Three men's morris

Three men's morris is an abstract strategy game played on a three by three board, counted by its lines, and it closely resembles tic-tac-toe. It belongs to the morris family alongside six men's morris and nine men's morris. Each player holds three pieces and wins by forming a mill, meaning all three of their own pieces aligned along one of the eight lines on the board: three horizontal, three vertical and two diagonal. The board starts empty and players take turns placing pieces on empty intersections. Once every piece is down without a winner, play continues by moving one piece per turn to any vacant point, not only an adjacent one. A stricter version restricts moves to linked adjacent points. Historians trace related boards to ancient Egypt, ancient China and the Philippines, where it is known as tapatan.