Copyright: Rummy 500 ® 1994 Meggiesoft Games


Contents

Welcome to Rummy 500.  Help is organized in the following sections.  Click on the one you require.  Alternatively, click on the search button above to look for information on a specific subject.

Overview

The Layout

Using The Mouse

Getting Started

Playing The Game

About The Opponent

Scoring

Menus

Status Bar Shortcuts

Strategies

New For Version 3

For The Technically Curious


Overview

Rummy 500 is a variation of the popular card game known as "Gin Rummy".  We have never seen it documented, but someone showed it to us once, and we've enjoyed it immensely ever since.

Seven cards are dealt to you and seven to your opponent.  The remaining cards in the deck are placed face down by the table, and the top card is turned face up on the table.  This card forms the beginning of the the discard pile.

The game progresses with the player and opponent alternately starting their turn by taking either the top card of the deck, or one or more cards from the discard pile.

You may always take the last card of the discard pile as an alternative to taking a new card from the deck, unless the rule variation inhibiting this is in effect.

You may elect to take other cards from the discard pile only if you can meld the ones you select immediately with each other, with other cards from your hand, or with existing melds on the table.  All discarded cards, except those discarded earlier than the one(s) you select, are added to your hand.  If you are able to lay down a meld of three or more cards, you play these to the table.

Whether you started your turn by taking a card from the deck, or by selecting one or more cards from the discard pile, you continue your turn by playing melds to the table as many times as you wish--providing that you have the cards to meld.  You conclude your turn by discarding one of the cards in your hand.

A round ends when: (i) a player has discarded their last card or (ii) if there are no cards in the deck and the player whose turn it is elects not to take from the discard pile.  Any cards remaining in your hand then score against you.

Successive rounds are dealt and played until one of the players achieves the goal of 500 points to win the game.


The Layout

The layout of the display is shown above.

The deck is shown face down to the left of the table, with the discard pile arranged face up to the right of it.

The opponent's cards are displayed face down above the table, and the player's cards are displayed face up below the table.  In the above picture, two discards and one of the player's cards are highlighted in preparation for playing a new meld to the table.

Melds are displayed on the table, below the discard pile.  New melds are formed by selecting (highlighting) cards and clicking anywhere on the table.  The table is the grren area in the above picture.  Selected cards are added to existing melds by clicking on any card in the existing meld.

The status light, status messages, error messages, the current player's name, and the opponent skill level are all displayed in the status bar across the bottom of the display.

The game number and round number are displayed in the upper left.  The points score of cards melded by the opponent is displayed in the upper right.

At the bottom left are displayed the number of cards in the player's hand, and the points value of those cards.  At the bottom right, the points score of cards melded by the player and the net points (melded less in-hand) are displayed.

After the first round of a game, the running totals of points scored in previous rounds are displayed to the right of the table.  These are not shown in the above picture.


Using The Mouse

All mouse operations in Rummy 500 are performed by clicking.  Rummy 500 does not support dragging.

Operations take effect when the mouse button is released, and are ignored if the mouse button is released in a different area from where it was depressed.

If you have depressed a mouse button in an area of the screen and wish to abandon the action, move (drag) the mouse away from that area  and release the button.  The different areas of the screen are:

•	The card deck

•	The discard pile

•	The opponent's cards

•	The player's cards

•	The table

•	The cards melded to the table

•	The status bar

For example, if you have depressed the mouse button on the deck and wish not to take a new card after all, move the mouse off the deck before releasing the button.

Either the left or right mouse button may be used for all operations except:

•	The left mouse button must be used to select (highlight) cards

•	The right mouse button must be used to discard from your hand

The AutoMouse feature may be enabled to move the mouse automatically between the deck and the player area.


Getting Started

When you first start Rummy 500, you will be informed that you lead the first round.  Click on the OK button to proceed.  If you need to change any of the menu options, do this as soon as the round is dealt.

The first round of the first game starts with your turn, which you make by either taking a new card from the deck, or by taking the card from the discard pile.  The lead alternates on each successive round.  The initial lead also alternates from game to game.

If you elect to take a new card from the deck, you click on the top of the deck.  The top card will then be turned face up for you to see, and, after a fraction of a second, is automatically added to your hand.  Alternatively, if the AutoMouse option is enabled, the card will not be displayed on the deck, but will be moved directly to your hand.  With AutoMouse, the mouse pointer also moves to your hand and indicates which card was newly taken.

If you want to take the last card from the discard pile, click on it.  If AutoMouse is enabled, the mouse pointer will move with the card to your hand.

