The Game of Mill:   A Case Study in Game Design

Click on the Mill board to play!

The game of Mill, better known by the longer name of Nine Men's Morris, is at least 2,000 years old, and likely much older. I created a Javascript code that lets the code play against itself or a human, or even two humans against each other. The purpose of the project was to help me learn Javascript, the language of choice for the design of interactive web pages. As a result I developed this software which lets you do much more than just play a game of Mill against a human or one of several AI personalities. Here is a list. You can:

1. Scroll back and forth through a game and analyze each position or start playing from any of the intermediate positions.
2. Set up and analyze any particular position (including positions with more than 9 stones of one color on the board).
3. Design your own computer brain and see how it holds up against yourself or other AI personalities.
4. Turn α/β pruning on or off and see its effect.
5. Do the same for using a transposition table or a (small) opening book.
6. Have any computer player create their own opening book.
7. Play at specified search depths or time controls.
8. Run tournaments among AI personalities.
9. Run a genetic algorithm that attempts to improve an AI player by playing against itself.

These pages document the implementation and operation of the game, and some of the many lessons learned. You can get to the online game board by clicking on the Mill board in the headline of any of these pages.

To learn more click on any of these links:

List of Contents

1. Play the Game. Brings up the game board and the User interface.
2. The Rules of the Game.
3. User's Guide