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Show How f o Pay Canasta Rules for Talcing 'Pack' Require Closo Attention By CaarUe H. dm In canasta, th more cards you Mid (generally speaking), tha more points you mean. And the mora cards you hava to your hand, th setter chancea you have to take a meld. The gam often become be-come a fierce battle to take the "pack" (discard pile). Even if , It contains not a single card you can use immediately, a sizable Edltera aetet This - la the . rearth of atx articles. pack hi worth taking- if you can. The right to hold twenty or thirty cards la your hand, instead of merely eleven dealt yoo (in four-handed four-handed game), is a big advantage. To get the pack, you must he able to take the top card and meld It immediately. What you need for such a meld depends on several sev-eral factors: first of all, whether the pack Is "frozen" or not That la to aay, for the Initial meld a player must have a natural . pair In his hand to match the top of the discard pile, he may not "go la" with one other such card and a wild card. The pack la ' "frozen" for a aide before that side has made its Initial meld. It froxen lor both aulas whenever It contains a red trey or a wild card. (It can contain a red trey only If .that was the upcard. A wild card may get In that way or by a later discard. You may think that a wild card would never be discarded. You are wrong; sometimes some-times such a discard Is advisable, and at other times it is forced!) When the pack is frozen. It may be taken only by a player having a natural pair that matches the top card. For example. If this card is a five, the player haa to show a pair of fives not a five and a wild card. The froaen pack may not be taken to lay off the top card on a previous meld, but only to make a new meld of three or more cards. (This new meld, however, can be of same rank as a previous meld.) When the pack la not frozen, it may be taken to lay off the top card on a previoua meld of the same rank, or to make a new meld either with a natural pair or one natural and one wild card. For example, ex-ample, a five may be picked up to add to a set of fives, or to fill out a pair of fives or one five and one Joker. A pack frozen by reason of containing; con-taining; a red trey or a wild card is unfrozen after it la taken by any player, since a aew discard pile is then started. But a freeze against a side because It has not yet made its initial meld continues until the meld is made. When the top card kt a black trey (three-spot) or any wild card, I the pack-may not be taken under any circumatancea, not even to go out Discarding a black trey or a wild card thus has the affect of making the left-hand opponent draw Xrom Ihe stock at sis current, turn. Black treys are usually saved up for this defensive purpose, pur-pose, which becomes Important when the pack Is rich with valuable valu-able cards. When a player takes the pack to maks a new set, he must be careful to show the two or more cards from his hand first, establishing estab-lishing his right to the discard. Obviously, if he Is permitted to add the oack to his hand first, he might maks the meld entirely from the cards he hsa found there. Having exposed ths necessary neces-sary cards from his hand, he msy then take the pack and meld as many additional cards from It aa he pleases, on the same set and other sets. When ths player takes the pack to make an initial meld, ha must first expose sll the cards necessary neces-sary to reach the minimum count. He may include th top card of the pack for this purpose, but no lower card. For example, suppose his side needs SO. The discard Is a seven, and the player has a pair of sevens in his hand.. Ha must first expose them, together with additional cards or melds worth 7. (The three sevens count 13.) Copyright, 194, C. H. Goren |