How to Play

La Belle Lucie is an elegant single-deck patience where 52 cards are dealt into 17 fans of three plus one single card; only top cards play, with two redeals and an optional mercy draw.

La Belle Lucie ('The Beautiful Lucy', also Clover Leaf, Fan, Midnight Oil, or Alexander the Great) is a 19th-century French patience that turns the entire deck face up at the start. All 52 cards are dealt into 17 three-card fans plus one single-card fan; the four Aces become foundations as they appear; the game's challenge is to extract every card cleanly. Only the topmost (rightmost) card of each fan is playable, and tableau cards build down by suit. Twice during the game you may gather every card not yet on a foundation, shuffle them, and redeal into new fans (2 redeals = 3 total deals). The popular 'Three Shuffles and a Draw' variant adds one final mercy draw of any single buried card after both redeals are used. Around 5 percent of deals are winnable with optimal play.

Players

Single-player patience. Two players may race the same shuffle (deal, deal again with the identical seed) to compare; otherwise it is strictly a solo puzzle.

Card Deck

One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. All four suits and 13 ranks per suit are used. Foundation piles build up in suit from Ace through King; tableau fans build down in suit (one rank lower of the same suit). Aces are pulled to the foundations as soon as they become available.

Objective

Move all 52 cards onto the four foundation piles, each built in suit from Ace to King.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck thoroughly.
2. Deal the cards face up into 17 fans of 3 cards each (51 cards), placing each set of three slightly overlapping so all are visible. The 52nd card forms a small fan of one card (the 18th fan).
3. Leave a row above for the four foundation piles, initially empty.
4. Whenever an Ace is exposed (it is on top of a fan), move it to start its foundation pile immediately. This counts as the first action of the game.

Gameplay

1. Available cards: Only the topmost (rightmost) card of each fan is in play; cards underneath are blocked until the cards above them have been moved.
2. Foundations: Build up in suit from Ace to King (e.g., then , , up to ).A♠2♠3♠K♠
3. Tableau fans: Move the top card of one fan onto the top card of another fan if the receiving card is the same suit and one rank higher. For example, moves onto . Only single cards may be moved (no group moves).5♥6♥
4. Empty fans: When all cards in a fan are moved away, the empty position is gone (it does not refill, even with a King). A fan that becomes empty is permanently removed from the layout.
5. Redeals: When no more legal moves exist (or when you choose to stop), gather every card not yet on a foundation, shuffle them all together, and redeal into new fans of 3 (the final fan may be smaller depending on how many cards remain). You may redeal twice (so a maximum of 3 total deals per game).
6. Three Shuffles and a Draw (mercy variant): After both redeals are exhausted and you are stuck again, you may make one final 'merci' move: lift any single buried card from anywhere in the layout, slip it on top of any fan (or use it directly to extend play). This is your last chance to win the deal.

Scoring

• Win: All 52 cards are on the four foundations.
• Loss: No legal moves remain after both redeals (and the merci, if playing the mercy variant).
• Progress measure: Count cards on the foundations as your final score (out of 52); higher is better and is the standard way to compare close losses.
• Win rate: With perfect play, roughly 5 percent of deals are winnable. The mercy variant raises this to about 12 percent.

Winning

• Win: Place every card on the four Ace-to-King foundations.
• Loss: Stuck after both redeals (or after the mercy draw in that variant).
• Tie / progress: No formal tie; in compare-against-self play, partial scores compare losses on the same shuffle.
• Streak format: Some players track winning percentage across 100 deals; a 5-7 percent win rate is considered above average for the standard ruleset.

Common Variations

• Three Shuffles and a Draw (mercy / merci variant): Allows one buried-card pull after both redeals are used.
• Trefoil: Aces are removed at the start and placed on foundations before any deal; reduces difficulty significantly.
• Shamrocks: Tableau builds regardless of suit (any one-rank-lower card), but no fan may grow beyond 3 cards.
• Super Flower Garden: Builds tableau either up or down by suit.
• Fan with Reserve: Adds 4 reserve cells (FreeCell-style temporary spaces) for a much higher win rate.
• No-redeal: Single-deal version without redeals; near-impossible to win and used as a brain-teaser.

Tips and Strategy

• Study the entire layout before any move. Identify which Aces and low cards are buried under unhelpful cards and which can be freed by a single move.
• Make every possible move before redealing. A redeal is your most valuable resource; squander it only once you are genuinely stuck.
• Try to keep one or two fans short. A short fan empties faster and cycles its remaining card back into the next redeal where it might land in a useful position.
• Avoid moving cards just to reduce a fan; only move when it directly unblocks a needed card or starts a foundation play.
• Plan two moves ahead. A move that exposes a needed Ace one fan over may also block another fan's only path; visualise the resulting layout.
• In the mercy variant, save your single draw for the truly stuck position; the right buried card can resolve a half-finished deal entirely.

Glossary

• Fan: A single overlapping group of three (or fewer) cards in the tableau.
• Top card: The rightmost card of a fan; the only card available for play in that fan.
• Foundation: The four target piles built up in suit from Ace to King.A♠K♠
• Build down by suit: Move a card onto another card of the same suit and one rank higher.
• Empty fan: A fan whose cards have all been moved away; cannot be refilled.
• Redeal: Gathering all non-foundation cards, shuffling, and dealing fresh fans of 3.
• Merci (mercy) draw: In the Three Shuffles and a Draw variant, lifting one buried card after both redeals are exhausted.