La Belle Lucie is one of the oldest and most demanding single-deck solitaire games. Also called Fan Solitaire, Shamrocks, and Three Shuffles and a Draw, it deals all 52 cards face-up into 17 fans of three plus a lone card — 18 fans total — and asks you to build four suit foundations from Ace to King with almost no room to maneuver. Two redeals are your safety net. Most of the time you'll need them both.
What is La Belle Lucie Solitaire?
La Belle Lucie Solitaire is a single-deck patience game with an unusual layout: instead of the familiar columns and stock of Klondike, all 52 cards are dealt face-up into small fans of three, spread horizontally so you can see every card in the game from the first move. Only the rightmost (top) card of each fan is accessible — the others are locked beneath it.
The goal is to build four foundation piles, one per suit, from Ace through King. Foundations can receive only the top card of a fan, and fans build by descending rank in the same suit only — you cannot mix suits in La Belle Lucie the way you mix colors in Klondike. When the board locks up, you can collect all remaining fan cards, shuffle them, and re-deal into new fans of three. Two such redeals are allowed, giving you three total passes through the deck.
The game is sometimes called Fan Solitaire for its fan layout, Shamrocks in some regional traditions, and Three Shuffles and a Draw in reference to its two redeals and one final play. La Belle Lucie — French for 'Beautiful Lucy' — is the most common name in English card game literature since at least the nineteenth century. Its win rate of roughly 1–5% makes it one of the hardest mainstream single-deck solitaire games, and finishing a game in three passes without cheating the shuffle is genuinely rare.
How to play La Belle Lucie Solitaire
Step 1 — Deal 18 fans
Shuffle one standard 52-card deck. Deal the cards face-up into 17 fans of three cards each, spread slightly so all three cards are visible. The 52nd card forms an 18th fan by itself. All cards are visible from the start — there are no face-down cards in La Belle Lucie.
Step 2 — Play from fan tops only
Only the rightmost (top) card of each fan can be moved. The cards beneath it in the same fan are blocked until the top card is removed. An empty fan position cannot be filled — once a fan is cleared, that space remains empty for the rest of the deal.
Step 3 — Build fans down by the same suit
You may place the top card of one fan onto the top of another fan if the receiving card is exactly one rank higher and the same suit. So a Six of Hearts can go onto a Seven of Hearts, but not onto a Seven of Spades. Suit purity is the defining constraint of La Belle Lucie.
Step 4 — Send Aces and sequential cards to foundations
The four foundation piles build Ace through King by suit. When an Ace appears as a fan's top card, send it to its foundation immediately. Continue building foundations as cards become accessible — each card sent up frees its fan and may unlock the card below it.
Step 5 — Use your two redeals wisely
When no more moves are available, you may take a redeal: collect all cards remaining in fans (not cards already on foundations), shuffle them, and re-deal into new fans of three. Two redeals are allowed. After the second redeal you must play to completion — or concede — with whatever layout the shuffle produces.
Step 6 — Win by completing all four foundations
All four foundations must reach King — 52 cards total, 13 per suit — to win. Most games end short of this goal even with both redeals used. A win at La Belle Lucie is a genuine achievement.
The La Belle Lucie play area
The La Belle Lucie board is organized in two distinct regions. At the top, four foundation piles sit alongside a Redeal button showing how many redeals remain. The foundations start empty and build Ace-to-King by suit as the game progresses.
Below the foundations, the 18 fan positions are arranged in a 6-column grid. Each fan displays its cards slightly offset horizontally — you can read every card's rank and suit, but only the rightmost card is interactive. When a fan's last card is played, the empty fan space remains as a visual gap in the grid.
The Redeal button is disabled once both redeals are exhausted. Mr. Solitaire shows the remaining redeal count next to the button so you always know your safety net.
Available moves in La Belle Lucie
La Belle Lucie has the smallest move vocabulary of any solitaire game on Mr. Solitaire. The restricted options are the source of its difficulty.
Move fan top card to foundation. If the top card of any fan is the Ace of its suit, send it to the matching empty foundation. If the top card is the next rank above a foundation's current top, send it up. Foundation moves are usually the highest priority.
Move fan top card to another fan. You may place the top card of one fan onto another fan's top card if the receiving card is exactly one rank higher and the same suit. This is the only tableau move available — unlike Klondike, there is no alternating-color building and no moving of groups.
Redeal. When no other legal move exists (or by choice), collect all cards remaining in fans, shuffle them, and re-deal into fans of three with the leftover going to a singleton fan. A redeal counts as one move and consumes one of your two allowed redeals.
La Belle Lucie Solitaire strategy
Clear blocking cards before Aces if possible
An Ace buried under two same-suit cards is your most important target. If you can get to it by making same-suit tableau moves first — stacking the blocking cards onto higher cards in the same suit — do that rather than waiting for a redeal to expose it. Every Ace that's still buried at redeal time is a wasted shuffle.
