Morabaraba is the traditional strategy game of South Africa, played on a board of 24 intersections with 12 cows per player. The dark side opens, then players alternate. Form a mill — three of your cows on one marked line, horizontal, vertical or diagonal — and you shoot one enemy cow. A cow inside an enemy mill is protected unless every enemy cow stands in a mill. You win when your opponent is down to two cows or has no legal move. Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) administers the game as a national sport.
Play now — it's freeThe board has 24 points: three concentric squares joined by four midlines, plus four diagonals across the quadrants — 20 mill lines in total, more than plain nine men's morris (16).
Each player commands 12 cows, one dark set and one light set. The dark side moves first.
Stage one — placing: players alternate setting one cow on any empty point until all 24 cows stand on the board.
A mill is three cows of one colour on a marked line — horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
Completing a mill (by placing or by moving) lets you shoot one enemy cow; shot cows never return.
The mill exception: a cow standing in an enemy mill may not be shot while that player has any other cow — but if every enemy cow is inside a mill, any cow may be taken.
Even if a single move completes two mills at once, only one cow may be shot.
Stage two — moving: slide one of your cows along a marked line to an adjacent empty point. You may break your own mill and re-form it.
Completing a mill during moving shoots a cow exactly as in the placing stage.
Stage three — flying: a player left with exactly three cows may move a cow to any empty point, not just an adjacent one. Only the three-cow side flies.
A mill may be deliberately broken and re-made repeatedly, and each re-formation allows a new shot.
MSSA restriction: a player who breaks a mill and immediately creates a new mill may not move that cow straight back to the vacated point on the very next move if doing so would re-form the mill — a different move must be played first.
On this site the restriction is enforced automatically: the return move is filtered out of your legal moves for exactly one turn.
You win when the opponent is reduced to two cows, or when they have no legal move on their turn.
Official draw rule: once a player is down to three cows, if neither side shoots a cow within ten moves the game is drawn.
Additional draws on this site: threefold repetition of the same position, 50 consecutive moves without a capture, and a 300-move safety limit.
Each move allows 40 seconds; if time runs out or a player disconnects, an automated assistant plays that move.
Watch the diagonals — the quadrant diagonals give Morabaraba 4 more mill lines than nine men's morris, and games are decided on them.
Build double threats: two lines sharing one empty point cannot both be blocked.
Keep cows mobile; a mill is only worth what it shoots, and stuck cows lose games in the moving stage.
When your opponent starts flying, break up their clusters by shooting cows away from their mills first.
Remember the ten-move rule at three cows: the attacker must find a shot quickly or the game slips to a draw.
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.