Updated October 21, 2026 · Creative Crafthouse
For a two-player wooden strategy game, choose Nine Men's Morris if you enjoy making and blocking three-in-a-row. Choose Morabaraba for that same mill-building idea with diagonal lines and 12 pieces each. Four Field Kono suits someone who wants captures from the opening move; Five Field Kono is a race across the board with no captures.
If you are giving one for Christmas, think about the two people who will sit down together. Would they enjoy taking each other's pieces, or would they rather work around each other? That preference tells you more than the word “strategy” on a box.
Creative Crafthouse makes its Nine Men's Morris, Morabaraba, Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono sets in our Hudson, Florida workshop. Below, we compare the actual moves and show the rule that is easiest to mix up. These are four choices from our range, rather than a ranking of every two-player game.
Compare the kind of contest you want
| Game | Pieces each | What you do | Choose it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nine Men's Morris | 9 | Make mills, remove opposing pieces | A first look at mill-building |
| Morabaraba | 12 | Make mills, including diagonal ones | A different board for a Morris fan |
| Four Field Kono | 8 | Jump your own peg to capture an opponent | Capturing right from the start |
| Five Field Kono | 7 | Move diagonally into the opposite starting positions | Competitive play without losing pieces |
Nine Men's Morris, Morabaraba, Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono are head-to-head games with both players' pieces visible and no die-driven moves. The recommendations here are our reading of the rules, not measured difficulty or play-time rankings.
Nine Men's Morris or Morabaraba?
Nine Men's Morris: start with the mill
Nine Men's Morris begins with an empty board and nine pegs per player; players alternate placing one peg on an empty point. A Nine Men's Morris mill is a vertical or horizontal row of three connected points occupied by your pegs. Completing a Nine Men's Morris mill lets you remove one opposing peg, so you are watching for your own third point while deciding whether to block theirs.
After all 18 pegs have been placed in Nine Men's Morris, a turn becomes a move along a line to an adjacent empty point. Form another Nine Men's Morris mill and you capture again. Nine Men's Morris ends when a player has only two pegs left or cannot move.
A useful first-game detail: in Nine Men's Morris, a peg in an opponent's mill is protected from capture while that opponent has any peg outside a mill; if every opposing peg is in a mill, you may remove any one. Our supplied Nine Men's Morris rules use adjacent-point movement and do not add the “flying” rule found in some other editions.
We would start here for a gift recipient who likes the idea of three-in-a-row but wants the game to continue after a line is made. Capturing changes the position, and a mill can be opened and rebuilt on a later turn.
See our Nine Men's Morris set $31.75
Morabaraba: look along the diagonals too
Morabaraba gives each player 12 pieces, traditionally called cows. The Morabaraba board has diagonal connections as well as the square outlines, so a player building mills must watch directions that do not exist on our Nine Men's Morris board. That makes Morabaraba an interesting gift for someone who already knows Morris and would enjoy comparing the two.
Under Mind Sports South Africa's Generally Accepted Rules, Morabaraba players first place their cows, then move to adjacent connected empty points after all cows have been placed. Completing a Morabaraba mill removes one opposing cow, even if the move completes two mills.
Mind Sports South Africa's Morabaraba rules allow a player reduced to three cows to move to any empty point. The Morabaraba rules also restrict immediately reversing a move between two mills and call a draw if a player has three cows and neither player captures within ten moves. Agree on the complete rules before starting. This comparison uses the federation's rules for Morabaraba; it does not replace the instructions included with your set.
See our Morabaraba set $34.85
Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono play very differently
The names are close enough to make gift shopping confusing. Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono are two-player games from Korea, but changing from one to the other changes the goal as well as the board.
Four Field Kono: capture by jumping your own peg
Four Field Kono starts with all 16 points occupied, eight pegs per player on opposite halves of the board. With no empty point available in Four Field Kono, the first move must be a capture.
