La Belle Lucie
La Belle Lucie deals all 52 cards face up into seventeen fans of three and one single card. Only a fan's top card moves: up its foundation, Ace to King in suit, or onto the next card up in its suit on another fan. An emptied fan is gone for good. When you are stuck, gather the fans, shuffle and deal them again in threes — twice. In the last deal you may draw one buried card: the merci.
New game deals a fresh shuffle, Hint highlights a legal move, and the three-dot menu at the end of the bar holds redo, auto-finish, today’s deal, the keyboard shortcuts and the rule set.
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Kept in this browser, on this device only. Abandoning a deal in progress counts as a loss, so the win rate means something.
Today’s deal
Everyone playing La Belle Lucie today gets the same deal. It changes at midnight UTC.
Track the month on the daily challenge page.
Replay a deal
Every deal is a pure function of its number, so deal #20260726 is the same shuffle on any device, any time.
Keyboard
- U / Z
- Undo
- R
- Redo
- H
- Hint
- N
- New deal (asks first)
- F
- Full screen
- Space
- Redeal
- A
- Auto-finish
- Esc
- Deselect, or leave full screen
- Deck
- One deck, 52 cards
- Fans
- 17 of three, 1 single
- Redeals
- Two, then the merci
- Build
- Down in suit, one card
How do you play La Belle Lucie?
The whole pack is dealt face up in fans of three — seventeen of them, with the last card alone in an eighteenth — so every card is on view from the start. Only the top card of a fan is free, and only one card ever moves at a time. It can go to its foundation, which starts with the Ace and climbs in suit to the King, or onto the top card of another fan if that card is the next one up in its own suit: the Six of Clubs onto the Seven of Clubs.
Nothing is ever put into an empty fan, and a King — with nothing above it to build on — can only leave by going up to its foundation. The game is won when all 52 cards are on the four foundations.
How do the redeals and the merci work?
- 1Redeal when you are stuckTap Redeal. Every card still in the fans is gathered up, shuffled and dealt out again in threes; any one or two left over make a short last fan. The foundations are not touched.
- 2Redeal once moreTwo redeals are allowed, so there are three deals in all — the "three shuffles" of the game's other name, Three Shuffles and a Draw.
- 3Draw one card in the last dealOnce in the third deal you may take one buried card out from under the cards covering it and play it, to its foundation or onto a fan. This is the merci, French for "thank you". Tap the buried card, then tap where it goes.
Each redeal here is shuffled from the deal number, so a deal replays exactly — and undoing a redeal and taking it again deals the same fans. A redeal is not a free second try.
Why do some fans lock up?
Because building only goes down in suit, a card lying on a lower card of its own suit blocks it: the Nine of Spades dealt on top of the Four of Spades has to leave before the Four can, and the Nine can only leave onto the Ten of Spades or its foundation. A King dealt on a lower card of its suit is worse — it can only go up to the foundation, which needs every card below it first. Those fans are what the redeals are for: the shuffle breaks them up.
How often can you win La Belle Lucie?
Not often. Following the Hint button from the first card to the last — banking everything it can, building wherever a card fits, redealing when stuck and using the merci — wins 32 of the first 300 deals here, about one in nine. The redeals are shuffles, so no plan survives them intact; the skill is in what you do between them.
How do you get better at la belle lucie?
- Bank everything as soon as it can goSame-suit building makes every foundation move safe: no card still in the fans could ever have needed the one you banked.
- Free the blocked low cards firstLook for a card sitting on a lower card of its own suit — the Nine of Spades on the Four. Moving that Nine onto the Ten of Spades frees the Four; nothing else will.
- Play everything out before you redealA redeal shuffles away the sequences you have built as well as the blockages, so take every move the fans offer first. The Redeal control shows how many you have left.
- Save the merci for the card that unlocks a suitThe best card to draw is usually the lowest missing card of a suit whose next cards are sitting free on top of fans — one draw can then run the whole suit up.
La Belle Lucie questions people ask
- How many redeals do you get in La Belle Lucie?
- Two, so three deals in all. After the second redeal you also get the merci: one buried card drawn and played, once.
- What is the merci in La Belle Lucie?
- In the last deal only, you may take one card from under the cards covering it and play it to its foundation or onto a fan. It can be used once. Merci is French for thank you.
- Can you fill an empty fan in La Belle Lucie?
- No. Once a fan is empty it stays empty until the next redeal, which deals the remaining cards into as many fans of three as they need.
- Can you move more than one card at a time in La Belle Lucie?
- No. Only the top card of a fan moves, one card at a time. A built sequence has to be unpicked card by card.
- Is it safe to send cards to the foundations straight away?
- Yes. The fans build only in suit, so the one card that could ever have wanted a card as a landing spot is the next one down in the same suit — and that card is already on the foundation.
The rules in six lines
- 1Deal eighteen fansSeventeen fans of three cards and one of a single card, all 52 cards face up.
- 2Move only a fan's top cardOne card at a time. The cards beneath it are free only once it has gone.
- 3Build down in suitA top card may go onto the top card of another fan that is one rank higher in the same suit.
- 4Build the foundations up in suitAces start the four foundations as they come free; each builds up to the King in its suit.
- 5Never refill an empty fanAn emptied fan is gone until the next redeal. Kings, with nothing to build on, can only go up to a foundation.
- 6Redeal twice, then draw onceWhen stuck, gather the fans, shuffle and deal them again in threes — twice. In the third deal, one buried card may be drawn and played: the merci.
The long version, with worked examples and the questions beginners actually ask, is on how to play la belle lucie.
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