Play La Belle Lucie Solitaire Online

La Belle Lucie, also called The Fan or Clover Leaf, is a face-up patience game first published in English by Lady Adelaide Cadogan in 1870. Fifty-two cards spread across seventeen three-card fans and one single-card fan, creating a puzzle where visibility does not guarantee an easy win. Foundations rise by suit from Ace to King while exposed tableau cards descend by suit. Open the board below and plan each release.

1. Deal all 52 cards face up into seventeen fans of three cards and one fan of one card. The last card is its own fan.
2. Move an exposed Ace to its matching foundation. Continue foundations upward in the same suit, one rank at a time.
3. Move an exposed tableau card onto another exposed card that is one rank higher and the same suit. Only the outer card of a fan is available.
4. When a fan becomes empty, leave it empty. Empty spaces cannot receive a new card in the standard rules.
5. When no useful move remains, use one of the two redeals. Gather the remaining cards, shuffle them, and deal new fans. Clear every card to win.

• The foundation starts with an Ace and builds to King in the same suit.
• Tableau moves descend by one rank and must keep the same suit.
• Only the exposed card of a fan can move. A buried card becomes available after the cards above it leave.
• Empty fans cannot be refilled in the standard version.
• Two redeals are allowed. Some variants add a final grace move or move Aces to foundations automatically.

• Prioritize a move that exposes a new card, not a move that merely changes the top card.
• Before placing a card, check whether it will bury a lower card of the same suit. A blocked 5 can stop an entire foundation.
• Build foundations whenever the next rank is safe to remove. Aces and low cards usually create the most room.
• Use redeals after scanning every fan. Redealing too early can waste a chance to rearrange a difficult group.
• Track empty fans as permanent losses of space. The board gets tighter, so preserve moves that keep several fans active.

• Trefoil: Trefoil moves Aces to foundations at the start, which reduces the number of opening decisions.
• Three Shuffles and a Draw: This popular variant permits two redeals and one final grace move from a buried card.
• FreeCell: FreeCell exposes the whole deck too, but its free cells create more temporary storage than La Belle Lucie allows.

• Every card is visible from the first deal.
• The fan layout makes each release feel physical and readable.
• Same-suit building rewards careful sequencing.
• Redeals give difficult positions a second structure.
• The game creates meaningful decisions without a countdown.

Play La Belle Lucie online for free on Clasica Games. Click an exposed card, choose a legal foundation or same-suit tableau move, and use two redeals when the fans lock up.

La Belle Lucie turns a fully visible deck into a tight sequencing puzzle. Protect lower cards, open fans with purpose, and save redeals for positions that truly need them. Start a free round and test your first release.

• Lady Adelaide Cadogan, Illustrated Games of Patience
• Illustrated Games of Patience, La Belle Lucie