Play Trefoil Solitaire Online for Free (Fan with Aces Out)
What is Trefoil Solitaire?
Trefoil is a fan solitaire game for one standard deck where all four Aces are placed on foundations before the deal, then the remaining 48 cards are arranged into 16 fans of 3. Build fans downward by same suit and move cards to foundations in ascending order. You earn two redeals, and the game wins around 15 percent of the time with solid play.
Trefoil Solitaire history
Trefoil takes its name from the three-leaf clover shape formed by overlapping fan cards when displayed on a physical table. It is a derivative of La Belle Lucie (also called The Fan) and appears in 20th-century patience anthologies as a friendlier entry point into same-suit fan building because the initial ace placements remove the frustrating opener of hunting buried Aces.
How to play Trefoil Solitaire
All four Aces begin the game already on foundations. Your task is to build each foundation from 2 up to King in its own suit using cards drawn from the 16 fans.
- Survey the 16 fans for 2s of any suit. Tap a 2 to select it, then tap the matching foundation (which already holds the Ace) to place it.
- After sending a 2, look for the matching 3 and continue building each suit sequence upward.
- Move top cards between fans to unbury needed cards, building fans downward by same suit only.
- When stuck, use a redeal. All remaining fan cards are collected, shuffled, and re-dealt into fans of 3.
- Two redeals are allowed. Win by placing all 48 tableau cards onto foundations.
Strategies to win Trefoil Solitaire
- Because 2s are the critical unlocking rank, spend the opening moves finding which 2s are accessible and planning the sequence of moves to expose the others.
- A fan entirely in the wrong suit order (e.g., all three cards are in the same suit but in the wrong sequence) is a dead-end. Identify these early.
- Save the second redeal until you have moved at least 10 to 15 cards to foundations. Using both redeals early rarely improves your odds.
- When moving between fans, prefer moves that expose cards needed for the suit furthest behind on foundations.
Trefoil Solitaire rules and objective
Goal: move all 48 tableau cards to four foundations, building each from 2 to King in suit. Aces are pre-placed before the deal. Only the top card of each fan may be moved. Fans build down by same suit. Empty fans cannot be refilled.
Game setup
| Element | Setup |
|---|---|
| Deck | 1 standard 52-card deck |
| Foundations | 4 Aces pre-placed, built 2 to K by suit |
| Tableau | 16 fans of 3 cards (48 cards) |
| Build rule | Down by same suit only |
| Redeals | 2 shuffled redeals |
| Win condition | All 48 tableau cards on foundations |
Trefoil Solitaire variants and similar games
La Belle Lucie is the parent game where Aces are dealt into the tableau rather than placed on foundations first. Cruel similarly pre-seeds Aces but uses 12 fans of 4 and an order-preserving redeal. Good Measure pre-seeds 2 Aces and deals 10 fans of 5 with down-any-suit building.
How difficult is Trefoil Solitaire?
Trefoil is easier than La Belle Lucie because foundation work can start immediately, but it is still a challenging game. The same-suit build restriction severely limits tableau maneuverability, and many deals produce configurations where needed cards are stuck behind same-suit blockers that cannot legally move elsewhere.
What is Trefoil Solitaire win percentage?
Trefoil wins roughly 15 percent of the time with strong play. The improvement over La Belle Lucie's 8 percent stems entirely from starting with Aces already placed, which removes one of the most common early-game dead-ends.
What is the difference between Trefoil and La Belle Lucie?
In La Belle Lucie, all 52 cards go into fans including Aces, so your first task is locating and extracting the Aces. Trefoil removes that obstacle by placing Aces on foundations before dealing, then distributes the remaining 48 cards evenly into 16 fans of exactly 3. Trefoil's tableau is slightly simpler to survey because all fans are the same size, and foundation progress can begin on move one.
Trefoil Solitaire FAQ
Do you need to find Aces in Trefoil Solitaire?
No. All four Aces are placed on the four foundation piles before the deal begins. Your first move targets the 2s that appear on top of various fans.
Can empty fans be refilled in Trefoil Solitaire?
No. Once a fan is emptied by moving all its cards to foundations or other fans, it stays empty for the rest of that deal. Empty fans cannot receive new cards.
When should you use a redeal in Trefoil Solitaire?
Use a redeal when no valid moves remain. The redeal shuffles all remaining tableau cards and re-deals them into fans of 3. Since shuffles are random, earlier redeals when many cards remain tend to give more useful new arrangements than later redeals with few cards.
How many redeals does Trefoil Solitaire allow?
Two redeals are allowed per game, identical to La Belle Lucie. Each redeal collects all tableau cards, shuffles them, and re-deals into fans of 3. After both redeals are used, no further redeals are possible.
What makes Trefoil Solitaire worth playing over regular Klondike?
Trefoil gives you full information from the first move: all cards are face-up from the deal. Unlike Klondike, where hidden face-down cards create uncertainty, Trefoil is a pure planning puzzle where each decision is based on complete information about the remaining tableau.
Other solitaire games I recommend
- La Belle Lucie Solitaire - fans with aces in the tableau
- Cruel Solitaire - fans of 4 with no shuffle on redeal
- Shamrocks Solitaire - up-or-down building, max 3 per fan
- Good Measure Solitaire - 10 fans of 5, high win rate
- FreeCell Solitaire - open-information strategy game