Play nine men's morris free against the computer

Nine men's morris is free in Games by Zaweba, under the name Mill. It's played on an inlaid wooden board against the computer: place your nine men, move them along the lines, and form mills of three to take the computer's men. The app works offline with no adverts and no account.

Morris is one of the oldest board games still played, and it holds up beautifully. The rules fit on a postcard, but the way the game changes from placing to moving to flying gives it real depth.

How Mill is played

Each side has nine men. Take turns placing them on the points of the board. Once all of them are placed, the game moves on: each turn you move one man along a line to the next empty point.

Three of your men in a row along a line is a mill. Making a mill lets you take one of the computer's men. You can't take a man that's in a mill unless all of the computer's men are in mills.

When you're down to three men, you may fly: move a man to any empty point, not just a neighbouring one. You win by leaving the computer with two men, or with no move at all.

The controls follow the phases. Click a point to place a man. To move, click a man and then a point. After making a mill, click a computer man to take it. Right-click cancels. Mill is on the Board games shelf.

Tips for the placing phase

Think about movement, not just mills. It's tempting to rush for a mill while placing, but men stuck where they can't move are a problem later. Spread your men so that each has somewhere to go.

Take the busy points. The points where lines cross, especially those on the middle ring, connect to more neighbours and give you more options.

Block as you build. If the computer has two men on a line with the third point empty, placing your own man there stops the mill.

Tips for the moving phase

Look for a running mill. The strongest set-up in Mill is a pair of mills arranged so that one man can move back and forth between them, forming a mill every turn. If you can build one, the computer will lose men quickly.

Don't get boxed in. If none of your men can move, you lose. Keep an eye on whether your men have open points next to them.

Watch out for flying. When the computer is down to three men, it can fly anywhere. That makes it far more dangerous than its count suggests, so close any line where it has two men.

Keeping track of your games

Games by Zaweba keeps your plays, wins and best score on the Mill tile, and the result card at the end shows your score alongside your best. Scores live in a file in your own settings folder. Esc pauses whenever you need it, F1 brings back the rules and F11 makes the board fill the screen.

If you enjoy Mill, try Draughts, English draughts on a wooden board, or Seed Pits, an ancient sowing game. Noughts & Crosses on a 5 by 5 board, where you need four in a row, has a similar feel of lines and blocking.