Preserve high cards as receivers
Kings, Queens, and Jacks in the same suit as buried sequences are valuable receivers. Moving them to foundations early removes the only cards that can hold their respective suit's lower cards. Before sending a King to its foundation, confirm there are no lower same-suit cards that still need that King as a receiver.
Create same-suit chains before redealing
The goal of each pass should be to build as many same-suit stacks as possible — not just to send cards to foundations. Cards stacked in suit order at redeal time will likely separate when reshuffled, but the ones you've sent to foundations are safe. Send everything you safely can before triggering a redeal.
Save your second redeal for the most important chain
After the first redeal, play every possible move before taking the second. The second redeal is often your last shot at a winning position. Go into it with as few cards left as possible and as many foundation cards as possible — the fewer cards in the second redeal shuffle, the better your odds of a useful layout.
Think in suit families
La Belle Lucie is essentially four simultaneous single-suit puzzles. Mentally track which suit has the most cards blocked and prioritize unblocking it. A suit with its Ace still buried by three cards is worse than a suit with its Ace free but its 7, 8, and 9 scattered across fans.
Empty fans are permanent — don't create one carelessly
Unlike in Klondike where an empty column accepts a King, an empty fan in La Belle Lucie is permanently closed. Moving the last card off a fan is irreversible. Don't do it just to make a small suit move — only clear a fan if the resulting move materially advances one of your suit chains toward the foundation.
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Odds of winning La Belle Lucie Solitaire
La Belle Lucie has one of the lowest win rates of any standard single-deck solitaire game. Estimates vary, but the consensus for three-pass La Belle Lucie (two redeals allowed) played with no shuffle control is 1–5%. Some analyses put it closer to 2–3% for optimal play.
The low win rate stems from two factors. First, the same-suit-only tableau build rule creates far fewer legal moves than alternating-color games like Klondike. At any given moment, many cards are locked by suits that don't interleave. Second, the two redeals offer only a random new arrangement — unlike FreeCell where every deal is nearly certain to be solvable, La Belle Lucie redeals can produce layouts even harder than the original.
The game is not random in the way pure luck games are — skilled play measurably improves your odds by clearing more cards before each redeal and preserving receivers for the longest suit chains. But even perfect play cannot guarantee a win; the shuffle has the final word. If you beat La Belle Lucie, it means something.
History of La Belle Lucie Solitaire
La Belle Lucie is one of the oldest named solitaire games in the English canon. The fan layout appears in nineteenth-century card game guides under several names — Fan Solitaire is one of the earliest recorded descriptions, appearing in British patience compilations from the 1870s and 1880s. The name La Belle Lucie — Beautiful Lucy in French — became standard in English card game books by the early twentieth century, though its French origin has never been definitively explained.
The alternative names reflect the game's cultural spread. Shamrocks is an Irish variant name that sometimes modifies the rule to allow any card into an empty fan (making the game significantly easier). Three Shuffles and a Draw refers to the three total passes through the deck — two redeals plus the initial deal — and is sometimes used as the official name in rule books that distinguish it from similar fan games with different redeal counts.
La Belle Lucie influenced later fan-layout solitaire games including Trefoil and Brigade. In the digital era, it was included in early computer solitaire compilations and remains a staple of any serious solitaire collection. Its reputation as a game of calculated frustration — you can see every card but can rarely reach them — has kept it popular with players who prefer skill puzzles to entertainment games.
Frequently asked questions
What is La Belle Lucie Solitaire?
- La Belle Lucie is a single-deck solitaire game where all 52 cards are dealt face-up into 17 fans of three cards plus one singleton fan. Only the top card of each fan can be moved. You build four foundations Ace-to-King by suit and may fan-build downward by the same suit. Two redeals are allowed when you run out of moves.
How many redeals does La Belle Lucie allow?
- Two redeals. When no legal move remains, you may collect all cards still in fans (not cards on foundations), shuffle them, and re-deal into new fans of three. This can be done twice, giving you three total passes through the deck. After the second redeal you must play to completion with the resulting layout.
Can you win La Belle Lucie? What is the win rate?
- Yes, La Belle Lucie can be won, but it is rare. The win rate with optimal play and random redeals is estimated at 1–5% — among the lowest of any standard single-deck solitaire. Even experienced players may go dozens of games between wins. When you do win, it is a genuine achievement.
What is the difference between La Belle Lucie and Fan Solitaire?
- They are the same game. Fan Solitaire describes the layout; La Belle Lucie is the traditional name used in card game literature. The name Shamrocks is sometimes used for a variant that allows cards to fill empty fan spaces, making it somewhat easier. Three Shuffles and a Draw is another name that references the two redeals.
Can I move cards into an empty fan space?
- No. In La Belle Lucie, once a fan is cleared it stays empty — you cannot move a card into an empty fan space. This is one of the key rules that makes the game harder than it might appear. Every fan you empty permanently reduces your available destinations for future fan-to-fan moves.
Can I move groups of cards between fans?
- No. La Belle Lucie only allows moving the single top card of one fan onto another fan or to a foundation. You cannot move multi-card runs as a unit the way you can in Klondike or Spider. Each move is exactly one card.
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