If you are able to, and wish to, you may meld some of your cards at this time.

You end your turn by discarding a card from your hand by clicking on it with the RIGHT mouse button.  If AutoMouse is enabled, the mouse pointer will automatically move back to the deck.

Your opponent (the computer) will then play its turn, and so on.

At any time you can get assistance on what to do next by clicking on the "Assist!" menu option.  An information box will appear describing your options at that point of play.  The Assist!  information will disappear automatically when you click anywhere except the title bar of the information box.  You may move the Assist! box by dragging its title bar.

When you are learning the game, you might set the opponent skill level to "champion" and discard each of your cards immediately after taking them.  In this way, you will see how melds and discards are played by the opponent.  Subsequently, you might set the opponent skill to "carefree" (in which case the opponent will always discard) to play out your hand completely.  You might also care to check the "show opponent's cards" menu option while you are learning the game.  Once you have experimented with these methods, you should be ready to play in earnest!


Playing The Game

After the cards for a round have been dealt, the sequence of your turn (or your opponent's) is:

1 	Taking a card from the deck, or one or more cards from the discard pile

2 	Melding cards from your hand to the table, as and if possible

3 	Discarding one of the cards from those in your hand.

The round ends when one of the players discards the last card from their hand.

Dealing

Taking The Top Card Of The Deck

Taking From The Discard Pile

Melding Cards To The Table

Discarding From Your Hand


Dealing

The first round is dealt automatically after you confirm that you will start the first round.

After the end of each round, after displaying the scores for the round, Rummy 500 will shuffle and deal the cards for the next round.

At the end of each game, you will be asked if you want to proceed with the next game.  If you select "Yes", Rummy 500 will shuffle and deal the cards.

At any time, you may select "Start New Game" from the Game menu.  In this case, the current game is abandoned, and the cards are reshuffled and redealt.

If AutoMouse is enabled, the mouse pointer will  be moved automatically to the deck after the cards have been dealt.


Taking The Top Card Of The Deck

Position the mouse pointer over the face down card on top of the deck. (In AutoMouse mode, the mouse will have been automatically positioned over the deck after you discarded the previous card.)

Click either the left or right mouse button on the card.

The card will then be removed from the deck and added to your hand,  which will immediately be sorted.

If AutoMouse mode is operative, the mouse pointer will also move to your hand and point to the card taken.

If AutoMouse mode is not operative, the card will be displayed on the deck for a fraction of a second so that you can see what it is before it is moved to your hand.


Taking From The Discard Pile

Example Of Melding Discards

If you wish to take cards from the discard pile, you do this instead of taking a new card from the deck.

You may freely take the last card from the discard pile by clicking on it.  It will then be added to your hand, just as taking a new card from the deck would.  However, you cannot discard the same card back to the discard pile at the end of your turn.

Alternatively, you may take any number of consecutively discarded cards, up to and including the last one discarded, and add them to your hand provided that you meld the earliest discarded (that is, the leftmost) of these cards immediately.

In order to execute the meld immediately upon taking the discards, Rummy 500 requires you to specify the cards that are to be melded as part of taking the cards from the discard pile.

Position the mouse pointer over the (first) card in the discard pile to be taken and melded.

Click the LEFT mouse button.  The discarded card will be highlighted.

If required, similarly identify (by highlighting) additional cards from your hand and/or the discard pile which are to be part of the current melding action.

The identified cards will be played to the table in the normal manner.  (See "Melding Cards" topic).

As the identified cards are played to the table, any and all other discards to the right of the discarded card(s) highlighted will be transferred to your hand.

Note that you can select a single discard and play it to an existing meld.  All cards to the right of the discard selected will be added to your hand as usual.

If you want to meld only the last card of the discard pile, clicking on it will add it to your hand, from which the meld can be played.  If you want to meld multiple cards from the discard pile including the last, you must highlight the other cards first.


Example Of Melding Discards

Before

The player has highlighted two cards in the discard pile and one card in the player's own hand.  These three cards have been selected to form a meld of three tens.

The player then clicks on the "Click Here For New Meld" box to play the meld.

After

After clicking on the "Click Here For New Meld" box, the three tens have been melded to the table.

The other cards that were in the discard pile to the right of the seven of hearts have been added to the player's hand.

Note that the cards that remain in the discard pile are those that were discarded earlier than the leftmost card selected.


Melding Cards To The Table

You may either create a new meld of at least three cards, or you may add one or more cards to an existing meld displayed on the table.  You may add to any displayed meld, whether it originated from one of your turns or one of the opponent's.  Similarly, your opponent may add cards to melds you initiate.

