How to Play La Belle Lucie Solitaire

La Belle Lucie, also called Midnight Oil or Three Shuffles and a Draw, is a fan solitaire: everything is face up, so the only question is the order you dig.

Layout

The whole deck is dealt face up into eighteen fans: seventeen fans of three cards and one fan of one card.
Four foundations, built up from Ace to King by suit.

Moves

Only the top card of a fan moves (the right-hand card).
It may go onto the top card of another fan that is the next higher card of the same suit, or to its foundation.
Empty fans stay empty.
A card may be taken back down from a foundation onto a matching fan card.

Redeals

When you are stuck, gather every card still in the fans, shuffle and redeal them in fans of three. You may redeal twice. After the second redeal, if nothing moves, the deal is lost.

Winning

Build all four foundations from Ace to King. The hint suggests the most useful move, or a redeal when nothing else helps.

Frequently asked questions

When should I redeal?

When no fan card can move to another fan or a foundation. Gather the fan cards, shuffle and lay them out again in threes. You get two redeals, so use the first only when you are truly stuck.

Is there a merci?

Not in this version. Some rules allow one buried card to be pulled out after the last redeal; here the game ends when nothing moves and no redeal is left.

Last updated 2026-10-21