What is Three Shuffles and a Draw?
Three Shuffles and a Draw is the most forgiving game in the La Belle Lucie fan family. It uses the same layout — fans of three, only top cards move, same-suit downward building — but adds three redeals (shuffles) and one special “merci” draw. The draw allows you to take any one buried card from the tableau and play it directly, bypassing the normal top-card restriction. With three redeals plus a freely chosen rescue card, win rates are dramatically higher than in standard La Belle Lucie.
Full rules
The 52-card deck is dealt into seventeen fans of three and one fan of one (same as La Belle Lucie). Only top cards move — to foundations by suit upward, or to other fans by suit downward. Empty fans stay empty and cannot be refilled.
When stuck: use a redeal (pick up all tableau cards, shuffle, re-deal into fans). Up to three redeals are available. The merci draw allows you to take any one card from anywhere in the tableau (not just the top) and play it directly. The merci can only be used once per game.
The merci draw: when and how
The merci draw is the most powerful single action in the game and should not be spent casually. The best merci uses have a specific target: a low-rank card buried deep in a fan whose suit is blocking a long chain of foundation plays. Pulling that card directly to the foundation — or to the position that unlocks several other moves — is worth far more than any convenience draw earlier in the game.
Before using the merci, exhaust all three redeals and all regular moves. The merci is your last resort, not your first response to a stuck position. A merci used on redeal two is almost always wasted.
Read the Three Shuffles and a Draw strategy guide →