At the beginning of your turn, as an alternative to drawing a new card from the deck or taking the last card from the discard pile, you may meld any number of the discarded cards together or with others from your hand.

Rummy 500 permits you to identify one or more cards from the discard pile, together with cards in your hand as needed, in order to define a meld.  This action must take place at the beginning of your turn, as an alternative to taking a new card from the deck or taking the last card from the discard pile.

After melding the identified cards to the table, the remaining cards (if any) from the discard pile will be added to your hand.  You then continue your turn until you discard.

Further information:

Creating A New Meld

Adding To An Existing Meld


Creating A New Meld

First you must identify which cards from your hand (and/or from the discard pile) are to form the new meld.  You do this by identifying each of those that you wish to select.  You must identify at least three cards.

To identify a card:  Position the mouse pointer over the card and click the LEFT mouse button.  The card will now be highlighted.

To un-highlight a card: Position the mouse pointer over the highlighted card and click the LEFT mouse button.  The card is no longer highlighted.

When you have identified (i.e., highlighted)  three or more cards, you may meld them to the table.  You do this by positioning the mouse pointer over any uncovered part of the table and clicking the LEFT mouse button.  (If the lower part of the table is filled with melds, click on the uncovered area to the right of the discard pile.)

If the meld is valid, the cards will then be moved from your hand (and/or the discard pile) to the table.

Alternatively, if the combination of highlighted cards does not represent a valid meld, you will receive an error message, and the cards will remain in place.

If you want to meld only the last card of the discard pile, clicking on it will add it to your hand, from which the meld can be played.  If you want to meld multiple cards from the discard pile including the last, you must highlight the other cards first.


Adding To An Existing Meld

First you must identify the card, or cards, which are to be added to the meld.

To identify a card:  Position the mouse pointer over the card (in the discard pile or in your hand) and click the LEFT mouse button.  The card will now be highlighted.

To un-highlight a card: Position the mouse pointer over the highlighted card and click the LEFT mouse button.  The card is no longer highlighted.

To add the highlighted card(s) to a meld on the table, position the mouse pointer over any card in the existing meld and click the LEFT mouse button.

If the highlighted card(s) can be melded with those on the table, the card(s) will then be added to the meld on the table.

Alternatively, if the card(s) highlighted cannot be melded with those on the table, you will receive an error message, and the card(s) will remain in place.

If you want to meld only the last card of the discard pile, clicking on it will add it to your hand, from which the meld can be played.  If you want to meld multiple cards from the discard pile including the last, you must highlight the other cards first.


Discarding From Your Hand

You end your turn by discarding any one of the cards in your hand.  The only exception being that if you started your turn by taking the last card from the discard pile into your hand, you cannot discard it back again on the same turn.

To discard a card from your hand, position the mouse pointer over the card and click the RIGHT mouse button.  The card is then removed from your hand and added to the discard pile.

If the AutoMouse option is in effect, the mouse pointer will move automatically to the deck.

Note that you cannot discard while cards are highlighted.  You must deselect any highlighted cards before discarding.


About The Opponent

The opponent plays automatically after you have discarded, or when it is the opponent's turn to start a round.

The opponent skill level may be set at any of five levels from the "Skill" menu.

When the opponent takes cards from the discard pile, it will briefly highlight the leftmost of these cards.  It will also briefly highlight the card when it melds it so that you can be sure that the opponent is abiding by the rules.  If desired, this feature can be turned off via the Options | Opponent menu.

The opponent also pauses briefly (about one fifth of a second) between each of multiple melds so that the actions of its turn can be clearly viewed.


Scoring

Points are earned for each card melded to the table.  The points distribution is:

•	  5 Points : an ACE when melded as a "one" at the low end of a run

•	  5 Points : a TWO through NINE

•	10 Points : a TEN, JACK, QUEEN or KING

•	15 Points : an ACE when melded with other aces, or at the high end of a run

At the end of a round, when either the player or opponent has discarded the last card in their hand, or the deck is exhausted, any points remaining in the other player's hand are deducted from their score.  Aces are always valued at 15 points for this purpose.  A player will realize a negative score if the points in their hand exceed the points played to the table.

Successive rounds are played until one of the players wins the game with 500 points.


Menus

The following drop-down menus are available:

Game

Options

Skill

Scoreboard!

Assist!

Help


Game Menu

AutoResume

Add New Player

Change Players

Remove Player

Restart Game

Save Scoreboard

Exit


AutoResume

The AutoResume feature controls how Rummy 500 starts up when there are multiple scoreboards defined.

