A Patience game | |
Alternative names | Alexander the Great, Clover Leaves, Midnight Oil |
---|---|
Named variants | The Fan, Trefoil, Three Shuffles and a Draw |
Family | Fan |
Deck | Single 52-card |
See also Glossary of solitaire terms |
La Belle Lucie is a patience or card solitaire where the object is to build the cards into the foundations. [1] It is considered to be representative of the "fan" family of solitaire card games, and has a pleasing layout. [2]
While the game originated in France as La Belle Lucie, it is also known under the name Lovely Lucy. [3] [4] Other common names and closely related variants include The Fan, Clover Leaves, Three Shuffles and a Draw, Alexander the Great, Trefoil, and Midnight Oil.
All cards are visible from the start, but this does not imply that this game is solvable with strategy, because the game is very hard to win under the default rules. [5] For example, moving a single card onto another blocks that stack until both cards can be removed to the foundations. Any setup that has a lower card of a specific suit below a higher of the same suit, or all kings not on the bottom of each cascade cannot be solved without cheating. The shuffle and redeal is of little help. For each king left in the second redeal, there is a 66% chance that the cascade cannot be solved (if the king is not lowest). Moving aces out (Trefoil rule) has cosmetic character.
La Belle Lucie is "a classic patience game" [6] that was first published in the English language by Lady Adelaide Cadogan in 1870. [7]
Variants are listed in the order they will occur in the game play:
The "no redeal rule" and the "king rule" are often used together since redeals are needed to get to cards under a king unless it’s allowed to move kings to empty fans.
Shamrocks is a closely related variant that limits building in the tableau to three cards per fan.
Since all cards are visible after the deal, the basic strategy is to think before doing moves. A redeal is not always of much help, since it will give fewer fans than the initial deal.
Cards under a king are blocked until the redeal or until the king is moved to the foundations (if the "king rule" is not in effect).
The "alternating colours rule for moves between fans" will simplify the difficulty a little bit and slightly increase the move but will significantly change the strategy used in the game:
The "regardless of suit for moves between fans" will simplify the difficulty and increase the moves
A Patience game | |
Alternative names | Alexander the Great, Clover Leaves, Midnight Oil |
---|---|
Named variants | The Fan, Trefoil, Three Shuffles and a Draw |
Family | Fan |
Deck | Single 52-card |
See also Glossary of solitaire terms |
La Belle Lucie is a patience or card solitaire where the object is to build the cards into the foundations. [1] It is considered to be representative of the "fan" family of solitaire card games, and has a pleasing layout. [2]
While the game originated in France as La Belle Lucie, it is also known under the name Lovely Lucy. [3] [4] Other common names and closely related variants include The Fan, Clover Leaves, Three Shuffles and a Draw, Alexander the Great, Trefoil, and Midnight Oil.
All cards are visible from the start, but this does not imply that this game is solvable with strategy, because the game is very hard to win under the default rules. [5] For example, moving a single card onto another blocks that stack until both cards can be removed to the foundations. Any setup that has a lower card of a specific suit below a higher of the same suit, or all kings not on the bottom of each cascade cannot be solved without cheating. The shuffle and redeal is of little help. For each king left in the second redeal, there is a 66% chance that the cascade cannot be solved (if the king is not lowest). Moving aces out (Trefoil rule) has cosmetic character.
La Belle Lucie is "a classic patience game" [6] that was first published in the English language by Lady Adelaide Cadogan in 1870. [7]
Variants are listed in the order they will occur in the game play:
The "no redeal rule" and the "king rule" are often used together since redeals are needed to get to cards under a king unless it’s allowed to move kings to empty fans.
Shamrocks is a closely related variant that limits building in the tableau to three cards per fan.
Since all cards are visible after the deal, the basic strategy is to think before doing moves. A redeal is not always of much help, since it will give fewer fans than the initial deal.
Cards under a king are blocked until the redeal or until the king is moved to the foundations (if the "king rule" is not in effect).
The "alternating colours rule for moves between fans" will simplify the difficulty a little bit and slightly increase the move but will significantly change the strategy used in the game:
The "regardless of suit for moves between fans" will simplify the difficulty and increase the moves