Three men's morris

Three men's morris is an abstract strategy game played on a three by three board (counting lines) that is similar to tic-tac-toe.

[3] According to R. C. Bell, the earliest known board for the game includes diagonal lines and was "cut into the roofing slabs of the temple at Kurna in Egypt"; he estimated a date for them of c. 1400 BCE.

[1] In book III (c. 8 CE), after discussing latrones, a popular board game, Ovid wrote:[1] Est genus, in totidem tenui ratione redactum Scriptula, quot menses lubricus annus habet: Parva tabella capit ternos utrimque lapillos, In qua vicisse est continuasse suos.

Mille facesse iocos; turpe est nescire puellam Ludere: ludendo saepe paratur amor.

This, translated, says: It is a genus, reduced to the same thinness The scriptures, how many months is there in a slippery year: A small panel holds three stones on both sides, In which victory he continued his people.

Boards were carved into the cloister seats at the English cathedrals at Canterbury, Gloucester, Norwich, Salisbury and Westminster Abbey; the game was quite popular in England in the 13th century.