Each player has nine pieces which are placed one at a time in turn on any vacant point on the board until both have played all nine. Throughout the game, pieces forming a mill are therefore safe from capture. Once a piece is removed from the board it takes no further part in the game. It is important to note that mills can only be made along the horizontal and vertical lines on the board, never across the diagonals where no lines are marked. The middle stage starts when all the pieces have been used.
Play continues alternately with the opponents moving one piece to any adjacent point.
A couple of tactics are often used in this stage. Firstly, once a mill is formed it may be opened by moving one piece from the line and closed by returning it to its original position in the next move. Alternatively, in a running mill opening one mill will close another one so that an opponent's piece is removed on every turn. A player who is blocked, i.e. is unable to move any piece, loses the game, this is the way that many games are won. The end stage allows a player with only three pieces to jump , i.e. to move one piece to any empty point on the board regardless of position.