The Somali Mill Game
Played across the Horn of Africa — also called jar, djelga, mororova and shah

TWELVE AND TWELVE

Twelve pieces each on a 24-point board: by the time placement ends every point is taken. That is why a jare — a mill, literally a “cut” — captures nothing while you are still placing.

THE FIRST JARE

Whoever makes the first jare removes an enemy piece when placement ends; the other player then removes one too. Those two gaps are the only empty points — without them nobody could move at all.

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SHAX
Twelve Men’s Morris from Somalia — you play cream, the AI plays indigo (medium).
Phase 1 · Placement
You 0 on board · 12 in hand
AI 0 on board · 12 in hand

Placement — drop a piece on any empty point. A jare takes nothing yet. (12 left)

All 24 points fill up. Jare made now only decide who removes first when the board is full.

HOW TO PLAY
Shax — the Somali mill game

THE BOARD

Three concentric squares joined by four midlines: 24 points, no diagonals. Each player has twelve pieces, so the board is completely full once everything is placed.

PHASE 1 — PLACEMENT

Take turns dropping one piece on any empty point until all 24 are gone. Three of your pieces in a line is a jare (“cut”), but during placement a jare removes nothing. What it does earn is the right to remove first.

THE TWO OPENING REMOVALS

When the board fills, the player who made the first jare removes one enemy piece, and then the other player removes one as well — jare or no jare. Those two gaps are what make movement possible. If nobody made a jare at all, nothing can be removed, nobody can move, and the game is a draw.

PHASE 2 — MOVEMENT

Slide one piece along a line to an adjacent empty point. Now a jare does capture: form one and remove an enemy piece. There is no flying in Shax — even on three pieces you still move one step at a time.

FREEING A FROZEN PLAYER

If the player to move has no legal move, the opponent is required to open an intersection by moving. If that freeing move happens to form a jare, no piece may be removed for it.

WINNING

You win when your opponent cannot continue: reduced below three pieces, or left with no legal move that can be opened up for them.

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