If AutoResume is checked, Rummy 500 will remember which player was playing when it exits, and will automatically start up for that player when Rummy 500 is next run.

If AutoResume is not checked, Rummy 500 will not remember which player is playing and, if multiple players are defined, will present the "Select Player" window when Rummy 500 is next run.

If only one player is defined, AutoResume has no effect on how Rummy 500 starts up.  It will start up for that player.

If the remembered player's scoreboard file is deleted between sessions, thus effectively undefining the player, Rummy 500 will present the "Select Player" window when next started.

The AutoResume option status is not saved as part of 'Save Options".  Rummy 500 automatically starts up with AutoResume set as it was when the previous Rummy 500 session exited.


Add Player

Rummy 500 permits the definition of up to 12 players.  Scoreboards and personal options are maintained separately for each player.

When you first use Rummy 500, the only player is "Default".  Use the "Add Player" menu option to add more players.  Each time you use the menu option, you will be asked to specify the new player's name.

Enter players' names as 1-8 letters and numbers.  Spaces, punctuation marks, and special characters are not permitted.  Valid examples are: Jane, Charles, Dave2.  Irrespective of how you specify upper and lower case, Rummy 500 will always display the player names in lower case with the first letter capitalized.

If you attempt to add a new player when twelve players already exist, you will receive an error message.


Change Players

Select this menu option to change to another player.  If only one player is defined, this menu option will not appear, and you will need to add a new player first.

When changing players, you will first be asked if the scoreboard for the outgoing player is to be saved, if it has changed since it was last saved.   Then the incoming player's saved options and scoreboard status will be restored.  If the incoming player does not have personal options saved, the stored defaults will be used.

You can also change players by clicking on the current player name in the status bar.


Remove Player

Select this option to remove a player from your system.  After clicking on this option, select the required player name from the button pad.  You will be asked to confirm that the player is to be removed, after which the scoreboard file and the saved options for the player will be permanently deleted from your system.

Note that if you remove the player named "Default", only the scoreboard is removed.  This is because the corresponding saved options are used as the defaults for players who do not have personal options saved.


Restart Game

Click to start a new game. Rummy 500 will bandon the current game and reset all counters and scores.

This action restarts only the current game.  Thus, if you are currently on game 3, the play will restart at round 1 of game 3.


Save Scoreboard

Save the current scoreboard status (games and rounds) for the current player.

This option is useful if you are enjoying an extended session of Rummy 500 and don't want to wait until you exit Rummy 500, or change players, before your updated scoreboard status is safely saved to disk.


Exit

Terminates the session and exits from Rummy 500.

Before exiting, Rummy 500 asks if you want to save the updated scoreboard for the current player, if it has changed since it was last saved.

If you respond "Yes", Rummy 500 will save the scores of all previous games and the scores of the rounds of the current game (if not yet completed) for the current player.  When this player next starts Rummy 500, this information will be restored automatically and play will proceed with the same game number and round number.

If you respond "No", the information will not be stored and when the current player next starts Rummy 500, the situation will be as it was previously.

If, when you next start Rummy 500, you are part way through a game (e.g.,  round four) and you wish to restart from round one of the game, use the "Start New Game" option.

Note that Rummy 500 only saves the scores of games and rounds completed.  It does not save the card distribution if you exit Rummy 500 partway through a round.


Options Menu

The options menu comprises selections that are mostly either checked or unchecked.  When the menu drops down, a checked item will have a check mark by it.  To select an option, click on it so that the check mark is showing.  To deselect an option, click on it so that the check mark is not showing.

AutoMouse

3D Effects

Card Design

Colors

Sounds

VGA/SVGA Resolution

No Logo

No Status Messages

Opponent

Rule Variations

Sort Ace Low

Save Options


AutoMouse

When checked, the mouse pointer automatically moves: (i) to your hand when you take a new card from the deck or you take the last card from the discard pile, and (ii) back to the deck when you discard.  It also moves to the deck after each new deal.

This facility reduces mouse movement and potential carpal tunnel strain for avid players of Rummy 500.


3D Effects

Select this menu item to enable or disable the 3-Dimensional look to the user interface.  The 3-Dimensional look is becoming increasingly fashionable among Windows applications.  However, Rummy 500 permits you to use the more traditional 2-D look-and-feel if you prefer this.

Changes to 3D effects do not take place immediately.  You must exit and restart Rummy 500 to see the changes.  Note that the specified suppression of 3D effects is registered in the file vbctl3d.ini in your windows directory.  If this file is deleted or damaged, Rummy 500 will default back to 3D effects until this menu option is reset.

