Nine Men's Morris Board

Here’s another design I threw together over the weekend.

It’s a board for playing Nine Men’s Morris. This is a game the dates back to the Roman Empire. If you don’t know about this game, you can read up on it here:

Here is the board:

Here is the board with playing pieces on it:

Here are the cut files:

cut3_squarepieces_onequarter.pdf (2.3 KB)
cut2_base_oneeight.pdf (1.0 KB)
all.pdf (8.6 KB)
option_cut5_border_onequarter.pdf (1.3 KB)
cut4_roundpieces_onequarter.pdf (2.1 KB)
cut1_raster_score_oneeight.pdf (2.6 KB)
cut1_oneeight.pdf (4.4 KB)

If I had my GF right now, here is how I would cut it.

  1. I would raster the yellow circles in cut1_raster_score_oneeight.pdf in 1/8" thick in wood.
  2. I would score the blue circle lines (vector at low power so they don’t cut through) in the same file on the same piece of wood (don’t move the piece).
  3. I would cut that piece of wood using the black lines in cut1_oneeight.pdf.
  4. I would do step 1-3 on a different type of contrasting wood (or I would remove the path portion from what I just cut, stain it dark and put it back in place.)
  5. I would cut the base in cut2_base_oneeight file in some solid type of 1/8" wood (plywood or MDF or something that will not warp).
  6. I would cut the border piece out of 1/4" piece of wood, so the border is raised 1/8 from the board once it is glued on.
  7. I would glue everything to the base.
  8. I would then cut the game pieces (cut3 and cut4 files) out of black and white 1/4" plastic.

But feel free to cut/raster/score it however you see fit. The file all.pdf contains the whole design, so you can play with it as you see fit.

46 Likes

Love it! Will definitely be trying this!

2 Likes

Awesome! I’ll be making this one too when the time comes! :relaxed:

1 Like

Omigosh! This took me back to my youth. My dad made one of these (not sure where he got the little pegs for the holes) by hand…making the holes with a drill, painting on the lines, and then putting a sealant over that. He taught us this game when we were kids, and I sill have his little handmade version out in our RV. Now I am inspired to at least get it out and relearn how to play it. We called it the Mill game. Thanks so much for sharing this.

4 Likes

It’s hard to realize that this is a render. Excellent design! Thanks for modeling good project skills and process steps.

5 Likes

Fusion 360 does a great job of rendering models.

2 Likes

This is terrific! I need to find someone to teach me to play. :slight_smile:

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I went to the link on Wikipedia and copied/pasted the instructions for playing the game, which as children we called Mill. Now, I can relearn to play and teach my grandsons. You would love the game, if you ever have the time. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

I’m sure a bunch of people on these forums would be willing to teach you…For a price. :wink:

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Or trade :smile:

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Slightly tangental - I listened to this story eagerly awaiting an appearance by Robot Turtles (no dice). But still an excellent case for keeping a Glowforge around.
http://www.npr.org/2016/07/24/484356521/amid-board-game-boom-designers-roll-the-dice-on-odd-ideas-even-exploding-cows

3 Likes

This looks great! I bet you could make a great Tak board/set! Definitely look it up - people have been making some nice-looking sets. I guess it all started here - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/tak-a-beautiful-game but the rules are freely available online.

1 Like

Great idea. My 8-year-old son and I play all the time on mobile. Sometimes (rarely) we draw a board and use pennies and dimes. This’ll be way more fun and we can totally customize everything.