# Morabaraba: Nine Men's Morris — African Chess · Strategy Board > African Chess · Strategy Board (iPhone/iPad app by The Mahlangu Elites (Pty) Ltd.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/morabaraba-nine-mens-morris/id6761027536 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [The Mahlangu Elites (Pty) Ltd](https://appshunter.io/developer/1587902477) - Category: Games, Board, Puzzle - Price: Free with in-app purchases - Age rating: 12+ - Requires: iOS 15.0 · 68 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-03-25 - Data updated: 2026-08-15 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/morabaraba-nine-mens-morris/id6761027536/reviews.md ## What is Morabaraba? South Africa's legendary strategy game — now in your pocket, and live against the world. Morabaraba — known as Umlabalaba in Zulu, and as Nine Men's Morris, Mills, or Merels around the world — has been played across Southern Africa for generations. A game of patience, skill, and strategy, passed down not through books but through watching and playing. Now it lives on your phone. THE GAME Place your 12 cows. Form a mill. Shoot your opponent's pieces. The last player standing wins. Simple to learn — a lifetime to master. PLAY ONLINE Challenge players across South Africa and the world in real-time, ranked matches. Every game counts. Every move matters. YOUR ELO RATING Every player carries a live ELO rating — a true measure of your skill. Win and climb. Lose and learn. Track your journey from your very first game. CLIMB THE RANKS Start at Iron and rise through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Master — all the way to Grandmaster, where fewer than 1% of players ever reach. TOURNAMENT PLAY Enter live tournaments in Blitz, Rapid, and Classical formats — from daily quick-fire events to monthly championship showdowns. There's always a competition waiting. Blitz — fast, intense, unforgiving Rapid — balanced, strategic, competitive Classical — deep, deliberate, prestigious AI OPPONENTS Not ready for online play? Train against 12 AI characters — from Lesedi at 200 ELO, who plays like a complete beginner, to Mosadi at 2800 ELO, who plays like a grandmaster. Find your level. Beat it. Move up. LEARN AND IMPROVE Get a full performance review after every game. See every mistake, every missed mill, every blunder — and understand exactly where the game turned, and what to do differently next time. CHALLENGE FRIENDS Add friends, see when they're online, and challenge them directly. Track where you stand against everyone you know on the Friends Leaderboard. LEADERBOARDS Friends — see how you rank among people you know South Africa — claim your place on the national ladder Global — measure yourself against the world FREE TO PLAY Morabaraba Online is free to download and free to play, with an optional ad-free Pro upgrade. Your board is always waiting. ## Pricing and in-app purchases Base price: Free. **Subscriptions** | Subscription | Price | Period | | --- | --- | --- | | Indaba Pack | $9.99 | per year | | Indaba Pack | $0.99 | per month | | Morabaraba Pro | $29.99 | per year | | Morabaraba Pro | $2.99 | per month | | iNkosi Mode | $1.99 | per month | | iNkosi Mode | $19.99 | per year | ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.2.0 — 2026-07-27 Tournaments, expanded — join live Arena events anytime, plus daily and weekly showdowns in Blitz, Rapid, and Classical. Friends, upgraded — see when friends were last online and when your messages are read. Sharper AI — a rebuilt engine makes all 12 opponents stronger and faster. Better post-game review — clearer breakdowns of every mill, blunder, and turning point. A warmer new look across menus, puzzles, and replays. Plus performance improvements and bug fixes. Thanks for playing — leave a review and tell us what to build next! ### 1.1.3 — 2026-06-27 A new daily tournament — and more ways to play! • Evening Clash — a fast new tournament every evening at 20:00, alongside the weekly Sunday Showdown. Open the new Tournaments hub to see what's on and register. • Watch live games — follow tournament matches in real time from the new spectator view. • Smarter new-player ratings — your first few ranked games now calibrate faster, so you reach your true ranking sooner. You'll see "Unranked" with a progress count until your placement games are done. • In-app announcements — occasional messages from the Morabaraba team with event notices and important updates, shown as a popup you can dismiss. • A refreshed tournament screen, plus stability and performance improvements. ### 1.1.2 — 2026-06-23 A new daily tournament — and more ways to play! • Evening Clash — a fast new tournament every evening at 20:00, alongside the weekly Sunday Showdown. Open the new Tournaments hub to see what's on and register. • Watch live games — follow tournament matches in real time from the new spectator view. • Smarter new-player ratings — your first few ranked games now calibrate faster, so you reach your true ranking sooner. You'll see "Unranked" with a progress count until your placement games are done. • In-app announcements — occasional messages from the Morabaraba team with event notices and important updates, shown as a popup you can dismiss. • A refreshed tournament screen, plus stability and performance improvements. ### 1.1.1 — 2026-06-17 Two new ways to play online! • Nine Men's Morris — the classic international Morris game is now online, with its own rating and leaderboard. • Morabaraba ya Sesotho — the Lesotho variant (with the centre point) joins online play, also with its own rating and leaderboard. Every variant has its own ladder, so you can climb a separate ranking in each game. Pick your variant in Quick Match or when you create a lobby. Also in this update: • Fixed a bug where an online game could occasionally end early. • Stability and performance improvements for online play. ### 1.1.0 — 2026-06-08 1.1.0 — What's New Game Review is here Replay any finished game with a full eval graph so you can see exactly where the game turned. New inline move list and a Game Review popup with engine verdicts on each move — spot your blunders and best moves. Sunday Showdown tournament The weekly Sunday Showdown is now live end-to-end — compete each week for the top spot. Earn new tournament badges: podium finishes, veteran, and serial champion. Better online play A phase badge (Placing / Moving / Flying) now shows where each online game stands at a glance. Games left idle on the opening move are now auto-abandoned as a void (no unfair forfeit), with a replay link so you can review what happened. The rematch button now grays out when your opponent leaves or declines, and you're notified when a draw offer is declined. Replay button label now matches the result (win/loss/draw). Sharper puzzles Fixed unsound puzzles and steepened the difficulty curve — now 30 daily and 150 practice puzzles. Fixes & polish Purchases that are rejected at the store now finish cleanly instead of getting stuck in the queue. Accurate referral rewards and general stability/cleanup. ## More apps by The Mahlangu Elites (Pty) Ltd - [Hyper Snake](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hyper-snake/id1604015632) - [Neon Breaker](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/neon-breaker/id6760855732) - [Vowel Thief](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/vowel-thief/id6762541710) All apps by The Mahlangu Elites (Pty) Ltd: https://appshunter.io/developer/1587902477 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-15.*