By default,  3D effects are enabled.  In this state all menus, pop-up windows and forms, dialog messages, etc., are displayed using gray backgrounds and three-dimensional highlighting.  To suppress 3-D effects, uncheck the "3D Enabled" sub-menu entry.

When 3-D effects are enabled, 3-D menus can be separately enabled or disabled.  To disable 3-D menus, uncheck the sub-menu entry "3D Menus Enabled".  When 3-D menus are disabled, menus appear with the colors you have defined for all your other Windows applications.  When 3-D menus are enabled, a gray background and 3-D separators are applied to Rummy 500 menus.

Note:

The 3D effects used by Rummy 500 are provided by a capability called VBCtl3D. If you have other applications on your system which also use VBCtl3D, be aware that enabling or disabling 3D effects in Rummy 500 will similarly affect these other applications, and vice-versa.  Note that unless a 3D application displays gray 3D menus by default, it does not use VBCtl3d and this note doesn't apply.


Card Design

There are six card back designs available.  To change the design, select this menu option and click on the required card back from those displayed.


Colors

The colors sub-menu allows you to change the colors used by Rummy 500 as
follows:

•	Main - The outer part of the display.  Default is brown.

•	Table - The center table area.  Default is green.

•	Label Text -  The labels (e.g., "Cards In Hand").  Default is yellow.

•	Counter Text - The numeric counters under the labels.  Default is black.

•	Counter Background - The background of the above.  Default is grey.

•	Error Message Text - The text of error messages.  Default is black.

•	Error Message Background - The background of the above.  Default is red.

•	Factory Defaults - Resets all colors to the Rummy 500 default values encoded into the program.

•	Local Defaults - Resets all colors to the values saved for the "Default" player


Sounds

Select this menu option to invoke the sound options window.

Rummy 500 permits the optional association of a wav file with each of the following six events:

•	Start Up

•	Winning A Round

•	Losing A Round

•	Winning A Game

•	Losing A Game

•	Exit

Rummy 500 does not check that you have a sound board or the speak.exe driver installed.  The speak.exe driver is a freely available Microsoft product which uses your PC speaker to play (low quality) sound.  If you do not have either of these sound capabilities installed, no error message will appear but any sounds you specify won't be heard.

The sound options window is configured in the following three sections:

Enable Effects

The check box at the top of the window acts as the master switch.  It must be checked for sounds to be played and can be unchecked to temporarily suppress sounds.

Sound Files Currently Defined

Select one of the six buttons corresponding to the events which can have a sound associated.  The name of the currently assigned file name will be displayed.  (If there is no associated sound file, [none] will be displayed.)  To test the sound, press "Play".  To break the association between the file and the event, press "Cancel".

To assign a sound file, or a new sound file, with an event, use the lower part of the sound options window (see below).

Select Different File

First, ensure that the required event is selected in the above section.

Use the directory selector, and the drive selector above it, to select the directory in which the required wav file is located.  A list of all wav files in the directory will be displayed in the file list to the left of the directory selector.  Double click on the required filename to assign it to the required event.  To test the sound, use the "Play" button.


Resolution
VGA/SVGA Resolution

This option does not appear in the menu if your monitor is set to VGA resolution (i.e., 600x480).

At higher screen resolutions, Rummy 500 will default to SVGA (800x600) resolution unless you have saved options with VGA selected.  The SVGA default takes advantage of having more room to lay out the cards.  At the higher monitor resolutions, you have the option to switch between VGA resolution and SVGA resolution.

Resolution switching is permitted after you have taken a new card from the deck and before you have melded or discarded.  Otherwise, this menu option will be dimmed.

When necessary, Rummy 500 automatically compresses groups of cards to keep them within the field of play.  This will occur much more frequently at VGA resolution.


No Logo

When checked the Rummy 500 logo is not displayed in the top left and top right corners of the display.  When unchecked, the logo displays are visible.


No Status Messages

When checked, status messages are not displayed in the status bar during play.  Error messages will continue to be displayed as appropriate.  When unchecked, the status messages indicating the state of play will be displayed.


Opponent

No Highlighting

When checked, suppresses the highlighting of cards during the opponent's turn.  When unchecked, the opponent will highlight the card in the discard pile that it is taking and again as it is melded.

Show Cards

When checked, shows the opponent's cards face up.  This facility was required when Rummy 500 was being developed and tested.  It remains part of the finished application so that you can determine for yourself whether there is any truth in the assertion that most people will occasionally cheat when nobody is watching them.


