Play Alternative Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Build sixteen three-card fans up or down in suit, split your foundations from Ace and King, and spend your one shuffled redeal wisely.
Alternative Solitaire is a hybrid of two fan games. It takes the fan layout and shuffled redeal of La Belle Lucie — the game Lady Cadogan popularized in the 1870s under the names Midnight Oil and The Fan — and pairs it with the split, two-directional foundations of Clover Leaf. The result is a puzzle that plays like La Belle Lucie but ends on both an Ace and a King.
Four base cards are set out before play: two red and two black, one to each foundation. The two red foundations climb up in suit from the Ace, while the two black foundations descend in suit from the King. The remaining forty-eight cards fall into sixteen fans of three, all face up.
The tableau is where Alternative earns its name. A fan builds in a single suit, but in either direction — up or down — so the 6 of clubs accepts either the 5 or the 7 of clubs. That flexibility opens more moves than the strict downward building of La Belle Lucie, yet the same-suit requirement keeps things honest. When you run dry, gather the cards left in the fans, shuffle them, and deal new fans of three. Alternative grants this shuffled redeal just once, so spend it wisely.
Alternative sits beside La Belle Lucie Solitaire, Clover Leaf Solitaire, and Trefoil Solitaire — three cousins in the same fan-dealt family, each with its own twist on building and redealing.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Alternative Solitaire
Layout:
4 foundation piles: Two red foundations build up in suit from the Ace to the King; two black foundations build down in suit from the King to the Ace. One base card is dealt to each at the start.
16 fans: The remaining forty-eight cards are dealt face-up into sixteen fans of three. Only the top card of each fan is playable, and empty fans are not refilled.
Redeal: When you run out of moves, gather all the cards remaining in the fans, shuffle them together, and deal them again into fresh fans of three. This is allowed once.
Foundation:
There are four foundation piles, each seeded with a base card before play — two red, two black.
On a red foundation, a card can be added only if it's one rank higher and the same suit as the pile's current top card, running Ace up to King, so the only card that fits on the 5 of hearts (red) is the 6 of hearts. On a black foundation, a card can be added only if it's one rank lower and the same suit as the pile's current top card, running King down to Ace, so the only card that fits on the 10 of spades (black) is the 9 of spades.
Cards cannot be taken back from the foundation after they have been placed.
Tableau:
Sixteen fans are dealt at the start, each one spread out downward. Every card is dealt face-up.
A card can be added to a fan only if it's the same suit as the fan's current top card and one rank higher or lower — building runs up or down, your choice, so either the 4 or the 6 of clubs fits on the 5 of clubs. Only the exposed top card of a fan may be moved, and only one card moves at a time; sequences are not carried as a unit.
Cards on the tableau that are not covered may be played onto a foundation or onto another fan. Once a fan is emptied, its space stays open — nothing is dealt to fill it.
Redeal:
When no more useful moves remain, collect every card still sitting in the fans, shuffle the whole batch, and deal it out again into new fans of three. This shuffled redeal is allowed only once, so time it for the moment it will free the most cards.
