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Introduction thru Chess Problem #15 |
Table 2
Chess Problems #16 to #50 |
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Chess Problems #51 to #89 |
Table 4
Appendix Other Games |
Nine-men's morris with dice - alquerque de nueve con dados
F92V: Four men at play
Two men are sitting on the floor at a game-board. Behind them are two men standing and holding lances. The one on the left holds two lances, the one on the right only one, and he is barefooted. The border of the illumination is decorated with one of the heraldic devices of the kingdom of Castilia: a castle.
The - very familiar - game illustrated is called morris or merels, or the mill game in English. Alphonse however called this game and the alquerque both ãalquerqueä (alquerque del nueve) [this can be seen in red letters right below the illumination: alqârqâ de nueue]. Probably he was referring to all games on "lined" board with this name.
The rules of morris were about the same as today, but there was one version - that illustrated - which was played with dice. Three dice can be (faintly) seen at the bottom of the board, with the left player having just made a throw. The dice were only used when entering the men. Each player has a throw and when a certain combination achieved (e.g. 6, 5, 4 or 6, 3, 3 or 5, 2, 2) this player is allowed to enter three men at once and remove one men of the opponent. In all other cases, only one men is entered. When all men are entered, the game proceeds as usual.