Home / Card / La Belle Lucie Solitaire
La Belle Lucie Solitaire is the classic French fan patience — also known as Lovely Lucy or Midnight Oil — free to play online in your browser with no download and no sign-up. The whole deck is dealt face up into seventeen fans of three cards plus one single card, so you can see everything from the start. Only the top card of each fan moves: build down in the same suit, send Aces and their suits up to the four foundations, and remember that an empty fan can never be filled. When you are stuck, shuffle the cards left in the fans and deal them again in threes — twice — and in the last deal use the draw, the "merci", to pull one buried card out on top. With every card in view it is a game of planning, not luck: our solver, which knows how each shuffle will fall, wins 2,105 of the first 2,400 deals, while a simple rule-of-thumb player wins 355. Drag or tap the cards, undo any move, ask for a hint, replay a deal by its number, and choose random or winnable deals.
How to play La Belle Lucie Solitaire
- The game deals all 52 cards face up into seventeen fans of three, with the last card a fan of its own — eighteen fans in all. The four foundations, one per suit, start empty.
- Only the top card of each fan is in play. Any Ace that reaches the top of a fan goes to its foundation by itself, and each foundation then builds up in suit: Ace, 2, 3 and so on to the King.
- Move a top card onto another fan when it is one rank lower and the same suit — the 7♣ goes on the 8♣ and nowhere else. Cards move one at a time. Drag a card, or tap it to send it home or to the one card it builds on.
- A fan that empties stays empty: no card can ever fill the space, not even a King. Kings can therefore only go home, so a King lying on top of lower cards of its suit has to be dealt with by a shuffle or the draw.
- When you are stuck — or whenever you choose — press Shuffle: every card still in the fans is gathered, shuffled and dealt again in threes. You have two shuffles, so three deals in all.
- In the last deal you get one draw, the "merci": press Draw, then tap any buried card to pull it out on top of its fan. You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations; if nothing more can move, undo, replay the deal or start a new one.
Tips
- Look at every fan before you move. A higher card lying on a lower card of its own suit — the 9♦ above the 4♦ — is a trouble spot: the 9♦ cannot go home before the 4♦, so it must find the 10♦ on top of a fan to move at all. Plan around those spots first.
- Kings are the worst of them, because nothing can fill a gap and a King can only go home. A King lying on top of lower cards of its own suit is a dead block for the rest of that deal — only a shuffle or the draw can break it, so count those Kings before you decide when to shuffle.
- Do not rush to shuffle. Make every move that frees a useful card first: a shuffle only mixes the cards still in the fans, so the more you send home before it, the fewer cards there are to tangle again.
- Since each card can build on exactly one other card, the order of moves matters: move the higher card of a suit onto its partner before you move the lower one onto it, or you can bury the very card you meant to free.
- Save the draw for the moment it unlocks a chain — usually the next card a foundation needs, buried under something you cannot shift. Press Hint if you are unsure: while a winning line exists it shows its next step, draw and shuffles included.
FAQ
Is La Belle Lucie Solitaire free to play?
Yes. La Belle Lucie Solitaire is completely free to play online in your browser, with no download, no account and no in-game purchases. It works on phones, tablets and computers.
How do you play La Belle Lucie?
The 52 cards are dealt face up into seventeen fans of three plus one single card. Only the top card of a fan moves: build down in the same suit onto another fan, or up in suit on the four foundations from Ace to King. Empty fans are never refilled. You may gather, shuffle and redeal the fans twice, and in the last deal you may draw one buried card to the top of its fan. Win by getting all 52 cards home.
What does La Belle Lucie mean, and what are its other names?
La Belle Lucie is French for "beautiful Lucie". The game is also known as Lovely Lucy and Midnight Oil, and the version with the draw is sometimes called Three Shuffles and a Draw. Close relatives include The Fan and Trefoil.
Can you fill an empty fan with a King?
No. In La Belle Lucie an empty fan stays empty for the rest of the deal — no card can go into it, not even a King. That is why Kings are so awkward: the only place a King can ever go is its foundation. (A shuffle deals the remaining cards out again from the first fan, so gaps disappear when you shuffle.)
How do the two shuffles work?
Press Shuffle and every card still in the fans is gathered, shuffled and dealt out again in fans of three, with any one or two cards left over forming the last fan. You get two shuffles, so three deals in all. You can shuffle whenever you like, but it is usually best to make every useful move first.
What is the merci (the draw)?
Merci is French for "thank you": a one-time favour in the last deal. After both shuffles, press Draw and tap any buried card — it comes out of its fan and goes on top of that same fan, where you can play it as normal. You get one draw per game, and only in the last deal.
How often can you win La Belle Lucie?
We measured it on the first 2,400 deals. A solver that sees every card and knows how each shuffle will fall finds a win in 2,105 of them, about seven deals in eight. A rule-of-thumb player that sends cards home, builds the highest card it can, shuffles when stuck and spends the draw on a card that can go home wins 355, about one in seven. You cannot see the shuffles coming, so expect to land somewhere in between — planning the order of your moves is what lifts you towards the top.
What does Winnable deals mode do?
It deals only hands the solver has played all the way to a win: the 2,105 winnable deals it found among the first 2,400. Random deals, the default, draws from all 999,999 deal numbers. A winnable deal can still be lost, because the solver knows how the shuffles will fall and you do not — the hint can show you its line.
How does the hint work?
The hint asks the same solver. While it can find a winning line from your position, it shows that line's next step — a card to move, a shuffle or the draw — and tells you so. Otherwise it shows a sensible move and says no winning line was found. Tapping the hinted card plays the hinted move.
Can I undo a move or a shuffle?
Yes. Every move can be undone one at a time, right back to the deal — shuffles and the draw included, and even after the game has ended. A shuffle depends only on which cards are left in the fans, so undoing and shuffling again with the same cards gives the same deal.
What is the deal number?
Every game has a number from 1 to 999,999, shown at the top of the table. The same number always deals the same cards and shuffles them the same way, so Replay deal gives you exactly the same game again, and New deal picks a different one.
Does it save my game, and can I play with a keyboard?
An unfinished deal is saved in your browser and picks up where you left it. With a keyboard, the arrow keys move between fans, Enter plays the top card, S shuffles, D arms the draw, U undoes, H asks for a hint and N starts a new deal.