RUMMY 500 (Version 4.02) - READ500.TXT ====================================== Rummy 500 is an exciting member of the Rummy family of card games. Its main differentiating feature is that you can pick up any number of discards if you can lay down some of them immediately. Rummy 500 is believed to be the first shareware Rummy game available for Microsoft Windows. You play against the computer, which can be set to use a number of different skill levels. At expert and champion level, the computer is hard to beat and provides a very challenging game. Customizable features include: Colors Sound effects Card backs Screen resolution (600x480 or 800x600) AutoMouse (moves mouse pointer automatically between deck and hand) Opponent skill level Rule variations The only installation requirements are that RUMMY500.EXE, RUMCARDS.BMP, and RUMMY500..HLP, and the wav files reside in the same directory; and that VBRUN300.DLL and VBCTL3D.VBX are present in your path (typically in the windows\system directory). VBCTL3D.VBX is included with this distribution. VBRUN300.DLL should be downloaded separately if you don't already have it on your system. To use the sound effects, you must either have a sound card installed in your system, or have the speak.exe driver installed to use your system's regular speaker. Speak.exe is a freely distributed product from Microsoft, and is available on most online services and bulletin board systems. Rummy 500 is distributed with a few sound files, others may be obtained from libraries on most online services and bulletin board systems. To enable sound effects, you must check the "Enable Sounds" box from the "Sounds..." option under the "Configuration" menu. Remember to "Save Configuration" to make the setting permanent. Rummy 500 is shareware, and is fully functional. You may evaluate this program for a period of 21 days after which you must register it or remove it from your system. To not comply with this condition is a violation of United States and international copyright law. You register your copy of Rummy 500 by sending $12 (check or money order, U.S. funds only) to: Carol Bufton 58 Prendiville Way Marlborough MA 01752 USA There is a printable order form under the "Help" menu of Rummy 500. You will receive your registration code by mail. The registration code is encoded from your name, so be sure to provide your name exactly as you wish to be registered. Please allow 28 days for your registration to arrive, although every effort will be made to mail your registration within 5 days. Your registration code licenses you to use the version of Rummy 500 that you are currently evaluating, irrespective of which is the latest version currently available on America Online, CompuServe, or registered diskette. Your registration may also be valid with future versions as they become available. **************************************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTE: MeggieSoft Games does not process any registrations between December 15th and January 15th. Any registrations received during this period will be processed after January 15th. The registration reminder will not be displayed between December 20th and January 15th. **************************************************************************** If you require a diskette (3½" only), add $3 making the total cost $15. The diskette version may contain a later version of Rummy 500 if improvements have been made since the release of your evaluation copy. Because we cannot track which versions are currently available at what locations, it is very possible that Rummy 500 will have been updated since your evaluation copy unless you downloaded a recent version from CompuServe or America Online. You may not share your registration code with others. Your registration permits you and other users to use Rummy 500 on any single-user computer system. You may also use Rummy 500 on any other computer system of which you are the primary user, such as a laptop. You may distribute Rummy 500 to others provided that you derive no revenue other than that associated with the act of distribution, and provided that you distribute the following, and only the following, files intact: READ500.TXT - This file RUMMY500.EXE - The program RUMMY500.HLP - The help file FAQ500.TXT - The "frequently asked questions" file RUMCARDS.BMP - The card images VBRUN300.DLL - The Visual Basic Runtime VBCTL3D.VBX - The Visual Basic 3D Effects extension To use Rummy 500 you need Microsoft Windows 3.1 and a mouse (with at least two buttons). An Intel 386 class system with 4 megabytes of RAM is recommended as a minimum. Rummy 500 has not been evaluated on less capable systems, but should present no problems other than responsiveness and speed. You are recommended to take advantage of the comprehensive help file information in order to learn how to play Rummy 500. Perhaps the best first step to learning Rummy 500 is to use the "Player | AutoPlay" option and watch the computer play against itself. Enjoy! Upgrading From Version 2.x -------------------------- If you already have Version 2.3 or earlier installed on your computer, you should delete the file RUMMY500.INI from your windows directory before installing or running version 4.02 for the first time. This is because versions 3.0 and later use a new format and will ignore the previous content anyway. If you do not delete RUMMY500.INI, no ill effects will occur, but RUMMY500.INI will contain redundant and unused data. Revision History ---------------- Version 1.x - Development versions. Version 2.0 - First Shareware release. Fully functional. Version 2.1 - Scoreboards. 2.11 - Minor improvements. Version 2.2 - Player can freely select the last discard. Version 2.3 - Startup window. Version 3.0 - 3D-style user interface. - Multiple player scoreboards . - AutoResume. - Sound effects. 3.01 - Maintenance release 3.02 - Maintenance release Version 3.5 - Conforms to "Hoyle's Rules Of Games". - Suggest. - Undo. - Hall Of Fame. - League Table. - Displays of total games won. - Swap Cards. - AutoPlayer. - Quick Display. - Animate Display (removed in version 3.9). - Updated Help. 3.51 - Revised discard algorithms. Version 3.6 - Changed method of taking discards. - Undo Version 3.7 - Sort by Suit - Show Remaining 3.81 - Overlap Melds - Display Turn Count - "Master" skill level Version 3.9 - Updated to include new features introduced with the first release of Gin Rummy (Rummy 500's new companion product). * Stagger player hand: displays suits offset from each other * Shortcut buttons on status bar for hint, undo, stagger and sort order * Separate option saving for Configuration, Opponent and Rules * Ability to have each game start with a "cut for deal" * Reset Scoreboard * Printable Order Form - When AutoPlayer ends, player options remain where they were, instead of being reset from the saved options. (However, a round in progress will be restarted.) - Restart Game is now Redeal Game. Added Restart Round (no shuffle). - Fixed problem when canceling the color configuration window did not cancel correctly. - Various other minor problem fixes. 3.91 - Resolved display and memory problems with higher color resolutions. (RUMCARDS.BMP is now WMF metafile format). - Removed dependency on CMDIALOG.VBX (no longer required) - If scoreboard file is damaged, choice of reset or exit (in case the user can restore it) is offered. - Fixed problem when opponent would meld ace high when "Ace Must Be Low" was selected. - Fixed problem where opponent could meld four of a kind and not leave card for discard (when "must discard" rule is in effect). - Fixed problem when hint before undo caused the undo to fail. Version 4.0 - Added custom card back capability to support user defined card designs (WMF format). - Added "Trim Corners" option to display cleaner card images on more powerful systems. - Added capability to remember custom color definitions between sessions. - Enhanced scoreboard capabilities now display skill level the date played. Display colors are customizable from the "Configuration | Colors" menu option. Previous scoreboard data are automatically converted with a skill level of "Unknown" and a date of "1/1/94". - Scoreboards can now be displayed for all games or only those against a specific opponent skill level. - Added "AutoMouse - Dialogs" to extend the AutoMouse feature to and from messages and information windows. - Undo now deselects highlighted cards (even if there is nothing else to undo). - Fixed a number of minor problems. 4.01 - Fixed "input file not found" problem at end of round. - Scoreboards now display skill level. 4.02 - Fixed rare interaction problem with meld overlaps, changes to screen resolution, and changes to "overlap melds" menu option. - Revised date calculations and removed need for msafinx.dll file. - Cleaned up detection and termination of second instance when Rummy 500 is already running. - Cleaned up detection of when and how scoreboard has changed since it was loaded (for "do you want to save.." prompts). © MeggieSoft Games 1994, 1995. All Rights Reserved.