (for humans)?</li>
</ul>
<p>I must admit that I have not examined the opening moves for any easily describable patterns. However, the examination of mid- and endgame databases has repeatedly shown optimal play to be beyond human comprehension. Therefore, I very much doubt that any such
simple-to-describe strategy exists.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I've not found anything to contradict him, so unless someone else has more recent experience to share, you may be out of luck.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-05-23T21:06:21.237Z
2011-05-23T21:06:21.237Z
2020-06-17T09:01:24.697Z
Dave DuPlantis
<p>I recommend to start with</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The book <a href="https://amzn.asia/d/djErzDC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nine Men's Morris Strategy: A guide for beginners to intermediate players</a>, it goes into a bit more depth regarding plays.</p>
</li>
<li><p>A <a href="https://muehle.jochen-hoenicke.de/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">perfect play repository by jochen-hoenicke</a></p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Once you have some basic plays, follow them through on as many different pathways as you can. Really good players have great memory, and know how to respond to many plays.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-19T05:16:27.740Z
As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).
Community
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-19T05:01:01.320Z
2024-06-19T06:24:28.037Z
2024-06-19T06:24:28.037Z
Ben Brandwood
<p>I just started playing Nine Men's Morris. I have tried playing with both the computer and on online multiplayer settings and have been doing abysmally. I tried finding some good resource on the net that could give me some in depth study of useful strategies for this board game but I found very basic guides that were basically just a rehash of the rules. Could somebody help me in my dilemma, I want to start winning at least a few of the games.</p>

<teaching><nine-mens-morris>
Resources for Nine Men's Morris
A J
# Resources for Nine Men's Morris

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-05-23)

I just started playing Nine Men's Morris. I have tried playing with both the computer and on online multiplayer settings and have been doing abysmally. I tried finding some good resource on the net that could give me some in depth study of useful strategies for this board game but I found very basic guides that were basically just a rehash of the rules. Could somebody help me in my dilemma, I want to start winning at least a few of the games.

**Tags:** teaching, nine-mens-morris


---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2011-05-27. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

There's some information available in German. The game's called "Mühle" (= mill) in German,
and there exists at least one book on this subject.
The book can be found online here: <http://www.hubbie.de/>  
Click on "Mühle", the book can be viewed in html or as an applet.
It's a beginner's book, but contains even some advanced strategies.

It should be possible to understand a lot of the strategies even without knowledge
of German, but with "Google translate", or dict.leo.org you should be able to make
sense of most of the text.

There's even an organization which organizes (European) championchips, see
<http://www.muehlespiel.eu/>  
It might be possible to get information from there, too.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-11-25. Score: 2

I realize you are searching for a human strategy, but it might be useful to know that it was solved for a computer play. [Nine Men’s Morris was solved](https://www.cs.brandeis.edu/%7Estorer/JimPuzzles/GAMES/NineMensMorris/INFO/GasserArticle.pdf) by [Ralph Gasser](https://www.chessprogramming.org/Ralph_Gasser) in 1993. The game is a Draw.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-05-23. Score: 1

With respect to basic strategy, I'm assuming that you've found [this](http://www.alanemrich.com/SGI/Week_01/SGI_Nine_Mens_Strategy.htm), which seems to have scraped the text from [this page](http://www.smartboxdesign.com/ninemmstrategies.html) (or vice versa).

In the early '90s, [at least one person](http://www.ics.uci.edu/%7Eeppstein/cgt/morris.html) believed that the strategy you are seeking was not possible to describe.

> * What is an optimal opening strategy (for humans)?
>
> I must admit that I have not examined the opening moves for any easily describable patterns. However, the examination of mid- and endgame databases has repeatedly shown optimal play to be beyond human comprehension. Therefore, I very much doubt that any such
> simple-to-describe strategy exists.

I've not found anything to contradict him, so unless someone else has more recent experience to share, you may be out of luck.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-06-19. Score: 1

I recommend to start with

1. The book [Nine Men's Morris Strategy: A guide for beginners to intermediate players](https://amzn.asia/d/djErzDC), it goes into a bit more depth regarding plays.
2. A [perfect play repository by jochen-hoenicke](https://muehle.jochen-hoenicke.de/)

Once you have some basic plays, follow them through on as many different pathways as you can. Really good players have great memory, and know how to respond to many plays.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer).  

---

