Play La Belle Lucie Solitaire Online for Free (The Fan)
What is La Belle Lucie Solitaire?
La Belle Lucie is a classic single-deck solitaire game where all 52 cards are dealt face-up into 17 fans of 3 and one extra single card. You build the four foundations up from Ace to King in suit by moving only the exposed top card of each fan. With just two redeals and a win rate around 8 percent, it is considered one of the most elegant yet punishing patience games ever devised.
La Belle Lucie history
The game has appeared in patience literature since the late 19th century under names including The Fan, Midnight Oil, and Clover Leaf. "La Belle Lucie" is the French name popularized by Victorian card-game anthologies. Its signature feature, the restricted fan tableau with two lucky redeals, made it a staple in Hoyle collections on both sides of the Atlantic.
How to play La Belle Lucie Solitaire
The entire deck is dealt at the start. No new cards arrive during play. Your only moves are shifting top cards between fans or sending them to foundations.
- Scan all fans for Aces. Tap an Ace to select it, then tap the matching empty foundation slot to start a suit sequence.
- Look for top cards one rank higher than any foundation top of the same suit. Move them up to extend foundation sequences.
- Move top cards between fans to unblock buried cards, building fans downward by same suit only.
- When no moves remain, use a redeal. All tableau cards are collected, shuffled, and re-dealt into fresh fans of three.
- You get two redeals total. Win by moving all 52 cards to the four foundation piles before redeals run out.
Strategies to win La Belle Lucie Solitaire
- Prioritize moves that expose low-rank cards in the same suit as a foundation that is stalled. A buried 3 of hearts stops all hearts progress.
- Avoid creating fans that are completely in-suit from top to bottom if the bottom card is not yet needed on a foundation. They lock up perfectly placed cards for no benefit.
- Before a redeal, count which suits need to progress. If one suit has all its remaining cards buried, the redeal will scatter them randomly, so plan for it.
- Use your first redeal conservatively. Save the second redeal for a situation where you have real board control, not when you are already close to stuck.
La Belle Lucie rules and objective
The objective is to move all 52 cards to four foundation piles, one per suit, each built from Ace up to King. The tableau consists of fans (groups of overlapping cards). Only the topmost card of each fan may be moved. Fans build downward by same suit only. Empty fans cannot be refilled.
Game setup
| Element | Setup |
|---|---|
| Deck | 1 standard 52-card deck |
| Tableau | 17 fans of 3 cards + 1 single-card fan (52 cards total) |
| Foundations | 4 piles, built A to K by suit |
| Build rule | Down by same suit only |
| Redeals | 2 shuffled redeals |
| Win condition | All 52 cards on foundations |
La Belle Lucie Solitaire variants and similar games
Trefoil is a close cousin where the four Aces are placed on foundations before dealing, leaving 16 fans of 3. Cruel uses fans of 4 with an in-order redeal instead of a shuffle. Shamrocks introduces up-or-down building and a 3-card-per-fan limit.
How difficult is La Belle Lucie Solitaire?
La Belle Lucie is one of the hardest single-deck fan solitaire games. The same-suit-only build rule means most tableau moves depend on very specific card pairings, and shuffled redeals rarely leave a useful arrangement.
What is La Belle Lucie Solitaire win percentage?
Experienced players win roughly 8 percent of deals. Many deals are unwinnable regardless of play quality because too many in-suit pairs end up separated in different fans after both redeals.
What is the difference between La Belle Lucie and Trefoil?
La Belle Lucie deals all 52 cards into fans, so you must find and play Aces from the tableau. Trefoil pre-places all four Aces on foundations before dealing 16 fans of 3 from the remaining 48 cards. Trefoil's win rate is slightly higher because foundation progress can begin immediately, but the same strict same-suit build rule applies to both.
La Belle Lucie Solitaire FAQ
Can you move any card in La Belle Lucie Solitaire?
Only the top card of each fan is accessible. Cards buried beneath other cards in the same fan cannot be moved until all cards above them are cleared.
What happens when La Belle Lucie has no moves left?
You can use a redeal. All tableau cards are collected, shuffled, and re-dealt into fans of three. You have two redeals available per game. If you exhaust both redeals with no further progress possible, the game is lost.
Why can La Belle Lucie be unwinnable?
Because fans can only build downward by same suit, many combinations leave a needed lower card buried under cards that cannot legally move on top of it. Even after two shuffled redeals, these dead-lock configurations reappear in a significant fraction of deals.
Is La Belle Lucie Solitaire the same as The Fan?
Yes. The Fan, Midnight Oil, and Clover Leaf are all alternate names for La Belle Lucie. The rules are identical across these names, though some versions add a single "privilege of the draw" after the last redeal.
How many cards should each fan have in La Belle Lucie?
Fans start with 3 cards each, except one fan which has only 1 card because 52 is not divisible by 3 evenly. During play, fans shrink as you move cards off them. Empty fans cannot receive new cards.
Other solitaire games I recommend
- Trefoil Solitaire - La Belle Lucie with aces pre-dealt to foundations
- Cruel Solitaire - fans of 4 with an ordered redeal
- Shamrocks Solitaire - fans with up-or-down building
- Good Measure Solitaire - 10 fans of 5, very winnable
- Forty Thieves - two-deck same-suit tableau game