💝 La Belle Lucie
7 playsLa Belle Lucie
Eighteen little fans, two redeals and a single merci — the patience of the lovely Lucie.
About La Belle Lucie
La Belle Lucie is a fan patience of some age and great charm. The whole deck is spread into eighteen fans of three cards, the last holding only one, and only the top card of each fan may move. Cards travel to the four foundations upward by suit from ace to king, or onto another fan downward in the same suit, so the seven of spades may rest on the eight of spades and nowhere else. A fan once emptied stays empty for good, which makes every clearance a small loss as well as a gain. When the cards lock, two redeals gather everything still unplayed and deal it out again in threes, and after the last of them comes the merci — one buried card drawn up to the top of its fan. Each card home is a point, and a win with redeals or the merci still in hand scores more.
How to Play
Only the top card of each fan may move. Build the foundations up by suit from Ace to King, and the fans down in the same suit. An empty fan stays empty. When you are stuck, a redeal reshuffles every unplayed card into new fans of three; you have two. After the last redeal you may use one merci to pull any buried card to the top of its fan. A card home scores 1; a win scores 52, plus 10 per unused redeal and 5 for an unused merci.
💡 Tips & Strategy
Before moving anything, look for the cards that block themselves. Because fans build down in the same suit, a card sitting above a lower card of its own suit in the same fan — the five of clubs on top of the three of clubs, say — can never be freed by building alone: the three is trapped until the five goes home or the fan is dealt again. Spot these knots early, because they decide which suits will stall, and plan to spend the merci or a redeal on them rather than wasting moves elsewhere.
Clearing a fan is not the gain it appears. An empty fan stays empty for the rest of the game, so it never becomes a parking space as it would in other patiences; it simply removes one place where cards could be built. Move a card onto another fan only when it uncovers something useful — an ace, a card the foundations want soon, or a card that can itself be built upon — and otherwise leave the fan alone.
Work the foundations evenly. A suit that races ahead leaves its low cards needed and its high cards useless, while four suits climbing together keep nearly every exposed card in play. When there is a choice between two moves, prefer the one that frees a low card of the suit that is furthest behind.
Spend the redeals late and the merci last. A redeal gathers every card still in the fans and deals them again in threes, so take every useful move first; each card already home is a card the shuffle no longer has to find. The merci arrives only after the final redeal and pulls a single buried card to the top of its fan, so use it on the one card that unlocks a chain — usually a low card of a stalled suit — and remember that, on a win, an unused redeal is worth 10 and an unused merci 5, up to 77 in all.