Romi lets you play games against the computer at 3 different levels. The game is played with two sets of 52 cards and with two wild cards. 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.

You can play against one to three other players and/or players simulated by Romi by using the Preferences... item of the Romi menu. All the players simulated by Romi play at the same level of difficulty that you have chosen.

Romi is available in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish on the Macintosh and on Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP.

On the Romi Web page http://www3.sympatico.ca/gerard.brochu/ you will find the latest versions of Romi.

What's new in Romi 6.0

Romi 5.8

Romi 5.6

Romi 5.4

Romi 5.2

Romi 5.0

Romi 4.8

Romi 4.6

Romi 4.2

Romi 4.0


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 Preferences... of Romi 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 rack 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 rack. The sum of those cards values must be 30 or more.

After the player has opened the game, he can use the cards on the board to complete groups with cards on his rack. The player can move or reorganize 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 23 cells where you put the cards that you play, and the rack 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 rack.

To move a card, the player clicks on a card, the card is selected (darkened) and the player selects the destination by clicking or dragging where he wants to move the card. Romi also support Drag and Drop of selected cards.

You can form groups of cards on the board by double-clicking sequentially on each card from your rack or from the board.

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 rack. In this case, only the following consecutive cards who can make a valid group are selected.

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 preceding cards including the clicked card are selected. He can also use the same Option-Shift-click for selecting a group of cards on his rack. In this case, only the preceding 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 sand-glass icon. Romi checks that the game is valid and it becomes Romi's turn. When Romi plays, the sand-glass icon is replaced by a computer icon.

Shortcuts

You can form groups of cards on the board by double-clicking sequentially on each card from your rack or from the board. You can also move two or more cards of a suit by double-clicking with the Option key on the first card of a suit of cards that you want to move on the board.

Romi lets you add one or more selected cards to the end or to the beginning of a group of cards, by clicking or dragging respectively on the first or the last card of the group. If the space before or after the group is not sufficient, Romi move 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

Romi menu

File menu

Options menu

Speed menu allows you to change the display speed for animated moves and messages.

Utilities menu

THANKS

I would address special thanks to my son Charles and Bryan Pietrzak for their help in programming this game and to Pierre 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, Amalie Rothschild and Claudio Jacomelli for translating this program in Italian, Henrik Huber and Rolf Schindler for the German translation, Adrien Dion and Ricardo Trenard for the Spanish translation, Harold Bouwmeester and Fred Kelder for the Dutch translation, Gustavo S. Duarte Garcia for the Portuguese translation, Benkt Steentoft and Anna Ekman for the Swedish translation. I also want to thank those of you who send comments and 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.

 


        Romi Registration Form

Name : _____________________________________________

Mail address : _______________________________________

___________________________________________________

Country : ___________________________________________

E-mail : _____________________________________________

Romi version : 6.0

Comments : ________________________________________

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To register Romi, you can register online on the Romi Web page http://www3.sympatico.ca/gerard.brochu/ or you can send me a 15 $US or a 15 $CDN check by mail at the address below.

Users who have the Euro as their only currency, can contact me by eMail at Gerard.Brochu@sympatico.ca to know the amount of Euros and the methods of payment for the registration fee. You can also pay securely using your credit card on the Romi Web page, the amount of Euros will be calculated automatically to correspond to 15$US.

If you send your e-mail address with your registration, you will receive by e-mail your password for the full version of Romi. You will also be notified when new Romi versions will become available.

Mail your $15 registration fee to:

Gérard Brochu
1188 Rue du St-Brieux
Québec QC, Canada
G1Y 2B8