Rule Variations

There are two rule variations permitted in the current version of Rummy 500:

Ace Always High

When checked, aces are only considered as high, above kings.  Under this variation, a run of Ace-Two-Three is treated as an invalid meld.

When unchecked (default), an ace may be melded as high (Queen-King-Ace) or low (Ace-Two-Three).

Meld Last Discard

When checked, the last card of the discard pile can only be selected if it can be melded immediately.

When unchecked (default), the last card of the discard pile can be freely taken as an alternative to taking a new card from the deck.


Sort Ace Low

When checked, the sort criterion is set such that aces will be sorted low in the player's hand (and the opponent's hand, if visible), before twos.

When unchecked, aces are sorted high, after kings.

This option is disabled when the player has highlighted cards in hand.

This option setting is ignored if the rule variation is enabled which forces aces to be treated as high.


Save Options

Single Player

If there is only one player defined, the current settings in the option menu, together with the current skill level, are saved to hard disk as the custom options under the player's name.

Multiple Players

If there are two or more players defined and the current player name is not "Default", a sub menu will appear asking whether the options are to be saved specifically for the current player, or whether they are to become the new local defaults.

Each time that Rummy 500 is started, or players are changed, the option settings for the incoming player are restored automatically.  If the player has not previously saved their personal options, the default options will be used.

To change the default options, establish yourself as the player named "Default", make the required changes, and "Save Options".


Skill
Menu - Skill

You set the opponent skill level by selecting one of the following menu options.  The skill level currently selected is indicated with a check mark.  "Average" is the default.

Carefree

The opponent always picks up a new card from the  deck, and immediately discards at random.  The opponent never plays a meld, and never scores any points.  This setting is useful when you are learning the game and wish to play out your own hand completely.

Novice

The opponent will consider whether to pick up the last discard, or take a new card from the deck.  The opponent will play melds, and discards at random.

Average

The opponent will consider whether to pick any of the last third of the discard pile, or take a new card.  The opponent will play melds, and discards intelligently - by avoiding discarding members of pairs and two card runs, and considering your previous discard in this decision.

Expert

The opponent plays similarly to the "average" opponent, except that all of the cards in the discard pile will be considered, and the discard decision considers all cards in the discard pile.  When in "expert" mode, the opponent will make two passes of its meld analysis of each combination - the first considering runs before same-kind melds, and the second vice-versa, to determine the better potential.

Additionally, the expert opponent will take account of the number of cards in your hand (the computer does not cheat and look at the values) when deciding how many discards it might safely take.

Champion

Champion mode is very similar to expert mode, the additions being: (i) the opponent remembers which cards the player has removed from the discard pile, (ii) the opponent will pick up the last discard when advantageous (unless the rule variation is enabled which inhibits this practice), and (iii) the opponent will discard its higher value cards when the player has very few cards left in hand.

Champion and Expert modes are the most time consuming of the skill levels, and may be frustrating on a slow processor.  However, they make for the most challenging game and are relatively hard to beat.


Scoreboard
Menu - Scoreboard!

Displays the scores of previous games, and the scores of the previous rounds in the current game.

The two scoreboards, "Games" and "Rounds" are switchable by using the button in the bottom left of the scoreboard window.  When first displayed after starting Rummy 500, the "Games" scoreboard is displayed.

Press the "OK" button when you have finished reviewing the scoreboard information.

When you exit Rummy 500 you are given the option to save the updated scoreboard information.  This allows you to carry forward the game and round totals to the next time you play Rummy 500.


Assist
Menu - Assist!

Whenever this menu entry is selected, the "Assist!" window will appear.

The "Assist!" window is context sensitive and will describe your alternatives at the current state of play.

When you have read the assistance, just continue playing.  The window will disappear as soon as you click the mouse anywhere on the screen, except in the "Assist!" window's title bar.  You may move the "Assist!" window by dragging its title bar.


Help

How To Play

Displays this help information.

About

Displays information about the version number and author, and the registration confirmation.

Register

Displays an information window showing you how to register Rummy 500 and permits you to enter or re-enter your registration number.

While Rummy 500 is unregistered, the ten-second shareware notice will appear before each round.  Registering Rummy 500 both makes your copy legal and removes this notice.

Should the Rummy 500 options data on your hard disk ever become corrupted or is missing.  Rummy 500 will return to the unregistered status.  In this case, you will need to re-enter your registration details.

Note:

Like many other Windows programs, Rummy 500 supports the "F1" function key to provide context sensitive help.  You may press "F1" at any time to get help about the specific facility you are using.  For example, pressing "F1" when in the sound options window will display the help information for setting the sound options.


