Games Tourney X: The Rules

[Greg Lindahl <gl8f@fermi.clas.virginia.edu>]

Games Tourney is an event in Isenfir on February 18. The theme for the
event will be "it's not our fault, we were the first group to have a
firm site and tell the Kingdom Chronicler" -- no, no, the theme is
games, games, games, and DANCING.

If anyone missed the event flier, I can mail you a copy. The only
thing missing from the flyer was a mention of DANCING: we will have
several _hours_ of DANCING after the feast, to the lovely sounds of
the Isenfir DANCE band. So don't forget, this event also has DANCING.
And this DANCING will actually happen, or my name isn't... well,
nobody remembers my name anyway.

We will be featuring 3 boardgames tourneys this year: Chess,
Backgammon, and 9 Man's Morris. Please bring gameboards if you have
them, especially chess boards. We will also have an "open" tourney,
for which you can play any game you like and can talk someone else
into playing.

In service (and checking my spelling so Keilyn won't laugh too
loudly),

Gregory Blount of Isenfir

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	     Nine Men's Morris - By Stephen of the Grove
		( with deletions by Greg of Isenfir )

Nine Men's Morris dates back as far as 1400 B.C. It seems to have
reached its peak during the fourteenth century, when a number of
Italian manuscripts illustrate the game in play. It was then known as
`Merells'.

Each player starts with 9 stones. The players draw lots for the
advantage of first move. Each player enters his stones one at a time
onto any vacant point on the board, taking turns.
Each time a player forms a row of three stones in a straight line,
which is called a `mill', he removes one of his opponent's stones.
Stones in a mill are safe from attack. A stone that has been captured
and removed from the board is not used for the remainder of the game.
When all stones have been placed, the game moves to a second phase.

In the second phase the players continue taking turns, but now move a
stone from its current location to any adjacent point along any line,
as long as the new point is not occupied.
Whenever a player forms a mill, he removes one of his opponent's
stones. (Remember, stones in a mill are safe, and cannot be removed.)
If a player forms a mill, and all of his opponents stones are in a
mill, no stone is removed.

A mill can be made and broken any number of times, and a stone removed
each time the mill is made. However, you may not move a stone out of a
mill and immediately move it back to re-form the same mill. Instead,
you must move some other stone elsewhere on the board before
re-forming the same mill, or you may move in a different stone to form
the mill.

A player must move each time it is his turn. If he cannot move, he
forfeits the game. Also, when a player forms a mill, he must remove
one of his opponent's stones, unless all of the opponent's stones are
safely in mills. The game is over when one player is reduced to two
stones, or when a player cannot move.
Stephen indicates that as far as he knows, any limitations on how
fast you may reform a mill are relatively modern. If players wish,
they may allow mills to be immediately reformed, which will result
in one stone removed every second move.

			      Backgammon

Modern backgammon was standardized by Hoyle in 1743. However, the
period game is only different in minor ways from the modern game.
Betting is encouraged, but the doubling die is a modern innovation.