Romi lets you play Rummy games against the computer at 3 different levels. The Rummy game is played with two sets of 52 cards and with two wild cards (two apple card). The purpose of this game is to form groups of 3 or more cards, which contain either consecutive cards of the same suit or cards of the same number value but of differing suits.
Romi runs on any Macintosh with System 6.0.4 and higher, in color and black & white, with System 7.0 and higher, you can use balloon help in menus, window and preference dialog. Romi now support Drag & Drop of selected cards and Option-Shift-click of cards suit.
Romi is also available in french and italian on the Macintosh and on Windows 95/98/NT.
What's new in Romi 1.7
This version of Romi add:
- a new improved algorithm at Expert's level.
- a new item Clean Up the board to the Utilities menu, this item rearrange the cards on the board like in the following example:
What's new in Romi 1.6
With this version of Romi, you can play against more than one Romi player. You can play against one to tree players simulated by Romi by using the Preferences item of the Options menu. All the players simulated by Romi play at the same level of difficulty that you have chosen. When you win a game, the penalty score given to Romi is the maximum score of the players simulated by Romi.
The general rules of the game are:
This game can be played with many variations. Romi is able to use two of them, one of which is the American Standard. The second is the same but with the possibility of placing an 1(Ace) after the 13(King) as in (12,13,1). Note that (13,1,2) is not allowed. The American Standard rules are used by default, but this can be change by using the item Preference... of Options menu.
When you begin a new game, 14 cards are drawn randomly for Romi and 14 for the player. Those last are placed on the palette in sequential order.
The player opens his game by playing at least one group of 3 cards or more, using only the cards on his palette. The sum of those cards values must be 25 or more.
After the player has opened the game, he can use the cards on the board to complete groups with cards on his palette. The player can move or reorganise all the cards on the board, but the new groups must be valid and by groups of 3 and more.
The particulars rules of Romi are:
The window of Romi is divided into two principal elements: the board, with 8 rows of 24 cells where you put the cards that you play, and the palette where the player’s cards are stored. The groups of cards placed on the board must be separated by one or more empty cells. The player’s cards can be placed anywhere on the palette.
To move a card, the player clicks on this card, the card is selected (darkened) and the cursor changes to a rectangle. Then the player selects the destination by clicking where he wants to move the card.
Romi does not allow you to place a card before or after a card on the board, if the group formed with this card is not valid.
The player can select a group of cards on the board by clicking with the Option key on the first card he wants to select, all the following cards are selected. He can also use the same Option-click for selecting a group of cards on his palette. In this case, only the following consecutive cards who can make a valid group are selected.
You can cancel a selection of cards by clicking on the same card you have clicked.
If the player can't or doesn't want to play a card, he must draw a new card by clicking on the "hand picking a card" icon. The card is selected randomly in the remaining cards.
When the player has finished his turn, he clicks on the sandglass icon. Romi checks that the game is valid and it becomes Romi’s turn. When Romi plays, the sandglass icon is replaced by a Macintosh.
The player can select a group of cards by clicking with the Option-Shift keys on the last card he wants to select, all the preceeding cards including the clicked card are selected. He can also use the same Option-Shift -click for selecting a group of cards on his palette. In this case, only the preceeding cards who can make a valid group are selected.
Romi version 1.4 and higher now support Drag and Drop of selected cards. When you move your selection, the receiving cells are inverted.
Shortcuts
Romi lets you add one or more selected cards to the end or to the beginning of a group of cards, by clicking respectively on the first or the last card of the group. If the space before or after the group is not sufficient, Romi moves the new group of cards where there is enough space.
Romi also allows you to make two groups of cards with one group of 5 cards or more, and another card which is identical to one of this group. The two new groups must each form groups of 3 cards or more. For example if there is a group of cards like (4,5,6,7,8,9) and if you have an other 6, you can make the following two groups (4,5,6) and (6,7,8,9). The shortcut works by selecting your 6 and by clicking on the 6 of the group (4,5,6,7,8,9).
Menus descriptions.
The Romi menu
- New game begin a new game.
- Open... open a game that has been previously saved.
- Demonstration play a demonstration game of Romi.
- Save save your game to continue it another time.
- Save as... save your game to continue it another time.
- Pause defer your game because you have other important things to do.
- Continue continue a game that has been previously deferred.
- Quit quit Romi and ask you if you want to save your game.
The Options menu
- Beginner (when checked), tells Romi to use the lowest level of strategy when it play against you. At this level, you can see the Romi’s cards and you can ask Romi to play for you by choosing Help from Romi, from the Utilities menu.
- Intermediate (when checked), tells Romi to use intermediate level of strategy against you.
- Expert... (when checked), tells Romi to use the highest level of strategy against you. When you choose this menu item, Romi asks you to select a time limit for your turn. At this level, the time limit decreases and when the remaining time indicated by the sandglass reaches zero, Romi takes control of the game and does one of the following things: 1) If you have played one or more cards, Romi checks if the game is valid. If so, Romi plays his turn. If not, Romi restores the game as it was before your turn and draws a new card for you and then plays his turn. 2) If you have not played any card, Romi draws a new card for you and he plays his turn.
- Preferences... allows you to change and save your preferences. Some items can be changed only before you begin to play a new game.
- See Romi's cards (when checked), allows you to see the Romi's cards at his turn. This option is only available at beginner's level.
- Sounds (when checked), plays sounds when some events occurred. You can choose specific sound events by using the item Preferences...
The Speed menu allows you to change the display speed for animated moves and messages.
The Utilities menu
- Sort by suit rearranges the player's cards on the palette by suit.
- Sort by number rearranges the player's cards on the palette by number.
- Help from Romi asks Romi to play for you. This item is available only if you are at the Beginner level.
- Cards played shows you the cards played by Romi on his last turn or the cards played by you during your turn.
- Validate check that the groups of cards played on the board are valid.
- Restore the board restore the game as it was after the last turn of Romi.
- Clean Up the board rearranges the cards on the board in a special order.
- Score... displays your score and the number of games that you have won against Romi. You can cumulate your performances against Romi by saving your game when you quit Romi and by opening the last game played when you use Romi another time.
THANKS
I would address special thanks to my son Charles for his help in programming and designing this game and to Pierre (the ZooMan) Lachance and Jurjen N.E. Bos from Netherlands for their many suggestions and their help in debugging and translating this program in English. I want to thank Marcella Chiovaro from Italy for translating this program and the documentation in Italian. I also want to thank those of you who send comments and/or their registration fee.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY:
IN USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THIS SOFTWARE.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR SPECIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF CRITICAL DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SOFTWARE.
If you send your e-mail address with your registration, you will receive by e-mail my personal e-mail address and you will be notified when new Romi versions become available.