Status Bar Shortcuts

You may click on the following parts of the status bar in order to achieve the associated actions:

Error Messages

Click on an error message to clear it and see the underlying status message.

Status Message

Click on the status message to display the "Assist!" window with more detail about the current alternatives.

Player Name

Click on the player name to invoke the "Change Player" selection window.

Opponent Skill Level

Click on the skill level to pop up a menu to allow the skill level to be changed.  Double-click on the required entry to select it as the new skill level.


Strategies

Taking A Card

Provided that the rule variation inhibiting the practice is not enabled, you should consider taking the last card from the discard pile as an alternative to a new card from the deck if the card increases the number of potential meld possibilities in your hand.

Remember, however, that the next unseen card from the deck may be equally or more useful.  At champion skill level, the opponent rates the usefulness of the last discard based upon its proximity to other cards in the opponent's hand.  The opponent will then only take the last discard if the rating is higher than a specified guideline,. You might consider a similar strategy for your own play.

Melding

The advantage of melding is that you get cards out of your hand to count for you, which would count against you if the opponent empties its hand first.

The disadvantage of melding is that you provide the means for the opponent to empty its hand faster, as and when it can play to your melds.

The opponent always melds when it is able to.  At average skill level and above it takes cards from the discard pile with consideration to how many points it will have melded, how many left in its hand after melding the ones selected, and how many cards remain in your hand.  Thus the opponent is more likely to pick up discards when you have more cards in your hand.

Discarding

Select which card to discard based upon which is the least useful in comparison to others in your hand, and which is probably less useful to your opponent.

Remember, if the opponent has only one or two cards left, that aces will count fifteen points against you if the opponent melds its remaining cards on its next turn. Tens, Jacks, Queens and Kings remaining in your hand will score ten points against you.

Selecting Discards

Select and meld discards from the discard pile rather than taking a new card if the result will leave you with more net points (those you have melded less those left in your hand).

If the opponent has more than a few (say, five) cards in its hand, you might choose to end up with a worse net situation from taking the discards if there are a number of melds on the table to play to in subsequent turns.

Note that if the opponent only has one or two cards, there probably won't be many subsequent turns, and the excess cards in your hand will score against you.

The opponent, at average skill level and above, employs the same logic described above.

As a general rule, it is better to take and meld discards than to not do so.  You cannot score more than 90 points (four aces and three others at ten points) in a round if you only take from the deck.


New For Version 3

Version 3 introduces a number of environmental and interface improvements, including:

•	 A complete 3-D interface (with traditional 2-D as an option)

•	Sound support for up to six Rummy 500 events

•	A new status bar for the traffic light and status messages

•	Support for up to 12 individual players with separate scoreboards

•	Rule variations

•	Improved help file capability including context sensitive help support (F1)

Plus:

•	An new skill level: "Champion"

•	Further performance improvements

•	Further reliability improvements

Due to the very positive reponse to Rummy 500 version 2, we have been able to keep the registration fee for version 3 at $12, or $15 with diskette (3½").


Technical
For The Technically Curious

Technical Construction

Third Party Components

Saved Information


Technical Construction

Rummy 500 contains a bitmap of all the card pictures and makes extensive use of the Windows API Bitblt function.  Because of this, Rummy 500 is fast, but consumes approximately 0.8 Megabytes of RAM and 16% of the GDI resource stack.

Alternative methods of managing the user interface proved to be more processor intensive and less conducive to fluid play.  The trade-off was made for performance at the cost of resource consumption.

Rummy 500 was developed and tested on a 20MHz 386SX system with 5MB of RAM.  Performance and fluidity of play is very satisfactory on this configuration.

When in expert and champion modes, the opponent will often "think" for up to fifteen seconds on an Intel 386SX class processor.  "Thinking" is almost instantaneous on an Intel Pentium processor.


Third Party Components

Although Rummy 500 does not use a dll for card drawing (for performance reasons), Stephen Murphy's excellent freeware "qcard.dll" was used to create the bitmap which Rummy 500 uses.  The card back designs included in qcard.dll were created by Daniel Di Bacco.  Acknowledgements are extended to each of them.

3-D effects are provided using "VBCtl3D" by Bernd Beekes and Jeff Simms.  This utility was selected for Rummy 500 as it provides an extremely full set of 3-D capabilities to Visual Basic programs.

The Rummy 500 help file was created using Firas Bushnaq's powerful "Visual Help".

VBCtl3D and Visual Help are shareware products licensed by the author.


