The circular version of "three men's morris" - a simple kind

of nine men's morris - is considered as one of the board games of ancient

Rome. Its rules have been reconstructed from dierent sources, such as game

boards carved into stone doors and two short passages in Ovidius. The game

includes a cycle consisting of only eight situations, which appears already in

everyday playing and which is proved in this article. Since the reconstructed

rules lead to a game which only works when one of the two players makes

a big mistake, doubts can be raised as to the existence of such a game in

Roman times.