Nine Mens' Morris (Mills)

This is a very ancient game, dating all the way back to the Egyptian pyramid-builders. Each player starts with nine men (!) of a unique color. By forming rows of three (a "mill") of your pieces along any line on the board, you are allowed to remove an opposing piece — unless that piece is locked into a "mill" (three in a row) already. In phase one, each player places a new piece on the board in turn. After all pieces are placed, pieces can be moved one space at a time along the lines. Simple - but very challenging!