Saved Information

Information is saved between Rummy 500 sessions as follows:

Registration

If you are a registered user, your name and encoded registration are stored in the [Rummy 500] section of RUMMY500.INI (in your windows directory).

AutoResume

When AutoResume is active, the name of the last player is maintained in the [Rummy 500] section of RUMMY500.INI.  The status of AutoResume is not saved independently. On start up, AutoResume is deemed to be enabled or disabled depending upon whether the name of the last player was saved.  Thus AutoResume always recovers the state that it was when the previous session exited.

Player Options

The options for each player are saved in a section of RUMMY500.INI identified as pertaining to the player.  For example, Jane's options will be saved in the section of RUMMY500.INI named "[Jane]".  If a player has not saved personal options, the defaults stored in RUMMY500.INI under "[Default]" are used.

Player Scoreboards

Each player's scoreboard is saved in the Rummy 500 directory as xxxxxx.scb, where xxxxxx is the player's name.  Rummy 500 considers a player to be currently defined by whether a scoreboard file exists for the player, irrespective of whether options are saved for that player in RUMMY500.INI.  An empty scoreboard file is created for a player when their name is added via the "Add Player" menu option.

3D Effects

The three dimensional effects of Rummy 500 are provided by VBCtl3D, which is a third party component of Rummy 500.  VBCtl3D looks at the content of a file called VBCTL3D.INI (in the windows directory) to determine whether 3D is to be suppressed and whether 3D menus are required.  Rummy 500 updates this file for you when you change the 3D Effects settings via the Options menu, but VBCtl3D only takes note of the content of VBCTL3D.INI when Rummy 500 starts.  This is why you must exit and restart Rummy 500 for the changes to take effect.


3-dimensional

A particular style of visual user interface which displays sunken and raised effects using shades of gray, black, and white to provide shadows.


author

Rummy 500 © 1994 MeggieSoft Games


AutoMouse

The capability whereby the mouse pointer automatically moves between the deck and the player's hand as cards are taken and discarded.


deck

The stack of downturned cards to the left of the table from which new cards are drawn.


defaults

The saved option settings for a player named "Default".  These are used if a player does not have their own saved default options.  If the "Default" settings are not found on disk, Rummy 500's factory defaults will be used.  The default settings are changed by changing the current player to "Default", setting the options, and saving them.


discard pile

The cards which the player and opponent have discarded from their respective hands.


discarded

Having moved a card from one's hand to the discard pile.


discarding

The act of moving a card from the player's hand on to the discard pile.  This concludes the player's turn.


error message

Error messages are displayed, with red highlighting, in the status bar.  An error message will disappear as soon as you play on, or if you click on it.


game

A series of rounds which is concluded when either the player or the opponent has scored more than 500 points and the scores are not equal.


hand

The cards displayed above the top of the table (the opponent's hand) and below the bottom of the table (the player's hand).


highlighted

A card displayed in reverse-color (black as white, etc.) in order to signify that it has been selected in preparation for melding.


meld

A set of matching cards played to the table.  A meld can be either a run of cards of the same suit, or three or four cards of the same rank (or value).  For example, the 8-9-10 of hearts would a valid meld, as would three jacks.


melded

Played to the table as part of an existing or new meld of three or more cards (either a run or of the same value).


melding

The act of moving cards from your hand to the table in order to form a meld.  A meld is a run of cards of the same suit or three or four cards of the same rank (or value).


menu option

One of the entries in one of the drop down menus.  Click on a menu entry to select it.


opponent

The opponent is the computer.


options

The custom selections which can be made by a player and stored as their personal defaults.  Options include: colors, sounds, card design, opponent skill level, rule variations.


player

A person who has been set up to play against the opponent.  Only one player can participate at a time.  Each player's personal options and scoreboards are stored independently from each other.


round

A series of turns (alternating between player and opponent) which is concluded when either the player or the opponent has discarded the last card from their hand, or when there are no more cards remaining in the deck.


Rummy 500

The world's first shareware game of Gin Rummy for Microsoft Windows.


scoreboard

The record of a particular player's scores and the opponent's scores for games and rounds completed to date.


skill level

"Carefree", "Novice", "Average", "Expert", "Champion"


status bar

The area along the bottom of the Rummy 500 window where status messages, error messages, and the current player name and opponent skill level are displayed.


status light

The indicator at the left of the status bar.  This shows red when the opponent is taking its turn, yellow when Rummy 500 is waiting for the player to take a card, and green during the player's turn.


table

The area in the center of the display where the discard pile and melds are shown.


wav file

A file of a particular format definedfor storing sounds.  Rummy 500 can play sound files which are stored in wav file format.