Nine Men's Morris is descended from an old Roman game. It migrated into both Africa and Europe. In Europe, Nine Men's Morris was the 'modern' variant and probably the most common, but also a Twelve Men's Morris variant existed.
SEE: Morabaraba, the African version which is similar to Twelve Men's Morris:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MorabarabaAnd, Nine Men's Morris which is played in pubs today:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_men%27s_morrisEaster Egg note: in the Disney movie Maleficent, the Fairy Godmothers are playing Nine Men's Morris to pass the time in one of the scenes where they are hiding the Sleeping Beauty in the cabin in the woods.
