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Play now — it's freeMorabaraba (also called Umlabalaba) is Southern Africa's classic two-player strategy board game: 24 intersections, 12 cows per player. Players take turns placing cows on empty points, aiming to line up three in a row — a mill. Each new mill lets you shoot (remove) one enemy cow, and a player reduced to three cows may fly to any empty point. You win by reducing your opponent to two cows or leaving them without a legal move.
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→ Full Morabaraba rules · Inguqulo yesiZulu
Played on a board of 24 points (three concentric squares joined by four midlines plus four diagonal lines) by two players with 12 cows each. The dark side opens. Line up three of your cows along a marked line — a mill — and you shoot one enemy cow. The game has three stages: placing (all 24 cows go on the board), moving (slide one cow to an adjacent empty point), and flying (a player with only three cows may land anywhere). A player is beaten when reduced to two cows or left without a legal move.
Each stage changes what a turn looks like:
| Stage | What happens | When |
|---|---|---|
| Placing | Each player sets one cow on an empty point | First 24 plies (12 each) |
| Moving | Slide one of your cows along a line to an adjacent empty point | After all cows are placed |
| Flying | A player with exactly three cows moves to any empty point | From three cows onward |
Morabaraba (Umlabalaba) is South Africa's traditional two-player board game, played on 24 points with 12 cows per player. Players win by forming mills — three in a row — and shooting enemy cows until the opponent has two left or no legal move.
Twelve cows per player, 24 in total. That is the key difference from nine men's morris, which uses nine men per side.
Twelve cows instead of nine, a board with four quadrant diagonals (20 mill lines instead of 16), flying at three cows, and the MSSA shake restriction on immediately re-forming a broken mill.
Reduce your opponent to two cows, or leave them without a legal move on their turn.
A cow inside an enemy mill is protected while that player has any other cow. If every enemy cow stands in a mill, all of them become shootable.
A player with exactly three cows may move to any empty point on the board, not just adjacent ones. Only the three-cow side flies.
Once a player is down to three cows, if no cow is shot within the next ten moves the game is a draw — the official MSSA draw rule for blocked endgames.
Yes — play Morabaraba online free at morabaraba.yeeqia.com, straight in your browser with no download or sign-up required.
Yes, the site is mobile-first and runs in any modern browser on Android or iPhone, with full isiZulu and English support.
The ten-move rule at three cows and a 50-move no-capture draw end stalled games, and a 300-move safety limit guarantees every game finishes.