MORELLES. MORELLES, or Merelles (Fr. Marolles), is a very ancient game, being, in fact, identical with the Nine Men's Morris referred to in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In Shakespeare's time, as the terms of the allusion indicates, it was played out of doors, a smooth bit of turf, scored with a pocket-knife, representing the board, and a few black and white pebbles for the pieces. To this day it is played by Hodge and Giles, as they sit before the village alehouse, and after much the same fashion, save that a few chalk lines, scored upon the table before them, take the place of the still more primitive arrangement of their forefathers. In its more modern shape, the game is played on a "board" bearing one or other of the two designs shown below: 19 13 14 18 Fig. 1. Fig. 2. The only difference, it will be observed, consists in the fact that in And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; There is ample scope for play in the simpler design, and we shall assume, in the description which follows, that this is the board used. For convenience of reference the various points of intersection are indicated by numerals, but these, of course, do not appear on the actual board. Each player is provided with nine counters, or “men,” black and white respectively, or other distinctive colours. The men at the outset are all "in hand," and the first process is to place them on the board. Each player places one alternately at one or other of the points of intersection, and the object of each is to get three of his own men in a line, when he is entitled to "pound,” i.e. remove from the board, any one of his adversary's men, at pleasure. This right is, however, subject to one qualification, viz. that he cannot take one of three men already in line, unless, indeed, there is no other to take, when one of the three must suffer. By the time that each player has had nine turns, it is clear that all the men will be on the board. From this point the game assumes a new character. The players now begin to move their men, the limits of a move being from the existing position of the man moved to any adjoining point of intersection which happens to be vacant. Thus a man at 1 can move to 2 or 10; a man at 2 can move to 1, 3, or 5; a man at 5 to 2, 8, 4, or 6; a man at 21 to 14 or 20, always supposing that such squares are unoccupied. After this fashion, each moving alternately, the game continues until one or other of the players is reduced by successive "poundings" to three men only. From this point a third stage begins. The moves of the player thus reduced are no longer restricted to contiguous points of intersection, but he can "hop" to any vacant point he pleases. This is an immense advantage, and often enables him to recover a good deal of his lost ground; until possibly his adversary is likewise reduced to three men, when he becomes entitled to hop also. This is the final struggle, for so soon as either player becomes reduced to two men only, he is vanquished, and the game is at an end. We quote from a very able article on the game,* the following HINTS TO PLAYERS. "1. Avoid crowding all your men together on two squares. "2. Place first on the corners, if you are first player, and endeavour to form a cross with three men, as a line follows this. "3. Block your adversary's men as much as possible, whilst your own are free to move. "4. Do not devote all your attention to merely obtaining a line * "The Modern Playmate" (F. Warne & Co.). Tit. Nine Men's Morris. during the placing, for a cautious antagonist will prevent this, and, whilst you are intent on this one point, will so arrange his men that when the moves commence he will easily defeat you. "5. When possible, arrange to make two lines in successive moves, or three lines, not merely one at a time; obtain also what is called an "open and shut," which is as follows: Men on 9, 13, 18, 20, and 23. Then 18 can move to 17 and complete line, back again to 18 and again complete line, and so on. Again, men at 9, 13, 18, 6, and 21. The man at 13 moves to 14, back to 13, again to 14, completing line each time. "6. Avoid moving one of three men when an adversary's man may block your station, but, when you have a chance, move another. Example: Black men at 13, 14, 15; one of White's at 3, another at 18, the other men on the other side of the board. Move 14 rather than 13 or 15, as you could recomplete line with 14, whilst 3 to 15, or 18 to 13, would prevent you if you had moved 13 or 15. "7. Before reducing your adversary to three men, and thus allowing him to hop, endeavour to arrange two or three means by which you can complete lines in successive moves. "Example: Black's men, eight in number, at 2, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 24; White's men, four in number, at 3, 9, 12, 22. Black moves 24 to 23, and White 22 to 10. If Black completed line either at 14 or 20, White, being thereby reduced to three, could hop either to 20 or 14, whichever was vacant, and so prevent the second line being formed. If, however, Black move 2 to 5, White cannot then prevent him from completing line, either at 4, 14, or 20, even though he can hop. Thus suppose If Black had moved 21 to 14, instead of 23 to 20, he would have limited his power of making a line to one instead of two points." REVERSI. THE most curious point about the game of Reversi is that it is claimed as the child of two fathers, one authority ascribing its invention to Mr. Lewis Waterman, another asserting that "this now very popular game was originally introduced under the name of 'The Game of Annexation,' by John W. Mollett, Esq., B.A., in the year 1870." Each claims to be the real Simon Pure; each publishes, or authorizes, a handbook on the subject; and each appoints a particular firm as his "sole agents " for the manufacture of the necessary implements. Into the merits of the contest we do not propose to inquire. Suffice it that some one, name uncertain, has invented a very excellent game, which has achieved in a few years an extraordinary degree of popularity, and which we therefore propose briefly to describe.† Reversi is played upon an ordinary draught-board with sixty-four "men," of millboard, wood, bone, or ivory. In appearance they are not unlike small draughtsmen, but their opposite faces are of different colours, usually red and black. For facility of reference we shall regard the squares of the board as being numbered from 1 to 64 (see Fig. 1). Although, as we have said, the ordinary draught-board is employed, no notice is taken of its chequered pattern, which does not in the least affect the play. We shall, therefore, simplify our diagrams by treating all the squares as of the same colour. Each player being provided with thirty-two men (turned with their red and black sides respectively uppermost), the first (whom we will suppose to be Red) begins by placing a man in one or other of the four central squares, distinguished in the diagram as 28, 29, 36, 37. His opponent places a black man in another of such squares, and the operation is repeated, thereby filling up these four squares. The precise placing of the men is optional, but it may be stated, once for * Messrs. Jaques & Son, 102, Hatton Gardens, for Mr. Waterman; Mr. F. H. Ayres, 111, Aldersgate Street, for Mr. Mollett. †There is an obsolete French card-game known as Reversis, but it has nothing in common with the game under discussion. |
