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Lucas is a double-deck Napoleon family patience named after the French mathematician Edouard Lucas. All eight Aces are removed before the deal and placed on the foundations, then 96 remaining cards fill thirteen face-up tableau columns with a stock of 57 cards. Same-suit building and single-card movement make it a demanding strategic puzzle with a win rate around 30%.
What is Lucas Solitaire?
Lucas Solitaire uses two standard decks (104 cards). Before the deal begins, all eight Aces are extracted and placed on the eight foundation slots. The remaining 96 cards are shuffled and dealt: thirteen tableau columns receive three cards each (all face-up), leaving 57 cards in the stock. Tableau columns build down in the same suit only. Only one card at a time may be moved. The game is won when all 104 cards reach the foundations, built from Ace to King in suit. One card is drawn at a time from the stock; no redeals.
Lucas Solitaire layout explained
Thirteen columns is the widest standard layout in the Napoleon family, one column for each rank in the deck. With the Aces already on the foundations at the start, the 2s are the first target cards; identifying where the 2s sit in the tableau drives early strategy. All cards are face-up, so the full positional puzzle is visible immediately. The name honours Edouard Lucas, 19th-century mathematician famous for the Tower of Hanoi puzzle and the Lucas number sequence.
How to play Lucas Solitaire
Lucas Solitaire rules and objective
Move all 104 cards to the eight foundation piles, each built from Ace to King in a single suit. (The Aces start on the foundations automatically.) A card may be placed on a tableau column if it is one rank lower and the same suit as the current top card. Only one card at a time may be moved. Empty columns accept any single card. Draw one card at a time from the stock; no redeals.
Game setup
- Remove all eight Aces from two shuffled decks and place them on eight foundation slots.
- Shuffle the remaining 96 cards.
- Deal three rows of thirteen, all face-up, into thirteen columns.
- Place the remaining 57 cards face-down as the stock.
Strategies to win Lucas Solitaire
- Locate all 2s immediately. Since the Aces are already on foundations, getting the 2s onto the foundations is the first critical step. Identify which 2s are accessible and plan moves to free any that are buried.
- Use the thirteen columns as suit lanes. With one column per rank available initially, you can organise each suit into dedicated columns as you clear cards, making same-suit building far more systematic than in narrower layouts.
- Keep same-suit pairs together. When rearranging the tableau, try to stack cards that will need to move together eventually - a 9 of Spades below an 8 of Spades is immediately useful; a 9 of Hearts below an 8 of Spades is wasted position.
- Conserve the stock. With 57 undrawn cards available but no redeal, each draw should produce a useful move. Exhaust all productive tableau options before drawing.
- Build foundations at a steady pace across all suits. With same-suit tableau building, a suit bottleneck locks up proportionally more tableau space than in alternating-colour games.
Lucas vs similar Napoleon family games
| Game | Columns | Aces pre-placed | Build rule | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limited | 12 × 3 | No | Same suit | ~25% |
| Lucas | 13 × 3 | Yes | Same suit | ~30% |
| Martha | 12 × 4 | Yes | Alt colour | ~65% |
| Forty Thieves | 10 × 4 | No | Same suit | ~15% |
Lucas Solitaire FAQ
Who was Lucas and why is this game named after him?
Edouard Lucas (1842-1891) was a French mathematician best known for the Lucas number sequence (2, 1, 3, 4, 7, 11...) and the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. The solitaire game bearing his name was likely named in his honour during the late 19th-century vogue for mathematical card games. The connection may also reflect the game's systematic, puzzle-like nature: like the Tower of Hanoi, Lucas Solitaire rewards methodical planning over intuition.
Why does Lucas start with the Aces already on the foundations?
Pre-placing the Aces serves two purposes: it removes a common source of early failure (an Ace buried under multiple cards that cannot be uncovered) and it ensures the 96 remaining cards fill the thirteen tableau columns exactly (96 / 13 = ~7.38, rounded to 3 cards per column with 57 left for the stock). Without the Aces, the deal would not divide evenly into the thirteen columns.
How does Lucas compare to Limited Solitaire?
Both games use two decks, same-suit building, and single-card movement with all cards face-up. Lucas has thirteen columns (one more than Limited's twelve) and pre-places the Aces, which removes early-game uncertainty. The extra column gives more rearrangement space; the pre-placed Aces mean 2s are immediately the first target. Lucas wins slightly more often than Limited as a result.
What is the win rate for Lucas Solitaire?
Lucas wins approximately 30% of deals with careful play. The combination of same-suit building and single-card movement is demanding, but the pre-placed Aces and the wide thirteen-column tableau give more flexibility than Classic Forty Thieves. Deals where 2s are accessible from the start are significantly more likely to be won.