Welcome to the World of La Belle Lucie!

Hey there! Have you heard of La Belle Lucie? It’s a solitaire game that goes by a few different names, like The Fan, Clover Leaf, and Midnight Oil. Let me tell you, this game is a real challenge – only about ten percent of players manage to win! But don’t worry, I’ll guide you through it step by step.

The Cards and the Layout

First things first, let’s talk about the cards and the layout. La Belle Lucie is played with a standard 52-card French deck. After shuffling the deck, you’ll deal out seventeen fans, each consisting of three cards. Make sure to spread them out so you can see the rank and suit of each card. The remaining card forms its own pile. And remember, all the cards are dealt face up.

The Play

Now, let’s get into the gameplay. Start by moving the Aces to the foundation piles. Place them in a row along the outer edge of the layout. The foundations will be built up in ascending order, starting with Ace and going all the way up to King. Keep that in mind as you make your moves!

In the game of tableau fans, the cards are arranged in descending order by suit. You can move the top cards from one fan to another or to a foundation, but only one card at a time. When an entire fan disappears, leaving an empty space, that space remains empty.

If you reach a point where no more cards can be played, don’t worry! You can redeal the cards. Gather all the cards from the fans, shuffle them, and then redistribute them into new fans, with three cards each. If you have any cards left over after the redeal, you can create a new fan with two or even just one card.

You’re allowed to do two redeals in total. After the second redeal, you have the option to choose one buried card from any of the fans. This card can be removed from the fan and used as needed.

HOW TO WIN

The goal of the game is to move all the cards to their appropriate foundations, arranging them according to suit from Ace to King. You win when all the cards are in their correct foundation piles.