| A Patience game | |
_Layout.jpg) Screenshot of La Belle Lucie | |
| 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" (p.208) in Hoyle's Rules of Games (3rd edition) by Philip D. Morehead (ed.), 2001. ISBN 0-451-20484-0
- ^ "La Belle Lucie" (p.232) in The Complete Book of Card Games by Peter Arnold, Hamlyn Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-600-62191-1
- ^ "Lovely Lucy" in Glenn, Jim and Denton, Carey. The Treasury of Family Games (page 108). Reader's Digest, 2003 (ISBN 9780762104314)
- ^ "Lovely Lucy" in Whiter, Barb (2000). The Encyclopedia of Games. Hinkler Books. p. 76. ISBN 9781865152547.
- ^ "La Belle Lucie (Fan)" (p.426) in The Penguin Book of Card Games by David Parlett, Treasure Press, 1987. ISBN 1-85051-221-3