A Four Field Kono capture works like this: your moving peg jumps over one of your own pegs and lands on an opponent's peg. Remove that opposing peg. A Four Field Kono capture must follow three points in a straight horizontal or vertical line; jumping over an opponent is not a capture.
Once spaces open up in Four Field Kono, you can move one peg to an adjacent empty point horizontally or vertically instead. Four Field Kono captures are optional, with no multiple jumps in a turn. To win Four Field Kono, reduce the opponent to one peg or leave the opponent with no legal move.
Choose Four Field Kono for someone who enjoys direct exchanges. Because a capturing move needs two of your own pegs in line, removing an opposing peg also changes which captures will be available next.
See our Four Field Kono set $30.75
Five Field Kono: get across without capturing
Five Field Kono gives each player seven pegs: five across the back row and two just ahead, one at each side. The Five Field Kono goal is to occupy the other player's starting positions.
A Five Field Kono move is one diagonal step, forwards or backwards, to an empty point. Five Field Kono has no jumping or capturing, but players can still block a route. That is why a game without captures can be a competitive choice.
The supplied Five Field Kono rules address a player leaving pegs at home to block the finish permanently: the opponent may win by occupying the starting points that player has vacated. In Five Field Kono, if neither player can get through, both can agree to a draw. Read that rule together before the first game so the finish is clear.
We would choose Five Field Kono for a pair who would rather move around each other than remove pieces. Every peg stays in play, so the shared question is where to make room and when to move through it.
See our Five Field Kono set $30.95
Choose a Christmas gift the two of them can enjoy
For a pair new to these games, our starting recommendation is Nine Men's Morris: teach the mill during placement, then introduce movement once the pegs are down. If one player dislikes having pieces taken away, choose Five Field Kono. If the recipient already enjoys Morris, the extra connections on Morabaraba give you a specific reason to choose a related game. For someone drawn to capturing tactics, show them the Four Field Kono example above.
Creative Crafthouse's Nine Men's Morris, Morabaraba, Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono sets each include a board, playing pegs, a cover and instructions, with optional engraving available. Check the individual product page for the available engraving choices and current price; the prices shown here were checked October 21, 2026. For Christmas timing, use our current holiday order-by page.
Give the rules a read before wrapping the game. When you sit down together, play the first few turns with both people explaining their choices. In Four Field Kono, demonstrate one capture first; in Five Field Kono, show the destination points before moving a peg. That gives the recipient a clear way into the gift.
If more than two people will regularly join in, our wooden games for Christmas guide compares other shared-play choices. For help setting up the evening, see how to choose and teach a wooden game night. You can also explore our family games and wooden puzzles guide.
Questions before you choose
Which of these wooden games is for exactly two players?
Nine Men's Morris, Morabaraba, Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono are all two-player games. Choose among them by the kind of moves the recipient enjoys.
Which is a good first choice?
We recommend Nine Men's Morris for someone new to mill-building. For players who want to keep all their pieces on the board, we would choose Five Field Kono instead. Those are fit recommendations, not tested difficulty ratings.
Are Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono the same game?
No. Four Field Kono uses horizontal and vertical moves with captures. Five Field Kono uses diagonal steps and a race to the opposite starting positions, with no captures or jumps.
Can you fly with three pieces in Nine Men's Morris?
Some Nine Men's Morris editions allow flying. The Creative Crafthouse Nine Men's Morris rules used here specify adjacent-point movement and do not include flying. Mind Sports South Africa's Morabaraba rules do allow flying when a player has three cows left.
Can these sets be personalized?
Creative Crafthouse's Nine Men's Morris, Morabaraba, Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono sets currently offer optional engraving on our website. Open the game you choose to see the available choices before ordering.
Rule sources: our supplied Nine Men's Morris, Four Field Kono and Five Field Kono instruction sheets; Mind Sports South Africa's Morabaraba rules. Our product facts and prices were checked against the current sets. This guide compares play and gift fit; use the complete rules for your first game.
Product scenes were generated from reference photographs of the actual Creative Crafthouse sets.
